“It's time for the Vietnamese Episcopal Conference as well as other bishops to speak loud and clear on human rights issues, regardless of how sensitive they can be,” said Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop, president of the newly born Peace and Justice Commission (CJP), in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Oct. 18.
Speaking of the duties of his commission among other organs of the nation’s Episcopal Conference, the Dominican Bishop stated that “the scope of the CJP's activities is quite broad with main duties including advocating for the benefits of people, paying attention to the social aspects of evangelicism, and social issues such as employment, labour, rights of the people, peace, and war.”
In brief, the commission is an instrument of the Church to promote justice, peace, and human rights from her perspective. “The late Pope, His Holiness John Paul II, viewed this as one of the forms of evangelization in today's world,” the prelate emphasised.
Discussing on the question many have been posing whether the Peace and Justice Commission is some sort of political intervention of the Church in the civil society, Bishop Paul Nguyen explained: “Since the Church's mission is to proclaim the Good News, it ought to speak out on what can have impacts on people. We, therefore, think in the future we will have to raise a loud voice on issues such as wages, labour's rights, the gap between the rich and the poor, even the workers' and famers' rights.”
“The Church,” he continues, “is not set to replace the government, but since their common ground is to serve humanity, the Church has to co-operate with or to agree with things the government does that are beneficial to the people, to the country. However, she also has to speak out upon seeing what the government's doing is against the benefits of the people and the country.”
A typical example is the land issue. "In principle all land is state owned, but in many cases, the best beaches are being illegitimately privatized. The people, therefore, always suffer,” said the bishop in what's seemingly a reference to the Con Dau incident where the government has been notoriously trying by all means to seize the land of a century year old Catholic village and kick all parishioners out of their home empty-handed.
"In many occasions, especially during his meeting with Vietnamese bishops who were in Rome on their ad limina visit, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI insists that there needed to be a straight talk and sincere co-operation for the rights of the people to be implemented. I think, it's now the time for the Episcopal Conference as well as each bishop to speak loud and clear on human rights issues, regardless of how sensitive they can be,” bishop President added.
“The East Sea (also called South China Sea), for example, is another sensitive issue that we as a component of the Vietnamese people should now start talking about,” concluded the prelate.
Speaking of the duties of his commission among other organs of the nation’s Episcopal Conference, the Dominican Bishop stated that “the scope of the CJP's activities is quite broad with main duties including advocating for the benefits of people, paying attention to the social aspects of evangelicism, and social issues such as employment, labour, rights of the people, peace, and war.”
In brief, the commission is an instrument of the Church to promote justice, peace, and human rights from her perspective. “The late Pope, His Holiness John Paul II, viewed this as one of the forms of evangelization in today's world,” the prelate emphasised.
Discussing on the question many have been posing whether the Peace and Justice Commission is some sort of political intervention of the Church in the civil society, Bishop Paul Nguyen explained: “Since the Church's mission is to proclaim the Good News, it ought to speak out on what can have impacts on people. We, therefore, think in the future we will have to raise a loud voice on issues such as wages, labour's rights, the gap between the rich and the poor, even the workers' and famers' rights.”
“The Church,” he continues, “is not set to replace the government, but since their common ground is to serve humanity, the Church has to co-operate with or to agree with things the government does that are beneficial to the people, to the country. However, she also has to speak out upon seeing what the government's doing is against the benefits of the people and the country.”
A typical example is the land issue. "In principle all land is state owned, but in many cases, the best beaches are being illegitimately privatized. The people, therefore, always suffer,” said the bishop in what's seemingly a reference to the Con Dau incident where the government has been notoriously trying by all means to seize the land of a century year old Catholic village and kick all parishioners out of their home empty-handed.
"In many occasions, especially during his meeting with Vietnamese bishops who were in Rome on their ad limina visit, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI insists that there needed to be a straight talk and sincere co-operation for the rights of the people to be implemented. I think, it's now the time for the Episcopal Conference as well as each bishop to speak loud and clear on human rights issues, regardless of how sensitive they can be,” bishop President added.
“The East Sea (also called South China Sea), for example, is another sensitive issue that we as a component of the Vietnamese people should now start talking about,” concluded the prelate.