A bishop has challenged government’s accusation of his political motive behind the pilgrimage of his diocese to Thai Ha Monastery and criticized harsh treatment of police against pilgrims.
Braving biting wind, a long line of thousands of Catholics had to walk to Hanoi after their bus drivers had been forced to dumb them as far as 30 km on the outskirts of Hanoi city pass midnight on Saturday morning.
These faithful were traveling from the diocese of Thai Binh, 110km South East of the capital when they were stopped by Hanoi police, and their bus drivers were forced to go back to their departure.
They intended to travel to Thai Ha the day before, Friday May 1, for the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the establishment of Redemptorists Monastery in Hanoi. However, police in their home towns applied various measures to deter Catholics from leaving for the capital, citing security reason. To be specific, police were afraid of a protest in the making at Thai Ha and their shepherd, Bishop Francis Nguyen Van Sang, was one of the organizers.
In the most populated Catholic areas such as Cam Chau, Chau Nhai, and Bong Tien, police threatened bus rental agencies not to allow Catholics to rent their buses. "Police made diligent effort to prevent our leaving. They confiscated all legal documents necessary for bus rental agencies to rent out their vehicles to customers,” said the pastor of Bong Tien parish.
Pilgrims reported that on the road to Hanoi via Nam Dinh, police had set up a dozen of checkpoints where hundreds of police searched all buses leaving the province for people with rosary beads or any signs showing their Catholic identity, and forced them to go back. During Friday, at least 20 buses packed with pilgrims had been forced to return to Thai Binh. In a threatening tactic, driver licenses of these buses’ drivers were confiscated and only returned to them on Monday.
The pilgrims, however, were able to sneak out of their home village by 10 pm Friday night, and traveled to Hanoi by another road via Hung Yen. The alternate route was under less police patrolling, but it cost the pilgrims an extra 60km roadway to get to their destination.
Unfortunately, upon their arrival in Hanoi around 1:30 am on Saturday, they were stopped by the capital police who forced their bus drivers to go back. Again driver licenses of these buses’ drivers were confiscated with the promise that those could only be returned to them after they had driven their buses 30km away from Hanoi city limit.
Despite being put under scrutiny, the pilgrims insisted to go on with their trip to Thai Ha. They got off their buses in the middle of the field outside Hanoi city limit. Driver licenses were returned to buses’ drivers and empty buses could take off after police had pocketed about 30 US dollars of bribe money. The exhausted pilgrims, most of them were women, helped each other walk all the way back to the city. Some even had to carry elders on their shoulders. Police watched incompassionately the sufferings of the pilgrims, trying to prevent any buses on the way to Hanoi to pick them up.
Local Catholics on the outskirts of Hanoi were soon informed by passers-by who witnessed the police rude action. They rushed to the site in their motor bikes and even bicycles to bring the pilgrims safe and sound to Thai Ha in time for the opening ceremony.
A remarkable story has been made public about the all female brass band from Thai Thuy district. Like the rest of Thai Binh pilgrims, all 16 of the brave female musicians were on their way to Thai Ha to donate their time and talent to the Golden Jubilee celebration when they had been rudely stopped and ordered to go back by the police. They too, had refused and therefore been dumped at a site 16 km from Thai Ha. Being alone in an open field with all the musical instruments and equipments was not enough to deter them from joining the rest of the Catholic community in Hanoi for the event. They picked up their equipments and were walking when strangers and fellow Catholics from nearby parishes sent 3 taxi cabs to transport them to Thai Ha at around 3 am, in time for their music to be enjoyed by many at the opening mass. But the story of how they got there had touched the entire congregation in a profound way, when the hunger for God and love for the Church were the only reason that motivate them to overcome fear and obstacles ordinary people usually give up when facing in life under the same circumstances.
Their heroic action and their unwavering determination, however, didn't escape the authority's watchful eyes. As the female brass band was still in Hanoi playing music at the celebration, police of Thai Thuy district, their hometown, had sent an “urgent summoning order” to the director of the band, Ms. Tran Thi Cat. She is now expected to go through a series of agonizing working sessions with police in the upcoming days.
Also, rumors have been flying that the local police are waiting to confiscate the band's musical instruments when they return home. They, however, have prepared for the worst scenarios by hiding their instruments and equipments in safe place knowing full well that by doing this, their earning from playing music could be drastically reduced, especially during this economic downturn.
Police in Thai Binh province accused the pilgrims of traveling to Thai Ha to join a protest against the vilifying campaign against Redemptorists by state-owned media. In fact, the pilgrimage was planned months ago soon after a Holy See's decree granting Redemptorists to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Redemptorists Monastery in Hanoi.
Bishop Francis Nguyen Van Sang of Thai Binh Diocese rejected an accusation from police accusing him as one of the organizers with a political motive behind the pilgrimage. To this charge, Bishop Francis Nguyen stated that he would be filing a complaint against the Tien Hai district police which went as far as alleging that he was one of the organizers for the protest in Hanoi.
On Thursday, police asked Bishop Francis Nguyen to cancel the pilgrimage. But, the prelate insisted that the pilgrimage was purely a religious event, and that faithful from his diocese had legitimate rights to attend the event. “The announcement I made [to the faithful] about the pilgrimage was legal in the eye of the law and the Church."
"If the police try to stop our vehicle somewhere, we will walk all the way to the pilgrimage site," he added.
His words came true as both bishop and all his faithful stopped at nothing and made it to the Golden Jubilee Celebration into the open arms of admiring fellow Catholics as they have been wishing all along.
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| Bishop Francis Nguyen at Thai Ha |
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| The all female brass band from Thai Thuy |
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| The all female brass band from Thai Thuy |
These faithful were traveling from the diocese of Thai Binh, 110km South East of the capital when they were stopped by Hanoi police, and their bus drivers were forced to go back to their departure.
They intended to travel to Thai Ha the day before, Friday May 1, for the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the establishment of Redemptorists Monastery in Hanoi. However, police in their home towns applied various measures to deter Catholics from leaving for the capital, citing security reason. To be specific, police were afraid of a protest in the making at Thai Ha and their shepherd, Bishop Francis Nguyen Van Sang, was one of the organizers.
In the most populated Catholic areas such as Cam Chau, Chau Nhai, and Bong Tien, police threatened bus rental agencies not to allow Catholics to rent their buses. "Police made diligent effort to prevent our leaving. They confiscated all legal documents necessary for bus rental agencies to rent out their vehicles to customers,” said the pastor of Bong Tien parish.
Pilgrims reported that on the road to Hanoi via Nam Dinh, police had set up a dozen of checkpoints where hundreds of police searched all buses leaving the province for people with rosary beads or any signs showing their Catholic identity, and forced them to go back. During Friday, at least 20 buses packed with pilgrims had been forced to return to Thai Binh. In a threatening tactic, driver licenses of these buses’ drivers were confiscated and only returned to them on Monday.
The pilgrims, however, were able to sneak out of their home village by 10 pm Friday night, and traveled to Hanoi by another road via Hung Yen. The alternate route was under less police patrolling, but it cost the pilgrims an extra 60km roadway to get to their destination.
Unfortunately, upon their arrival in Hanoi around 1:30 am on Saturday, they were stopped by the capital police who forced their bus drivers to go back. Again driver licenses of these buses’ drivers were confiscated with the promise that those could only be returned to them after they had driven their buses 30km away from Hanoi city limit.
Despite being put under scrutiny, the pilgrims insisted to go on with their trip to Thai Ha. They got off their buses in the middle of the field outside Hanoi city limit. Driver licenses were returned to buses’ drivers and empty buses could take off after police had pocketed about 30 US dollars of bribe money. The exhausted pilgrims, most of them were women, helped each other walk all the way back to the city. Some even had to carry elders on their shoulders. Police watched incompassionately the sufferings of the pilgrims, trying to prevent any buses on the way to Hanoi to pick them up.
Local Catholics on the outskirts of Hanoi were soon informed by passers-by who witnessed the police rude action. They rushed to the site in their motor bikes and even bicycles to bring the pilgrims safe and sound to Thai Ha in time for the opening ceremony.
A remarkable story has been made public about the all female brass band from Thai Thuy district. Like the rest of Thai Binh pilgrims, all 16 of the brave female musicians were on their way to Thai Ha to donate their time and talent to the Golden Jubilee celebration when they had been rudely stopped and ordered to go back by the police. They too, had refused and therefore been dumped at a site 16 km from Thai Ha. Being alone in an open field with all the musical instruments and equipments was not enough to deter them from joining the rest of the Catholic community in Hanoi for the event. They picked up their equipments and were walking when strangers and fellow Catholics from nearby parishes sent 3 taxi cabs to transport them to Thai Ha at around 3 am, in time for their music to be enjoyed by many at the opening mass. But the story of how they got there had touched the entire congregation in a profound way, when the hunger for God and love for the Church were the only reason that motivate them to overcome fear and obstacles ordinary people usually give up when facing in life under the same circumstances.
Their heroic action and their unwavering determination, however, didn't escape the authority's watchful eyes. As the female brass band was still in Hanoi playing music at the celebration, police of Thai Thuy district, their hometown, had sent an “urgent summoning order” to the director of the band, Ms. Tran Thi Cat. She is now expected to go through a series of agonizing working sessions with police in the upcoming days.
Also, rumors have been flying that the local police are waiting to confiscate the band's musical instruments when they return home. They, however, have prepared for the worst scenarios by hiding their instruments and equipments in safe place knowing full well that by doing this, their earning from playing music could be drastically reduced, especially during this economic downturn.
Police in Thai Binh province accused the pilgrims of traveling to Thai Ha to join a protest against the vilifying campaign against Redemptorists by state-owned media. In fact, the pilgrimage was planned months ago soon after a Holy See's decree granting Redemptorists to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Redemptorists Monastery in Hanoi.
Bishop Francis Nguyen Van Sang of Thai Binh Diocese rejected an accusation from police accusing him as one of the organizers with a political motive behind the pilgrimage. To this charge, Bishop Francis Nguyen stated that he would be filing a complaint against the Tien Hai district police which went as far as alleging that he was one of the organizers for the protest in Hanoi.
On Thursday, police asked Bishop Francis Nguyen to cancel the pilgrimage. But, the prelate insisted that the pilgrimage was purely a religious event, and that faithful from his diocese had legitimate rights to attend the event. “The announcement I made [to the faithful] about the pilgrimage was legal in the eye of the law and the Church."
"If the police try to stop our vehicle somewhere, we will walk all the way to the pilgrimage site," he added.
His words came true as both bishop and all his faithful stopped at nothing and made it to the Golden Jubilee Celebration into the open arms of admiring fellow Catholics as they have been wishing all along.