After fake priests presented on state media, a nameless beggar paid to claim to be Christian, a dead interviewed to criticize the Church, false statements attributed to a judge and a priest, words of an archbishop tailored and took out of context, now comes “agreed nothing” altered to “agreed everything”. In two separate letters, Hanoi Redemptorists bring to the light the dishonesty of a Religious Affair officials and unlawful deeds of the city’s committee.
Pham Xuan Tien, the chief of Hanoi’s Religious Affairs Department told lies when stated that Hanoi Redemptorists had “confessed” that they committed “two sins against the government”: “having religious activities outside worship premise”, and “having unregistered religious activities”. The statement 88/TB-BTG-NVH “distorted the truth”, Redemptorists wrote in a rebuttal dated Sep. 25, 2008.
Tien’s statement, printed on most state-controlled newspaper on Wednesday, went further stating that as a result of the two said “sins”, the Redemptorists agreed a third point containing the confession of “having violated sessions 9, 12, 15, and 25 of the Ordinance on Belief and Religion; and sessions 2, 21, 26, and 27 of the Decree 22/2005/ND-CP released on March 01, 2005.”
Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, who signed the rebuttal to Hanoi People’s Committee, stated that: “It is true that we, priests and representatives of parishioners, had a meeting with Mr. Tien and the delegation of Hanoi’s Religious Affairs Department at 16:30 on Sep. 22, 2008 at the meeting room of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery – Thai Ha parish. But, we never agreed with any point stated on the statement 88/TB-BTG-NVH dated Sep. 23, 2008. The statement 88/TB-BTG-NVH completely distorted the truth saying that we ‘agree everything’”.
Changing “agreed nothing” to “agreed everything” is a blatant lie, said the protest letter. The incident is another dramatic testimony of how Vietnam government has distorted words of Catholic clergy in Hanoi.
In another protest letter, sent to the People’s Committee of Hanoi city, Fr. Vu Khoi Phung, superior of Thai Ha monastery accused the committee of disobedience state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation.
According to the letter, since 1996, Redemptorists and their parishioners had repeatedly sent petitions to the government asking for the requisition of their land. All had gone to deaf ears, until recently when they got a letter from Vu Hong Khanh, deputy chairman of the city committee. Khanh rejected their petition by the Order 2476 dated July 3, 2008.
“The session 2 of the Order 2476 stated that ‘This is the first decision for the complaint’,” Fr. Matthew Vu wrote.
Later, “On Aug. 28, our monastery received the communiqué 680/UBND-NNDC of Hanoi People’s Committee urging us to elaborate more documents... to support our claim. It was interpreted that the committee agreed to dialogue with us on the dispute.”
“We had been waiting for a reasonable and legitimate reply from Hanoi People’s Committee, then suddenly, we were invited to the People’s Committee of Dong Da district to hear the announcement of the plan to convert the lot at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang [the disputed land] to a park.”
“We really surprised to learn that the city’s committee decided to build a park at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang despite law and procedure concerning Complaint and Denunciation.”
Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, explained during a meeting on Wednesday with the city committee’s officials that:
“According to current state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation, we have the chance to protest the government decisions up to three times. And after that if our petition is still rejected we still have another chance to solve the dispute at a court. Why did you announce the decision to convert it into a park when we have only been rejected for the first time, and we are still protesting lawfully?” he asked, calling on the committee to respect the law.
Fr. Matthew Vu, and all 13 other priests of Hanoi Redemptorists Monastery asked Hanoi People’s Committee “to take state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation seriously; stop the conversion project at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang..; solve the dispute in full compliance with law and procedure of Complaint and Denunciation” and finally “return the disputed land for us to use in religious and charity activities.”
On Thursday, despite of Redemptorists’ protest, construction workers backed by hundreds police started bulldozing the land.
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| Construction workers started bulldozing the land |
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| Thousands of protestors pray at Thai Ha church |
Tien’s statement, printed on most state-controlled newspaper on Wednesday, went further stating that as a result of the two said “sins”, the Redemptorists agreed a third point containing the confession of “having violated sessions 9, 12, 15, and 25 of the Ordinance on Belief and Religion; and sessions 2, 21, 26, and 27 of the Decree 22/2005/ND-CP released on March 01, 2005.”
Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, who signed the rebuttal to Hanoi People’s Committee, stated that: “It is true that we, priests and representatives of parishioners, had a meeting with Mr. Tien and the delegation of Hanoi’s Religious Affairs Department at 16:30 on Sep. 22, 2008 at the meeting room of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery – Thai Ha parish. But, we never agreed with any point stated on the statement 88/TB-BTG-NVH dated Sep. 23, 2008. The statement 88/TB-BTG-NVH completely distorted the truth saying that we ‘agree everything’”.
Changing “agreed nothing” to “agreed everything” is a blatant lie, said the protest letter. The incident is another dramatic testimony of how Vietnam government has distorted words of Catholic clergy in Hanoi.
In another protest letter, sent to the People’s Committee of Hanoi city, Fr. Vu Khoi Phung, superior of Thai Ha monastery accused the committee of disobedience state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation.
According to the letter, since 1996, Redemptorists and their parishioners had repeatedly sent petitions to the government asking for the requisition of their land. All had gone to deaf ears, until recently when they got a letter from Vu Hong Khanh, deputy chairman of the city committee. Khanh rejected their petition by the Order 2476 dated July 3, 2008.
“The session 2 of the Order 2476 stated that ‘This is the first decision for the complaint’,” Fr. Matthew Vu wrote.
Later, “On Aug. 28, our monastery received the communiqué 680/UBND-NNDC of Hanoi People’s Committee urging us to elaborate more documents... to support our claim. It was interpreted that the committee agreed to dialogue with us on the dispute.”
“We had been waiting for a reasonable and legitimate reply from Hanoi People’s Committee, then suddenly, we were invited to the People’s Committee of Dong Da district to hear the announcement of the plan to convert the lot at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang [the disputed land] to a park.”
“We really surprised to learn that the city’s committee decided to build a park at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang despite law and procedure concerning Complaint and Denunciation.”
Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, explained during a meeting on Wednesday with the city committee’s officials that:
“According to current state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation, we have the chance to protest the government decisions up to three times. And after that if our petition is still rejected we still have another chance to solve the dispute at a court. Why did you announce the decision to convert it into a park when we have only been rejected for the first time, and we are still protesting lawfully?” he asked, calling on the committee to respect the law.
Fr. Matthew Vu, and all 13 other priests of Hanoi Redemptorists Monastery asked Hanoi People’s Committee “to take state’s Law on Complaint and Denunciation seriously; stop the conversion project at 178 Nguyen Luong Bang..; solve the dispute in full compliance with law and procedure of Complaint and Denunciation” and finally “return the disputed land for us to use in religious and charity activities.”
On Thursday, despite of Redemptorists’ protest, construction workers backed by hundreds police started bulldozing the land.