People’s Committee of Ia Grai district in Gia Lai province issued an ordinance prohibiting Catholics to have Mass on Lunar New Year despite petitions of Catholic communities.
Catholics in Ia Grai, a district in Central Highlands of Vietnam, could not have Mass on the first day of the Lunar New Year, commonly known as Tết, after Bùi Ngọc Sơn, the chairman of People’s Committee of Ia Grai, threatened to pursue legal action against the clergy and faithful who dared to say and attend Mass on 7th February.
Local government had explained to Catholic communities that Tết is not a Catholic festival. They needed to apply to Sơn to have a permission to celebrate Mass.
In their petitions, Ia Grai Catholics stated that for Vietnamese Catholics, it is a tradition of devotion to dedicate the first days of the new year to Christ and Virgin Mary through public gatherings where the congregation can attend Eucharist or other worship services, receive sacraments, exchange new year greetings and receive blessings from their priests.
Responding to Catholics’ petitions, Sơn insisted that Tết is not a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, and celebrating Mass on Tết violates “the State law and Ordinance on Religion and Belief”. In the ordinance No 34/UBND-DTTG, dated 4th February, Sơn ordered security forces to arrest anyone gathering to celebrate Tết according to Catholic rite.
This incident highlights the fact that Vietnam's rhetoric on religious freedom does not match reality. Church's normal activities, involving travel, holding meetings, developing new pastoral initiatives, are all subjected to approval by the civil authorities.
In particular, every year Catholic pastors need to submit to local authorities the list of Masses that they are going to celebrate during the coming year. Some of them may be disapproved. In these cases, the priest violates the law if he risks celebrating them - even with a smaller congregation.
With the introduction to open market, the gradual opening to the West, especially to the United States, beginning with the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo in February 1994, the normalization of relations in July 1995, and the accession into WTO in November 2006; there has been a number of positive developments in religious liberty. Also, the situation of the Church in Vietnam was improved due in good part to the persistent efforts of the Holy See to maintain an official dialogue with the authorities, including a more or less annual visit to Vietnam of a Vatican delegation.
However, there can be no denying that religious freedom is still severely limited in today's Vietnam. Local governments do not change their policies of religious persecution for the ethnic minorities, especially the Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and the Thai, Hmong and Muong in the Northern Mountains.
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| Dedicate first days of the new year to Our Lady |
Local government had explained to Catholic communities that Tết is not a Catholic festival. They needed to apply to Sơn to have a permission to celebrate Mass.
In their petitions, Ia Grai Catholics stated that for Vietnamese Catholics, it is a tradition of devotion to dedicate the first days of the new year to Christ and Virgin Mary through public gatherings where the congregation can attend Eucharist or other worship services, receive sacraments, exchange new year greetings and receive blessings from their priests.
Responding to Catholics’ petitions, Sơn insisted that Tết is not a Catholic Holy Day of Obligation, and celebrating Mass on Tết violates “the State law and Ordinance on Religion and Belief”. In the ordinance No 34/UBND-DTTG, dated 4th February, Sơn ordered security forces to arrest anyone gathering to celebrate Tết according to Catholic rite.
This incident highlights the fact that Vietnam's rhetoric on religious freedom does not match reality. Church's normal activities, involving travel, holding meetings, developing new pastoral initiatives, are all subjected to approval by the civil authorities.
In particular, every year Catholic pastors need to submit to local authorities the list of Masses that they are going to celebrate during the coming year. Some of them may be disapproved. In these cases, the priest violates the law if he risks celebrating them - even with a smaller congregation.
With the introduction to open market, the gradual opening to the West, especially to the United States, beginning with the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo in February 1994, the normalization of relations in July 1995, and the accession into WTO in November 2006; there has been a number of positive developments in religious liberty. Also, the situation of the Church in Vietnam was improved due in good part to the persistent efforts of the Holy See to maintain an official dialogue with the authorities, including a more or less annual visit to Vietnam of a Vatican delegation.
However, there can be no denying that religious freedom is still severely limited in today's Vietnam. Local governments do not change their policies of religious persecution for the ethnic minorities, especially the Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and the Thai, Hmong and Muong in the Northern Mountains.