Jailed Vietnamese Pastor Punished After U . S . Visit
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VIETNAMESE NEWS
Giáo Phận Truyền Chức Hai Tân Linh Mục
June 20 , 2017 | The Valley Catholic
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Liz Sullivan
Trong bối cảnh Nhà Thờ Chánh Toà Thánh Giuse , giữa cộng đoàn tín hữu từ Giáo phận San Jose và xa hơn , hai thầy Gabriel Lee và Khoa Vũ đã được thụ phong linh mục trong Thánh Lễ vào ngày 3 tháng Sáu .
Đây là lần đầu sau 3 năm Giáo phận phong chức linh mục , từ năm 2014 , nhưng hy vọng đánh dấu sự khởi đầu của ba năm kế tiếp với lễ phong chức linh mục hàng năm .
Thánh Lễ được cử hành do Đức Giám Mục Patrick J . McGrath chủ tế . Đồng tế với Ngài trên cung thánh có Đức Cha Thomas A . Daly , Giám mục Giáo phận Spokane và là cựu Giám mục Phụ tá San Jose ; Đức Cha
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Carlos A . Sevilla , nguyên Giám mục Giáo Phận Yakima ; Đức ông Francis Cilia , Tổng quản ; Cha Brendan McGuire , Tổng quản , và Cha Joseph Benedict , chính xứ Nhà Thờ Chánh Tòa . Ngoài ra , hàng trăm linh mục đã cùng đồng tế Thánh Lễ .
Đức Giám Mục McGrath nói , “ Hôm nay chúng ta cử hành lễ hiến mình phục vụ , một sự phục vụ làm bạn đi ngược dòng với những trào lưu của xã hội chúng ta , một xã hội còn nhiều điều phải học hỏi từ nơi Thiên Chúa .”
Cha Gabriel Lee sinh ra ở Hàn Quốc , di cư đến Hoa Kỳ thời trung học sơ cấp và gia nhập đạo Công giáo khi theo học trường trung học Serra ở San Mateo . Ngài là vị linh mục người Mỹ gốc Hàn thứ ba trong Giáo phận .
Cha Lee nói , “ Tôi muốn giúp đỡ tha
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Photo courtesy of Jason Nguyen
nhân qua các Bí Tích và phục vụ cộng đồng .”
Cha Vũ Khoa có đặc điểm khác biệt là linh mục người Mỹ gốc Việt đầu tiên , sinh ra ở Hoa Kỳ , thuộc Giáo phận San Jose . Chú của cha , cha Vũ Liễu , là Linh Mục Phó Xứ tại Giáo xứ Saint Christopher .
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“ Tôi chỉ hy vọng và ước mơ thi hành công việc Chúa trao cách tốt đẹp nhất theo khả năng Chúa ban ”, Cha Vũ Khoa nói . “ Không có gì thỏa mãn hơn là làm việc cho Chúa trong vườn nho của Ngài . Tôi hy vọng luôn luôn làm theo ý Chúa .”
Phần Thánh Ca do các thành viên từ các ca đoàn thuộc Giáo xứ Các Thánh Tử Đạo Hàn Quốc ( giáo xứ nhà của cha Lee ), Đức Mẹ La Vang ( giáo xứ nhà của cha Khoa ), Sacred Heart Saratoga ( nơi cha Lee đã trải qua năm mục vụ giúp xứ ) và Saint William ( nơi cha Khoa đã giúp xứ ).
Hai cha Gabriel Lee và Vũ Khoa sẽ chính thức bắt đầu mục vụ tại giáo xứ được bổ nhiệm vào ngày 1 tháng Bảy . Cha Lee sẽ trở thành Linh mục Phụ tá tại Giáo xứ Saint Frances Cabrini và Cha Khoa được bài sai làm Phụ tá tại Giáo xứ Saint Francis Assisi .
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ucanews . com reporter , Hanoi
An evangelical pastor imprisoned in southeast Vietnam is being held in a cramped confined space as punishment for telling a visiting U . S . diplomatic delegation about abuses he has suffered .
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh gave officials from the U . S . Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City details on May 25 on how officials have treated him at Xuan Loc Prison , Dong Nai Province , said his wife Tran Thi Hong .
by Rev . Hao Dinh , Vicar for Vietnamese Ministry
Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan , recognized in May 2017 by the Vatican as venerable with heroic virtues , would be a martyr if he died in prison in Vietnam . His earlier relatives were among the martyrs since 1698 . Instead , he died in 2002 in Rome while being president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace . However , the way he endured his trials made him a witness no less authentic than that of a martyr , which means a witness . The Church gives the title “ Confessor of the Faith ” to those who suffer persecution for the faith but not to the point of death .
Shortly after the fall of South Vietnam to communist forces of the North on April 30 , 1975 , Thuan , then the newly named coadjutor archbishop of Saigon , was detained by the regime . Thirteen years in a “ re-education camp ,” including nine years in solitary confinement , could neither terminate
Jailed Vietnamese Pastor Punished After U . S . Visit
“ Chinh said on the previous day , prison officials informed him about the meeting and asked him not to tell the visitors anything that would make them look bad ,” said Hong who visited her husband June 7 .
“ Chinh could not obey their order ,” she said . “ He told the delegation his experiences of torture , threats and mistreatment that he has endured over six years .” The pastor has been kept in three prisons since being arrested in 2011 .
He told the U . S . consulate staff that prison officials have put shards of glass
A Confessor of Faith and Witness of Hope
Then Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan spoke to Vietnamese Catholics at Saint Patrick Proto-Cathedral in San Jose on July 7 , 2000 . He was also a speaker at Encuentro 2000 the same week in Los Angeles .
him nor his faith . These trying times even strengthened him and made him a powerful witness of faith and hope to his fellow inmates , prison guards , and the suffering faithful in Vietnam . His exile since 1991 allowed him to work for justice and peace in different continents and preach to various audiences in many countries .
His 1,001 brief messages , scribbled on scraps of paper in prison and smuggled out , gave hope to many of the faithful . They were eventually published as “ The Road of Hope ” and were into his food , subjected him to corporal punishment such as beatings and being put in stocks , have humiliated him and put him in solitary confinement , she said .
The pastor has been subjected to these types of abuses because he refuses to do what prison officials require , she said .
Immediately after the U . S . delegation left the prison , Chinh was confined in the cramped space and isolated from other inmates , said his wife .
“ I am very concerned about his poor
translated into more than 15 languages . He gave to Pope John Paul II and the Roman Curia a series of reflections on their Lenten retreat in 2000 , and they were later published as “ The Testimony of Hope .”
In his visit to San Jose in 2000 , the Vietnamese faithful flocked to Saint Patrick Proto-Cathedral to celebrate the Eucharist with him and listen to his talk afterwards . Earlier in the parish hall , the archbishop had a chance to meet with Bishop McGrath . While pointing to the Vietnamese who were present , he said to the Bishop of San Jose , “ Your people are my people .” Then after a pause , he made our bishop and other people smile , saying , “ and your God is my God .” He was using the words that Ruth said to her mother-inlaw Naomi ( Ruth 1:16 ).
The archbishop told the audience touching stories of his self-abandonment and trust in God , kindness to prison guards , and profound joy and peace despite everything . He had a positive impact even on prison guards , who were amazed by his joy . The prison
health in solitary confinement because he is suffering severe sinusitis and high blood pressure ,” she said .
Hong , mother of four , was herself tortured , beaten and questioned at a police station for two months after she met with a U . S . delegation on religious freedom in March 2016 in Pleiku city .
Chinh was sentenced to 11 years in 2011 for providing religious activities to ethnic groups in the Central Highlands .
Vietnam has 83 prisoners of religious freedom behind bars , reported BPSOS , a U . S . -based NGO on June 6 .
director first changed the guards every other week because he was afraid they would be “ corrupted ” by this “ dangerous ” inmate . Eventually he stopped the rotation because his entire force would be “ corrupted ” by the archbishop .
The communist regime did not want him to die in prison as a martyr . Yet they could not imagine that , as a former prisoner , he had a greater influence both in Vietnam and in the world , including his works for justice in his role as vice-president then president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace .
He died in 2002 , a year after being made a cardinal , but his life has continued to bear fruit . The Mater Unitatis Community was founded in Mexico in 2002 by a group of priests , nuns and lay people seeking to live the Gospel , inspired by the testimony of Cardinal Thuan . They strive to pursue holiness of daily life , progress of peoples , evangelization , and service . His life also inspired a network of research institutions dedicated to the social doctrine of the Church ( see VanThuanObservatory . org ).