State media, making no effort to hide their joyfulness, simultaneously report that parishioners have voluntarily removed all crosses on Mt. Worship, calling it “a victory” of “a long process of patient reasoning, persuasion and education to convince parishioners of Dong Chiem to change their mind.” The parish, however, accuses police of intimidation, harassment, and violent coercion.
“After a long time being persuaded and educated by officials of An Phu Commune, and My Duc County, on Sunday Jan. 24, under the guidance of the parish priest Nguyen Van Huu and his vicar Nguyen Van Lien, a group of parishioners removed all crosses on Mt. Che [known as Mt. Worship by Catholics],” reported on Monday Jan. 25 the Hà Nội Mới (New Hanoi Newspaper), An Ninh Thủ Đô (Capital Security Newspaper), Radio The Voice of Vietnam, Hanoi Television, and other media outlets.
Municipal Party Committee Secretary Pham Quang Nghi, and Chairman Nguyen The Thao of the capital, who were at Dong Chiem in person on Jan. 6 to directly supervise the demolition of the crucifix, could not help but warmly welcomed the move. Facing indignation and protests arose in the Church of Vietnam and even abroad, the two obviously had put a great effort to end the scandal.
As a "logical result" of the “victory” against women and children of a quiet, poor farming Dong Chiem hamlet whose men were away making a living, hundreds of police started withdrawing out of Dong Chiem “in order to restore normalcy in life there”, added the state media.
The report, however, was quickly refuted by Fr. Nguyen Van Huu and Fr. Nguyen Van Lien who had been publicly insulted on government loudspeakers, and repeatedly harassed by police through a series of summoning orders, and long hour interrogations.
“Since Friday, on public loudspeakers, local authorities had announced a resolution passed by local Party leaders, and civil and military authorities to remove all crosses on the mount on Sunday Jan. 24,” reported the besieged parish.
“A group of parishioners were forced by these officials to carry out their resolution under strict police supervision. It was not done voluntarily. Our priests consistently protested the removal of the crosses,” the parish bluntly contested against the state media’s report trying to set the record straight.
After the demolition of the crucifix on Jan. 6, parishioners and Hanoi Catholic university students planted dozens of crosses on the hill in an attempt to make the Mt. Worship a Mountain of the crosses, like the one that Catholics created in Lithuania in Communist era. The idea was highly commended and subsequently copied by many throughout the parish in the following days.
Local authorities immediately prevented the attempt from succeeding by deploying a large number of plain-clothes police who were ready to assault savagely any outsiders trying to get in the area.
Also, the two priests had been summoned daily by People’s Committee of My Duc County in order to force them to remove newly erected crosses.
On Jan. 22, the priests reportedly started protesting summoning orders. They refused to present themselves in person at the People’s Committee of My Duc County for a so-called “working session”. The next day, police came to their presteby to violently force them to go.
Local authorities also put a great pressure on the faithful of Dong Chiem. “Parishioners had been blasted by threatening messages on public loudspeakers which broadcast all day long, late into the night,” the parish reported.
“A dozen of parishioners were singled out, and their names had been repeatedly read on loudspeakers with threats of arrest and heavy consequences should they refuse to carry their crosses home by the end of Sunday,” added the source.
Hundreds of police and local officials had come from house by house to terrorize the faithful of the parish, insulting and slandering the pastor and the faithful of Dong Chiem.
The long lasting harassment against parishioners came to a peak on Sunday morning when police summoned a group of parishioners to accompany a number of HIV patients brought in by police to the mount where they were forced to uproot crosses and to carry them home under strict police supervision.
On the Media battle against Catholics, state media have turned their attacks on Redemptorist Fr. Peter Nguyen Van Khai who has been accused of “organizing pilgrims to Dong Chiem” and “exaggerating the incidents for political gains”.
Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet still remains the number one on the government's "hit list".
It should be noted that following the grand opening ceremony of the 2010 Jubilee, the prelate was on medical leave in Ninh Binh province (90 km South of Hanoi) as per his doctor's order. On the fateful day of Jan 6 he returned to Hanoi briefly for the annual retreat with the archdiocesan priests then returned to Ninh Binh the next day.
In the past few days, however, state media, VTV1 and New Hanoi News in particular, once again have launched massive, vicious attacks against the prelate and Thai Ha Redemptorists whom they singled out as “the instigators of riots" calling the government to severely punish them.
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| Hanoi Chairman Nguyen The Thao, architect of the crucifix demolition |
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| A victory over women and children? |
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| Mt. Worship on Sunday Morning |
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| Mt. Worship on Sunday Afternoon |
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| An elder woman carrying her two crosses home |
Municipal Party Committee Secretary Pham Quang Nghi, and Chairman Nguyen The Thao of the capital, who were at Dong Chiem in person on Jan. 6 to directly supervise the demolition of the crucifix, could not help but warmly welcomed the move. Facing indignation and protests arose in the Church of Vietnam and even abroad, the two obviously had put a great effort to end the scandal.
As a "logical result" of the “victory” against women and children of a quiet, poor farming Dong Chiem hamlet whose men were away making a living, hundreds of police started withdrawing out of Dong Chiem “in order to restore normalcy in life there”, added the state media.
The report, however, was quickly refuted by Fr. Nguyen Van Huu and Fr. Nguyen Van Lien who had been publicly insulted on government loudspeakers, and repeatedly harassed by police through a series of summoning orders, and long hour interrogations.
“Since Friday, on public loudspeakers, local authorities had announced a resolution passed by local Party leaders, and civil and military authorities to remove all crosses on the mount on Sunday Jan. 24,” reported the besieged parish.
“A group of parishioners were forced by these officials to carry out their resolution under strict police supervision. It was not done voluntarily. Our priests consistently protested the removal of the crosses,” the parish bluntly contested against the state media’s report trying to set the record straight.
After the demolition of the crucifix on Jan. 6, parishioners and Hanoi Catholic university students planted dozens of crosses on the hill in an attempt to make the Mt. Worship a Mountain of the crosses, like the one that Catholics created in Lithuania in Communist era. The idea was highly commended and subsequently copied by many throughout the parish in the following days.
Local authorities immediately prevented the attempt from succeeding by deploying a large number of plain-clothes police who were ready to assault savagely any outsiders trying to get in the area.
Also, the two priests had been summoned daily by People’s Committee of My Duc County in order to force them to remove newly erected crosses.
On Jan. 22, the priests reportedly started protesting summoning orders. They refused to present themselves in person at the People’s Committee of My Duc County for a so-called “working session”. The next day, police came to their presteby to violently force them to go.
Local authorities also put a great pressure on the faithful of Dong Chiem. “Parishioners had been blasted by threatening messages on public loudspeakers which broadcast all day long, late into the night,” the parish reported.
“A dozen of parishioners were singled out, and their names had been repeatedly read on loudspeakers with threats of arrest and heavy consequences should they refuse to carry their crosses home by the end of Sunday,” added the source.
Hundreds of police and local officials had come from house by house to terrorize the faithful of the parish, insulting and slandering the pastor and the faithful of Dong Chiem.
The long lasting harassment against parishioners came to a peak on Sunday morning when police summoned a group of parishioners to accompany a number of HIV patients brought in by police to the mount where they were forced to uproot crosses and to carry them home under strict police supervision.
On the Media battle against Catholics, state media have turned their attacks on Redemptorist Fr. Peter Nguyen Van Khai who has been accused of “organizing pilgrims to Dong Chiem” and “exaggerating the incidents for political gains”.
Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet still remains the number one on the government's "hit list".
It should be noted that following the grand opening ceremony of the 2010 Jubilee, the prelate was on medical leave in Ninh Binh province (90 km South of Hanoi) as per his doctor's order. On the fateful day of Jan 6 he returned to Hanoi briefly for the annual retreat with the archdiocesan priests then returned to Ninh Binh the next day.
In the past few days, however, state media, VTV1 and New Hanoi News in particular, once again have launched massive, vicious attacks against the prelate and Thai Ha Redemptorists whom they singled out as “the instigators of riots" calling the government to severely punish them.