I don't plan on blogging a lot about my work at the Embassy, but I've been meaning to post something recently about all my interactions with the Catholics as of late. Since I've been in Hanoi, I've had a lot of exposure to the Catholic Church in my role as a political officer following human rights and religious freedom. In the past two weeks alone I've attended the installation of the new Auxiliary Bishop of Hanoi, met with the Archbishops of Hanoi and Hue, attended the trial of 8 Catholic parishioners in Hanoi and visited two dissident Catholic priests in Hue.
The installation ceremony was held 2 hours outside of Hanoi in the city of Nam Dinh. It was held outside in front of a large church there in order to accommodate the big crowd (about 7,000 people attended on a Friday morning - including a brass band and traditional Asian drummers). The ceremony lasted about two hours. Half of the Catholic Bishops from throughout the country attended the moving ceremony. Immediately afterwards, I was invited up to take my picture with Bishop Minh (above). I've had several meetings with him in his earlier role as head of the Catholic Seminary here in Hanoi and right hand man to the Archbishop of Hanoi. The Catholic Church in Vietnam has somewhere between 6 - 8 million adherents with 3 archdiocese in the country. I have now met two of the three archbishops and only need to meet the Cardinal in Saigon for a trifecta. Above (top) is a picture of me with the Archbishop of Hanoi.
Most recently, I also met with two dissident Catholic priests that have spent several years in jail for expressing their political opposition to the government. Above is a picture of myself and our Deputy Chief of Mission meeting with Father Loi and Father Giai at Father Loi's home in Hue. This picture has been zipping around the Vietnamese blogosphere which is amazingly active. What has kept me most busy since my arrival has been land disputes between the Catholic Church and the government. The disputes resulted in large-scale prayer vigils with thousands of Catholics participating. Eventually, eight Catholic parishioners were arrested for destroying public property and disturbing the public order. Attending the trial of the eight Catholic parishioners as a diplomatic observer was fascinating to say the least. My strangest experience of the trial had to be when as soon as I exited the courthouse the thousand or so Catholics that had been conducting a prayer vigil outside the courthouse erupted in applause for "Mr. America." I am frankly quite surprised that they knew who I am. For more background on the specifics of the trial, I recommend you read the following AP article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hFaNWDuuQ4A1hcYeEtbf3GoGu5AwD94UG40G2
