Under stern official gaze, Vietnam's Catholic stronghold dares to hope
PHAT DIEM - If the Vatican under the new Pope Benedict XVI were to forge diplomatic ties with Hanoi and schedule a visit to the country, northern Vietnam's Phat Diem cathedral would have a compelling claim to a papal trip. Up to ten percent of Vietnam's 82 million population are Catholics and nearly 150,000 of them live in Phat Diem, the largest of the communist country's 25 dioceses.
A trip to the site of this remarkable 19th century cathedral, a unique Sino-Vietnamese architecture located 120 kilometres (about 75 miles) south of Hanoi, reveals how far Vietnam's Catholics have come in regaining their right to practice their faith -- and the distance they have yet to traverse.
Phat Diem's priests say they are eagerly hoping for improvement in Hanoi-Vatican ties and are meanwhile pursuing negotiations with Vietnamese authorities for greater leeway for their activities.
"We are already independent," the cathedral's priest Phero Nguyen Hong Phuc, 48, tells AFP in reply to a question about the prospects for more autonomy from the state.
When it is pointed out that four officials are sitting alongside, he gives a toothy laugh and says simply: "That is evident."
But he quickly puts on a serious expression and suggests the officials' presence has a sobering influence on the conversation: "If we are accompanied by officials, we can be more responsible in what we say."
In recent years, Phuc says, conditions have improved for the faithful.
And indeed more than 1,000 worshippers, mostly the young but many older people as well, are at the day's second hour-long mass held mid-morning in the church.
"The mass was well organized. I am very happy," says 82-year-old Maria Tran Thi Kinh, clad in a colourful Vietnamese dress with a mostly black motif and sporting a headscarf, after a ceremony presided over by Phuc.
The celebration inside the ornate cathedral that features massive wooden columns and a main altar made of a single block of granite, is almost drowned out by the drone of crickets on the leafy trees outside.
"It gives me the wish to live long and enjoy life," says the out of town woman with a distinct stoop, adding that she has paid 10 visits to the cathedral, a major draw for Catholics in Vietnam.
But for its telltale cross at the top and its rectangular shape, the edifice featuring many tiers of overhanging curved roofs can be mistaken for an oriental temple or pagoda.
It exemplifies the syncretic nature of Catholicism in Vietnam, with the faithful retaining many aspects of Vietnamese culture such as traditional festivals and ancestors worship.
Phat Diem, Vietnam's biggest diocese, was among those that took part in the anti-communist guerilla war in the 1940s and early 50s.
After the communist forces took control of the north and the country was partitioned in 1954 following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, hundreds of thousands of Catholics took refuge in American-backed South Vietnam.
Since the reunification of the country under communist authority after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Catholics have been kept under close watch.
Even today, the regime retains a suspicion of Catholics, fearing that their numbers and loyalty to the Vatican are a threat to the state. Vietnamese authorities, for instance, vet the number of bishops ordained.
However, after the death of
Pope John Paul II in April, Hanoi offered its condolences and greeted Pope Benedict XVI, voicing the hope of speedy advances in relations.
Leaders of the Vietnamese Catholic church, including Bishop Joseph Nguyen Van Yen of Phat Diem, freely travelled to attend the funeral of the late pope.
Officials in Phat Diem say it is not possible to meet Yen. But he says by telephone later "there certainly are things to straighten out with the government".
"One issue that bothers us the most is that in some areas, we are at pains to have renovation work done on dilapidated churches while in others we are unable to recover lands illegally seized (by individuals or organisations)," he says.
"The government is certainly capable of freeing the lands but it is still very difficult for us to recover them. I don't know why."
He is also eager to see an improvement of Vietnam-Vatican ties.
"We want to see above all else a rapid establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam an the Vatican," Yen says.
"There have been some positive signs in recent times and we are hoping for a better future. We shall hail any visit to Vietnam by the new pope."
Father Phuc, for his part, says the condition of the Catholic church has improved over the years although there are fewer priests than needed.
"We lack priests and it has greatly limited our right to operate our Catholic church and to perform our tasks and activities," he says.
However, "Vietnamese Catholics today are more satisfied in church activities and personnel matters than before," he says, referring to the number of priests available to work for the church.
Priests have greater freedom to travel from one church to another, he says, a statement corroborated by a Western diplomat in Hanoi.
"If they want to go to another parish and church and so on, they can now," says the diplomat.
But the main problem is the training of new priests by setting up seminaries, he adds.
"They could have much more because there are many lively communities. They wish they could have five or ten times more priests than they have now. But that is still envisaged in a very restricted way on the side of the Vietnamese authorities," the diplomat says.
For the present, though, Vietnam's catholic church has to make do with what it has. Many of the faithful are rejoicing in the opportunity to practice their faith.
"It is exciting for someone like me ... to attend the mass and at the same time visit a beautiful area," says Nguyen Thi Thuy, 20, from Nam Dinh town, 50 kilometres (about 30 miles) from Phat Diem, sporting a light pink hat.
"I hope to bring Catholicism to other people," says the mathematics student currently working as a farm help.
She wants to get a stable job in a government agency, Thuy says, although some of her convictions go against state policy, such as on the death penalty.
But an official monitoring the conversation swiftly ushers her away before another senior official, Tran Bui Bang, head of the religious affairs committee of Ninh Binh province where Phat Diem is located, calls an end to any more interviews.
Agence France Presse - June 03, 2005.
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