tvc.dsj.org | May 21, 2019 VIETNAMESE NEWS
17
Vietnamese Priest Hailed For Saving Religious Property
ucanews.com reporter,
Hanoi Vietnam
Catholics in Hanoi have joined peo-
ple from other faiths in mourning for
a priest who fought to protect church
properties from being impounded by
the government, after he died on April
30 at the age of 81.
Thousand attended the funeral of
much-loved Father John Baptist Le
Dang Niem, the former pastor of Thu
Thiem parish, at Thu Thiem Church on
May 4. He died of natural causes.
Bishop Louis Nguyen Anh Tuan
presided over a Mass joined by 120
priests from the local archdiocese.
Joseph Cao Thang Ca, a member
of the parish council, said neither the
church nor a Lovers of the Holy Cross
convent nearby would exist were it not
for the priest’s efforts to combat the
city’s moves to confiscate them.
In May 2018, city authorities were
planning to remove the old church and
convent from a new urban area in Thu
Thiem, to pave the way for a controver-
sial development project.
This saw about 50,000 residents
forcibly removed or evicted from their
homes and awarded compensation
payments that human rights groups say
fall woefully short of the mark.
Ca, 68, told ucanews.com that when
Father Niem was alive, the priest, who
served the parish for 17 years until
his death, promised local Catholics
he would fight to protect the church
until his dying breath. The parish was
established about 150 years ago.
The lay leader said many people
trusted the priest and rejected the com-
pensation payments as they joined him
in opposing the project.
He said Father Niem had been
wheelchair-bound since 2013 but had
continued to join people in celebrating
daily Mass until the very end.
“More than 1,000 people used to
make the journey to attend Sunday
Mass at his church to show their soli-
darity with what he was fighting for,
even though many people lived far
away,” Ca said.
Father Niem would often invite
them to eat with him at the church once
a month, Ca added.
Sister Cecilia Pham Thi Nhuong
said her congregation, which has been
active in the area for nearly 180 years,
followed Father Niem’s struggle and
refused to obey the government’s re-
moval order.
She said the priest refused to let his
restricted mobility prevent him from
joining the sisters in staging protests
against the authorities, which were
moving to confiscate the congregation’s
aging facilities.
Ca said Father Niem, who also sup-
ported local Buddhists’ efforts to pro-
tect one of their temples, completed his
mission of saving the church properties
before his death.
On April 18, Bishop Joseph Do Manh
Hung, Ho Chi Minh City Archdiocese’s
apostolic administrator, said city of-
ficials had told him they had “made a
plan to keep Thu Thiem Church and
the convent as historic, cultural heri-
tage sites.”
Bishop Hung said he appointed
Father Ignatius Ho Van Xuan, vicar
general, to work with the government
on the plan.
He added the archdiocese had
already purchased enough land to
establish 25 of 50 mission stations to
provide pastoral care to 300,000 Catho-
lic migrants working in the city. On
average, each mission station serves
6,000 people.
Ca said Father Niem had lived an
ascetic life but was always happy to
share what he had with those in need.
The late priest celebrated the 25th
anniversary of his priestly ordination
in 1991 by driving his mother around
on a motorbike to donate gifts to im-
poverished families.
“We will unite to develop the parish
as he would have wished,” Ca said.
Born in 1937 in neighboring Binh
Duong Province, Father Niem entered
St. Joseph Major Seminary in the city
formerly known as Saigon in 1958, and
was ordained a priest in 1966.
He taught at a minor seminary
before ser vi ng i n a total of f ive
parishes and leading several Catholic
associations.
Vietnam Diocese Launches Pastoral Plan For Migrant Workers
ucanews.com reporter,
Hanoi Vietnam
An archdiocese in central Vietnam
has rolled out pastoral care activities to
serve domestic migrant workers who
have been forced to neglect their faith
due to the demands of trying to earn
a living.
More than 300 laborers from Hue
Archdiocese attended a gathering
organized by a special archdiocesan
committee at Hanh Thong Tay Church
in Hanoi recently.
Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi
Linh of Hue said the May 1 gathering,
labeled as “Our Lady of La Vang Binds
Migrants and Countrymen,” had been
arranged for the first time with the
aim of “uniting them and guarding
their faith.”
Archbishop Linh, president of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Viet-
nam, said most of the migrant workers
lack ties with one another because they
spend all their time working hard for a
living in the city.
He said most people from his arch-
diocese suffered the heaviest loss of
life during the Vietnam War, especially
the bloody Tet Offensive carried out
by northern communist forces in 1968.
After the war ended, the majority
went to work on farms earning a sub-
sistence wage.
The prelate said many were forced
to seek better-paid jobs in southern
provinces and cities.
“The local Church is so proud that
many of you have become priests and
nuns, completed your tertiary educa-
tion, and achieved so much in life,”
Archbishop Linh told those at the
gathering to help the migrant workers.
He asked them to give newcomers
material and emotional support, in-
cluding jobs and accommodation.
The 70-year-old said the archdiocese
set up a center for migrants in the city.
“It will provide migrants with pas-
toral activities, catechism courses for
couples, and legal procedures.”
He said the center would also erect
a site to give them information relevant
to their lives, provide training for work-
ers, and help them integrate into the
parishes where they live.
Francis Xavier Tran Cong Thuy, who
joined the gathering, asked the church
to assign a priest to journey with young
people who have either become cor-
rupted by consumerism, have lost their
moral compass, or who feel plagued by
feelings of loneliness.
A 23-year-old music teacher who
gave his name as Thuy agreed.
“Retreats, meetings and activities
should be held regularly for us so
we can deepen our faith and avoid
(resorting) to drink, drug addiction,
abortions, premarital sex, or divorce,”
Thuy told ucanews.com while attend-
ing the gathering.
Father Francis Xavier Ngo Phuc,
the pastor of My Hoa Parish in Ho Chi
Minh City, said local Catholics encour-
age migrants to join the parish and re-
lated associations, have their children
baptized, and attend catechism courses
at the parish.
They teach catechism to couples and
help troubled families reconcile.
Father Phuc, 75, said they also
provide coffins and hold funerals for
migrant workers who have no money
or relatives to send them off.
“We have a duty to welcome them
and journey with them,” he said.
One migrant worker at the gather-
ing, who gave her name as Tuyet, said
she and her husband were too busy
working all the time to make ends meet
and provide for their two children.
Đức Giám Mục Cantú chào đón Tự Sắc mới của
Đức Giáo Hoàng
Tôi rất biết ơn Đức Thánh Cha Phanx-
icô về sự minh bạch và đường hướng rõ
ràng mà ngài đã đưa ra trong Motu Proprio
(Tự Sắc thay đổi luật Giáo hội dưới quyền
của Giáo hoàng) Vos estis lux mundi, “Các
con là ánh sáng thế gian”. Tự sắc đề ra một
lộ trình cần thiết trong Giáo hội Công giáo
để đạt đến sự minh bạch, trách nhiệm và
công bằng hơn trong việc đáp ứng đối với
các cáo tố lạm dụng tình dục trẻ vị thành
niên và những người dễ bị tổn thương.
Như Đức Hồng Y Daniel DiNardo,
chủ tịch Hội Đồng Giám Mục Hoa Kỳ
(USCCB), đã nói, “Tự sắc kêu gọi thiết
lập các hệ thống báo cáo dễ tiếp cận, các
tiêu chuẩn rõ ràng về sự hỗ trợ mục vụ
cho các nạn nhân và gia đình của họ, sự
kịp thời và chu đáo trong việc điều tra, sự
bảo mật cho người tố cáo, và sự tham gia
tích cực của giáo dân”. Theo luật mới của
Giáo hội, các giám mục cũng sẽ phải chịu
trách nhiệm về việc lạm dụng tình dục trẻ
vị thành niên hoặc những người dễ bị tổn
thương, các hành vi tình dục do lạm dụng
quyền lực và bất kỳ sự bao che nào cho
những tội ác này.
Tôi hài lòng rằng đây đã là một tiêu
chuẩn hiện hành tại Giáo Phận San Jose:
báo cáo tất cả các cáo buộc về hành vi sai
trái tình dục với trẻ vị thành niên và người
lớn dễ bị tổn thương cho chính quyền dân
sự, theo luật về báo cáo viên bắt buộc. Tất
cả các báo cáo được giữ bí mật để bảo đảm
quyền riêng tư của nạn nhân / tồn nhân.
Tôi trông đợi cuộc họp vào tháng Sáu
của USCCB, nơi các giám mục Hoa Kỳ sẽ
thảo luận về việc thi hành những khoản
luật mới này của Giáo hội.