In a recent letter sending to his priests and parishioners of Kon Tum diocese, Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh had tried to calm down his fellow diocesans' sentiment and public outcry on what is being observed as a serious and deliberate attempt to prevent him and other clergymen to come celebrate mass with the local Catholics in his jurisdiction.
His account of what happened on Nov 7, 2010 helped to shed light on the reality of how risky and challenging it can be in this day and age in his tour of (pastoral) duty, in response to public enormous inquiry flooding in from both domestic and foreign sources, after an article had been posted anonymously online without his knowledge.
Kon Tum, a central highland province which had merged with Phu Bon province after the fall of Saigon in 1975 to form province of Gia Lai, known as a proud communist guerrilla stronghold. Kon Tum has also been dubbed the "white area" where the local authorities often proudly presents it as a province completely free of "superstition, idolatry, and religion". They seem to keep their money where their mouth is by doing anything to prevent the Christians clergymen to come celebrating mass with the local parishioners, despite the fact that “Vietnamese citizens have the right to religious freedom. Each person has the right to follow or not follow a religion”, as clearly stated in the 1982 Vietnamese Constitution.
In his latest letter dated Nov 11, 2010, Msgr. Michael Hoang Duc Oanh had told the congregations that he did inform the provincial government the schedule for his pastoral tour of duty in Yang Trung, An Trung and Son Lang since Sept 11, 2010 and requested a response in case his plan does not meet the requirement of the authorities. Since he received neither approval nor a denial from them, on Nov 7 he lead a group of 16 to the designated areas to conduct religious activities. However the group had met with great effort to prevent them from reaching destinations and the local parishioners who offered their homes as a place of mass celebration had to be summoned by the police to sign on citation admitting their "crimes" of illegal gathering and mass celebrating.
Msgr. Hoang Duc Oanh also disclosed that during a similar situation which took place right after the 2010 Lunar New Year he himself had also been threatened by communist cadres in front of his parishioners "If you keep coming to officiate mass for these people you will be arrested and put in jail"
Though the brave shepherd has never told anyone about his private agony, the public has been outraged by the absurdity and boldness of the threats and soon the unofficial reports about the incidents have been flooding the cyberspace, thanks to the brave whistle blowers.
Eager to calm down a huge number of concerned people, the prelate urged his diocesans to keep on living as good examples of Jesus Christ's disciples in order to bring the Good News to the atheist cadres who caused them so much pain and difficulties "as long as Christ's Holy Name is glorified and as long as our people will be respected and our country developed". In his letter, the prelate expressed no ill will toward his antagonists and offered his warm regards, calling them "the God sent envoy" who were there for the purpose of reinforcing the Catholics' zeal and commitment to Evangelical mission.
Also, in a gesture to find a common ground for the devote Catholics and hardcore communists to coexist and prosper in Kontum, bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh wrote a letter to the Chairman of the People's Provincial Committee Pham The Dung, earnestly suggesting him to adopt a tentative Sunday mass schedule for the local Catholics to maintain their regular religious activities. "If not" the determined bishop went on " please send us a formal notice to indicate your denial for our request so that we will no longer have to bother you and the local government"
His account of what happened on Nov 7, 2010 helped to shed light on the reality of how risky and challenging it can be in this day and age in his tour of (pastoral) duty, in response to public enormous inquiry flooding in from both domestic and foreign sources, after an article had been posted anonymously online without his knowledge.
Kon Tum, a central highland province which had merged with Phu Bon province after the fall of Saigon in 1975 to form province of Gia Lai, known as a proud communist guerrilla stronghold. Kon Tum has also been dubbed the "white area" where the local authorities often proudly presents it as a province completely free of "superstition, idolatry, and religion". They seem to keep their money where their mouth is by doing anything to prevent the Christians clergymen to come celebrating mass with the local parishioners, despite the fact that “Vietnamese citizens have the right to religious freedom. Each person has the right to follow or not follow a religion”, as clearly stated in the 1982 Vietnamese Constitution.
In his latest letter dated Nov 11, 2010, Msgr. Michael Hoang Duc Oanh had told the congregations that he did inform the provincial government the schedule for his pastoral tour of duty in Yang Trung, An Trung and Son Lang since Sept 11, 2010 and requested a response in case his plan does not meet the requirement of the authorities. Since he received neither approval nor a denial from them, on Nov 7 he lead a group of 16 to the designated areas to conduct religious activities. However the group had met with great effort to prevent them from reaching destinations and the local parishioners who offered their homes as a place of mass celebration had to be summoned by the police to sign on citation admitting their "crimes" of illegal gathering and mass celebrating.
Msgr. Hoang Duc Oanh also disclosed that during a similar situation which took place right after the 2010 Lunar New Year he himself had also been threatened by communist cadres in front of his parishioners "If you keep coming to officiate mass for these people you will be arrested and put in jail"
Though the brave shepherd has never told anyone about his private agony, the public has been outraged by the absurdity and boldness of the threats and soon the unofficial reports about the incidents have been flooding the cyberspace, thanks to the brave whistle blowers.
Eager to calm down a huge number of concerned people, the prelate urged his diocesans to keep on living as good examples of Jesus Christ's disciples in order to bring the Good News to the atheist cadres who caused them so much pain and difficulties "as long as Christ's Holy Name is glorified and as long as our people will be respected and our country developed". In his letter, the prelate expressed no ill will toward his antagonists and offered his warm regards, calling them "the God sent envoy" who were there for the purpose of reinforcing the Catholics' zeal and commitment to Evangelical mission.
Also, in a gesture to find a common ground for the devote Catholics and hardcore communists to coexist and prosper in Kontum, bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh wrote a letter to the Chairman of the People's Provincial Committee Pham The Dung, earnestly suggesting him to adopt a tentative Sunday mass schedule for the local Catholics to maintain their regular religious activities. "If not" the determined bishop went on " please send us a formal notice to indicate your denial for our request so that we will no longer have to bother you and the local government"