"Some congregations have invited
me to celebrate Mass, but public authorities have not allowed me and
even some members of the Episcopal Conference look at me as if I were a
'with hui', a leper”, says Father Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, in
an interview with AsiaNews.
He is provincial
superior of the Redemptorists, a religious order present in Vietnam
since 1924, that combines the proclamation of the Gospel and the defence
of human rights, especially the right to religious freedom.
Always strongly committed to evangelization, the current
provincial does his best to maintain and develop the missionary activity
in areas where there were present before unification in 1975.
Since the
'90s, in particular, they have organized pastoral, social and
charitable activities in the district of Can Gio, an impoverished and
forgotten area, near Ho Chi Minh City.
The Redemptorists have been present there since 1991.
They have
created a forum for free health care, in collaboration with the local
Red Cross.
The religious care for the elderly, orphans and abandoned
children. Schools for the disabled were set up in 1992 and hundreds of
children have been cared for and helped in relief centres based on the
principals of community.
Elsewhere, hundreds of needy children and young people have
been given access to schools for study or professional courses, in poor
communities such as Can Gio, An Nghia, An Thoi Dong in the Can Gio
district.
Missionary activities have also involved Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh
City and the Highlands for ethnic minorities.
"Gia lang priest" Tin
(father Tin) and the religious from his order have worked at Pleiku with
the majority population and have baptized tens of thousands of people.
"They work - says father Than - for the good of all people,
they pray and live for the service of the Gospel, to invite
reconciliation between social groups and respect for justice and truth"
“I live and I offer my service to the faithful according to the
teaching of Pope Benedict XVI. We are trying to move forward in a
difficult environment to build peace, respect for human rights and
religious freedom. So today I decided to talk to AsiaNews about
my concerns. It pains me to be discriminated against, but still I put my
trust in God and the Church, to serve my brothers and my sisters. "
"I'm Secretary of the Sacred Art Committee for the Conference
of Bishops and am involved in the construction of the National Shrine of
La Vang. I am witness to how hundreds of thousands of people, Catholic
and non-Catholic go to Our Lady of La Vang to seek help for health,
happiness, family, education of children, serenity and security in their
life, they seek material and spiritual help. The construction began at
the end of the Jubilee Year, Jan. 6, which celebrated 350 anniversary of
the Church in Vietnam and the 50th anniversary of its hierarchy "
Father Thanh, finally, spoke about the message of Benedict XVI
for World Day of Peace, "Religious freedom is not only the patrimony of
believers, but the entire human family. It 's an essential element for a
democratic state: it can not be denied without violating both the
rights and freedoms, because it their very the synthesis and foundation.
It is the litmus test for compliance with all other human rights. While
it promotes the exercise of all our human faculties, it creates the
necessary conditions for the achievement of sustainable integral
development that affects the whole person in his every single dimension.
"
SIC: AN/INT'L