DALLE NOSTRE MISSIONI
Wies?aw Bysiek,
scj
Jerry Sheehy, scj
Historical Overview
Vietnam was under Chinese domination for over 1,000 years profoundly affecting its culture and is still under its influence politically. For 100 years [1858-1945] Vietnam was under the control of the French. Their major cultural legacy was to romanise the language, that is, to replace Chinese characters with roman letters - before they used Chinese characters but with Vietnamese pronunciation - and to continue the spread of Christianity [Catholicism]. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent from French colonial rule on September 2, 1945, after Japan’s surrender in World War II, but the French returned to rule Vietnam until their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The Geneva agreement divided Vietnam into north and south [600,000 Catholics fled the communist north for the south].
For the next nine years, fighting between the Soviet and Chinese supported communist north and the United States backed south intensified. In 1965, the U.S. committed its armed forces to the war in Vietnam, where they remained until the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement. But fighting between Vietnamese forces continued until April 30, 1975, when communist troops captured Saigon [renamed Ho Chi Minh City] and reunified the country.
In December 1978, following two years of Khmer Rouge attacks across the border, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ousted the Chinese backed regime. China responded by launching a brief attack against northern Vietnam.
Facing a deteriorating economic situation and international isolation, Vietnam’s Communist Party introduced free-market reforms in the late 1980s and slowly mended relations with China.
Religious Belief in Vietnam
It is estimated that about a third of the population of 78 million are believers.
- 7+ million Buddhists
- 5+ million Catholics [have never exceeded more than 8% of the population].
- 1 million Cao Dai [home grown combination of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism]
- 1 million Hon Hao [Buddhist Sect]
- 500,000 Evangelical Protestants [mainly tribal people]
- 93,000 Muslims
There are also 45 ethnic groups [mostly animist] living in the mountainous regions.
Brief history of the Church in Vietnam
First Christian missionaries arrived in Tonkin [north Vietnam] in 1533 and in Annam [central Vietnam] in 1596 but only stayed briefly.
- 1615 Portuguese Jesuits arrived in Hoi An, Danang and Hanoi converting many Vietnamese.
- 1712 and 1720 decrees forbidding Christianity in the north.
- 1750 foreign missionaries were expelled from the south.
- The situation of the missionaries and Christianity depended very much on the leader at the time often with periods of persecution until the treaty between the Emperor Tu Duc and the French in 1862. This treaty gave commercial rights to the French and freedom for Christians in Vietnam to practice their faith.
- 1882-1884 another wave of persecution and many Christians lost their lives. This ended in 1885 with the French conquest of the entire country. At this point many orders and congregations established themselves throughout the country, building schools, hospitals, colleges, seminaries and convents.
Situation of the Catholic Church in Vietnam
- 5+ million Catholics
- 5 bishops
- 2,303 diocesan and religious priests
- 1,629 religious brothers
- 1,036 major seminarians
- 1,424 seminary candidates
- 6 seminaries 2 in the north, 2 in the center and 2 in the south
There are two dioceses without bishops and one diocese with a bishop but no priests [there is sister who is 100 years old!]. Priests in the north tend to be older. The Cardinal Archbishop of Hanoi is 80 yrs old.
In 1954 [north] Church property, schools, convents and seminaries were confiscated and also in the south in 1975. the Government wanted to set up a Patriotic Church as in China but the Church leaders refused to cooperate.
The government, however, has control over the appointment of bishops and restricts the ordination of priests [only with permission] and also they need permission for many Church activities. For example, all religious publishing must be done through an official agency of the government, who, of course, must approve the material. They need permission to put up buildings and Churches and even to repair them.
Religious activities depend very much on the rapport between the local bishop and priests with the local government authorities [ though actually they continue with many of their activities without asking for the required permission].
Every year there is a delegation from the Vatican to dialogue with the government. Even though they make very little progress and concessions, nevertheless, the Vatican would like to have this kind of relationship with China.
Diocese of Nha Trang
Bishop Paul Nguyen Van Hoa of Nha Trang [63 yrs old?] has been bishop for 25yrs. The Vatican wanted to appoint him coadjutor Archbishop of Hanoi but the government did not agree because there had been a meeting of the Bishops Conference in the diocese and they made a statement somewhat critical of the government. The government asked Bp. Paul to have the statement changed but he refused saying that it was the position of the Bishops Conference and that they would stand by it.
The 3-acre seminary of the diocese of Nha Trang was confiscated by the government [because it was by the sea it was vulnerable to attack by the Chinese!]. They were given in exchange a 1-acre piece of land which, with the help of the Church in Germany, they were able to build a new seminary [philosophy and theology] that reaches to the skies! It was built for 200/300? Seminarians; at the moment they have only 80 and it is for three dioceses. They have a very high perseverance rate [98%]. They also have an association of former seminarians who help the Church and parishes in various ways. [For example, we had a free driver and car from the owner of a tourist company for the whole week].
In September the government will allow a new intake of only 10 candidates for the seminary [i.e. every two years]. Actually the diocese has 60 graduate candidates for the seminary and 100 still studying English at government universities.
The students themselves pay the school fees for the first semester at the university and after that they are paid by the diocese. They live together with Catholic families and often their board and lodging is free. After they have graduated they work in the parishes, either at home or in another parish, they may also have a job. Some are encouraged to get another degree while they wait to be accepted into the seminary. Their average age is between 22 and 24 and mostly with a poor rural background. They are evidently very close to the Church and to the priests.
We spoke [14th March] with 10 of those waiting to enter into the seminary who showed an interest in joining us as missionaries in the Philippines. It was impossible for us to meet with the others. Later we spoke also with all of the seminarians.
They all have a degree in English but they have not had much opportunity to practice and their speaking and listening skills are poor; their pronunciation is especially difficult [actually this was a problem in much of our communications also with the priests etc]. Some of the seminarians said that they would rather communicate with us through e-mail.
However, our contact person Fr. Jacobe Ngo Dinh Tien, with whom we have established a good relationship, has spent time in Manila [ASI] and will process the students and assist those who would like to join us. He is confident that some would like to join us and a couple indicated directly to us that they wanted to. We agreed that if there were any who would like to join us then they would need to be in Manila for the first week of May and so we await a communication from Fr. Tien. We found the other priests and the bishop enthusiastic about this project and the establishment of a relationship between the diocese and the SCJ.
The meeting with the bishop was very formal but he is very pleased that we can help them in their situation. He got quite excited when we started to talk about the work with abused girls and the plans for the retreat center in Pagadian. We feel that he is very supportive.
The bishop tries to send his priests and sisters abroad for on-going formation in theology, catechetic etc., such as to Manila, Paris and Rome depending on the availability of scholarships. We are already friends with two of their seminarians in Manila [Stephen and Paul] and there will be four more this coming year. They will study for the priesthood even though they don’t have permission they are hoping that the situation will change in the near future! Also one of their priests Fr. Dominic will study at UST and we invited him to stay with us for a month or so in April to practice speaking English in our community in Manila.
Remarks
We were surprised that the economic situation of many of the people seems so good. There are many small businesses in the Cities and in the villages along the road. We were not able to visit any rural villages; it seems the people in the rural areas are less happy with the government. The people seem reasonably content but probably just because there is peace and progress. The signs of communism are not very apparent, we hardly saw police or military men. Most people probably experience it as benign, though dissident voices and criticism of the government are not allowed. We heard that many of the rickshaw drivers in Saigon are non-registered i.e. non-persons and are former teachers and professors etc.
People are very friendly towards foreigners and if they know some English they will try and speak with you though sometimes their pronunciation is a little difficult. It is noticeable that there are many amputee beggars as a result of the past.
We were surprised at how vibrant Catholic life is despite all the restrictions. They have many creative ways of getting around the restrictions. For example, the sisters are supposed to register with the government but they don’t; however they build huge convents and have 40+ novices every year! The Lovers of the Holy Cross, a Vietnamese Congregation established in each diocese as a diocesan Congregation, are thought to have as many as 5,000 members. If even the Church doesn’t know how many they are how will the government!
The male religious include the Salesians, Lazarists, Redemtorists, Franciscans [OFM], Dominicans, Jesuits, de la Salle and it seems that the SVD are slowly making their way in. There could be others. But they labor under the same restrictions as the diocese and are unable to do their traditional apostolates, nevertheless they manage to be as creative as the sisters. We saw a large Redemptorist house with 20 postulants mostly illegal!
Catholic Churches are very much in evidence. Actually in one town/village that we went though on the way back to Saigon there were five or six huge Churches, all Catholic; when we asked about this we were told that there were many Catholics in that area! A great deal of effort has gone into making the Church more and more inculturated with Pagoda style Churches and Buddhist style interiors. There were many young people at Mass, participating in the singing and very prayerful. They are proud to be Catholic and were sometimes a little emotional meeting us.
While Vietnamese culture is clearly different from Filipino culture, there were many similarities that would lead us to believe that it would not be difficult for Filipinos and Vietnamese to live in good relations. We experienced a very friendly welcome and tremendous hospitality. They have a very light sense of humor similar to the Filipino and that same gentleness and kindness of heart.