HANOI, Vietnam: Redemptorist priests in Hanoi have asked people to pray and sign a petition asking the government to stop its controversial bauxite mining projects in the central provinces.
About 4,000 Catholics attended a special Mass to pray for government leaders to scrap two bauxite mining projects, which they say will cause environmental damage and adversely affect the lives of local people.
During the Mass, concelebrated by eight local Redemptorist priests on April 25 at Thai Ha church in the capital, Redemptorist Father Pierre Nguyen Van Khai asked the congregation to pray for government leaders to recognize the long-lasting harmful effects of mining bauxite. “We pray for them to maintain a clean and healthy environment for the next generations,” he said.
Since last October, when the Vietnamese government first released details of its two bauxite mining ventures on state-run media, many prominent figures including doctors, journalists, scientists, as well as retired government officials, religious leaders and social activists have demanded the government halt the projects.
They expressed outrage over the signing of the contracts with a Chinese company and accuse the government of not submitting them to the National Assembly for approval. Hundreds of Chinese workers are already working on the projects in Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces, they said.
One of the mines is expected to start operating at the end of this year.
Opponents of the schemes say the projects will bring only short-term economic benefits, cause air and water pollution, and exhaust local water resources.
The excavations will also cause ecological disasters, they claimed.
Local people say they fear their livelihoods from cashew nut, coffee, fruit, rubber and tea cultivation would be threatened as a result of the projects, which they believe would offer only limited job opportunities to them.
Father Khai, 38, also urged Massgoers to fight for the rights of indigenous people who have no say in governmental policies. They live in poverty since their land is used for government development projects, he added.
After the Mass, worshippers prayed, holding candles in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary in the compound of the church.
Up to 600 people also signed a petition against the mining projects.
On the same day, Redemptorist Father Joseph Le Quang Uy posted a message, calling for environmental protection, in his own blog and on websites run by local Redemptorists and other Church organizations. He urged Vietnamese Catholics at home and abroad to sign a petition against the projects.
Meanwhile, in an April 28 letter to local Catholics, Redemptorist Father Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, provincial superior of the Redemptorists, said the local Church has a duty to protect the environment and work for the spiritual and material benefits of the people, especially the underprivileged. The Church believes the economy has to serve the people, not the other way around, he said.
About 4,000 Catholics attended a special Mass to pray for government leaders to scrap two bauxite mining projects, which they say will cause environmental damage and adversely affect the lives of local people.
During the Mass, concelebrated by eight local Redemptorist priests on April 25 at Thai Ha church in the capital, Redemptorist Father Pierre Nguyen Van Khai asked the congregation to pray for government leaders to recognize the long-lasting harmful effects of mining bauxite. “We pray for them to maintain a clean and healthy environment for the next generations,” he said.
Since last October, when the Vietnamese government first released details of its two bauxite mining ventures on state-run media, many prominent figures including doctors, journalists, scientists, as well as retired government officials, religious leaders and social activists have demanded the government halt the projects.
They expressed outrage over the signing of the contracts with a Chinese company and accuse the government of not submitting them to the National Assembly for approval. Hundreds of Chinese workers are already working on the projects in Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces, they said.
One of the mines is expected to start operating at the end of this year.
Opponents of the schemes say the projects will bring only short-term economic benefits, cause air and water pollution, and exhaust local water resources.
The excavations will also cause ecological disasters, they claimed.
Local people say they fear their livelihoods from cashew nut, coffee, fruit, rubber and tea cultivation would be threatened as a result of the projects, which they believe would offer only limited job opportunities to them.
Father Khai, 38, also urged Massgoers to fight for the rights of indigenous people who have no say in governmental policies. They live in poverty since their land is used for government development projects, he added.
After the Mass, worshippers prayed, holding candles in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary in the compound of the church.
Up to 600 people also signed a petition against the mining projects.
On the same day, Redemptorist Father Joseph Le Quang Uy posted a message, calling for environmental protection, in his own blog and on websites run by local Redemptorists and other Church organizations. He urged Vietnamese Catholics at home and abroad to sign a petition against the projects.
Meanwhile, in an April 28 letter to local Catholics, Redemptorist Father Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, provincial superior of the Redemptorists, said the local Church has a duty to protect the environment and work for the spiritual and material benefits of the people, especially the underprivileged. The Church believes the economy has to serve the people, not the other way around, he said.