Vietnamese Catholics angry about trial date
Thursday, 27 November - Hanoi Catholics are upset at government authorities for scheduling the trial of eight lay Catholics involved in local church-government land disputes on the same day as the ordination of a new auxiliary bishop.
Hanoi's Dong Da District Court "informed us that eight Catholics will go on trial on December 5 at the headquarters of the People's Committee.. . one kilometre away from our church," Redemptorist Fr Pierre Nguyen Van Khai said.
Fr Khai said the government might want to cause difficulties for the local church, knowing many Catholics want to attend the ordination of Bishop-designate Laurence Chu Van Minh, but authorities also might be afraid many Catholics would attend the trial. He said Redemptorist-run Thai Ha parish is asking lawyers for the accused to work with court officials to reschedule the trial.
In August, hundreds of Catholics from Thai Ha parish occupied a former plot of church land near their church. They put crosses and Marian statues at the plot, which the government confiscated in the early 1960s.
The court will try one woman for causing a social disturbance and three women and four men for damaging public property and causing social disturbances.
(Source: TotalCatholic, http://www.totalcatholic.com/tc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=423:vietnamese-catholics-angry-about-trial-date&catid=15:world&Itemid=35)
Thursday, 27 November - Hanoi Catholics are upset at government authorities for scheduling the trial of eight lay Catholics involved in local church-government land disputes on the same day as the ordination of a new auxiliary bishop.
Hanoi's Dong Da District Court "informed us that eight Catholics will go on trial on December 5 at the headquarters of the People's Committee.. . one kilometre away from our church," Redemptorist Fr Pierre Nguyen Van Khai said.
Fr Khai said the government might want to cause difficulties for the local church, knowing many Catholics want to attend the ordination of Bishop-designate Laurence Chu Van Minh, but authorities also might be afraid many Catholics would attend the trial. He said Redemptorist-run Thai Ha parish is asking lawyers for the accused to work with court officials to reschedule the trial.
In August, hundreds of Catholics from Thai Ha parish occupied a former plot of church land near their church. They put crosses and Marian statues at the plot, which the government confiscated in the early 1960s.
The court will try one woman for causing a social disturbance and three women and four men for damaging public property and causing social disturbances.
(Source: TotalCatholic, http://www.totalcatholic.com/tc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=423:vietnamese-catholics-angry-about-trial-date&catid=15:world&Itemid=35)