Let God's house be a house of unity and love.
(Baonghean.vn) - The incident of Duc Xuan parishioners (belonging to Tan Loc parish) illegally building a chapel in block 8 of Nghi Tan ward, Cua Lo town and the statements of Mr. Hoang Van Sang, Chairman of the Duc Xuan parish's Pastoral Council, have caused public opinion to have a distorted view of Catholicism.
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From the perspective of true Catholics, we do not sympathize with the actions of Mr. Sang and the people of Duc Xuan Parish. Because:
The first:Building a chapel is only meaningful when we preserve and strengthen our close relationship with God.
In our opinion, the people and especially the chairman of the parish council have not been able to do this. The people and Mr. Sang have not been able to maintain a close relationship with God, because no one among God's children is as aggressive as Mr. Sang, no one is as hostile and incites the community of God's people to do wrong like Mr. Sang who used a loudspeaker to call on people to build without permission, even inciting hatred and being ready to shed blood. God was crucified to redeem the world and defeated the evil army with faith, sacrifice, forgiveness, humility and charity, not with actions of wanting to "unite" like Mr. Sang is doing.
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| Illegally built chapel in block 8, Nghi Tan ward (Cua Lo town) |
Monday,Building a chapel is building a community to worship God and passing this worship down through the generations.
The Duc Xuan people understand this better than we do, because for generations they have had a place of worship, a place to worship God, and they have been fervent in offering sacrifices to God. Not for a single minute have they neglected their religious practice.
When the above two factors are met, the third factor: God Himself will build a house for you, not your own efforts.
Churches and chapels are images of the Church, but you should understand that the Church is a church built with souls "Let God use you as living stones to build a spiritual temple" (1 P 2, 5). Faith makes us become living stones in the heart of the Church, Faith makes us unite together in a Church family. It is not the extreme and conservative faith that you are doing? It is not about building a chapel at all costs, my friends.
If we meet the conditions: in the name of being crowded, our residential area is too far from the parish church, the family church, the infrastructure conditions, the roads are not available for traffic, those are the conditions for us to be able to carry out the procedures to request permission to separate, re-establish, establish a new parish... those are necessary conditions, but not sufficient because in addition, Canon Law article 1215 paragraph 1 and 2 also stipulates "No church may be built, without the express intention in writing of the Bishop of the Diocese... after consulting the Council of Priests and the directors of neighboring churches", our people's chapel is no exception, it has never asked for permission from anyone, including the government and our superiors, why don't people realize that.
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| Mr. Hoang Van Sang - Duc Xuan parish directly instructed people to build an illegal chapel. |
Faith is a gift from God, receiving the Faith makes us Christians, Faith gives us life, celebrating the Faith is making present the gift of God, professing the Faith makes us participate vividly in the mystery of redemption, sharing the Faith makes us grow in the Holy Spirit.
Churches and chapels are architectural works, but they are also symbols of Faith. The image of churches and chapels also carries the same functions as people of Faith. As a gift of God, churches and chapels continue the spiritual life, celebrate the mystery of Faith, profess Faith and always share Faith with everyone. Once we are aware of the mission of people of Faith, chapels also need to be built with that awareness. We, our people, must realize this.
When meeting the social and ecclesiastical conditions, the chapel and church we come to have a feeling of stability and safety. All of these feelings are built by a neat and orderly planning, clear functional zoning and harmoniously built architecture of each area. That achievement is the result of a serious working style, a sense of responsibility, professional ability and discipline of those in charge. Planning and architecture not only satisfy the needs of life but also play a very important role in education and training. The living environment will greatly affect the personality of a person. If born and raised in a disorderly environment, an unstable space, a chaotic living atmosphere, Catholics are at risk of faith disorder because at this time religious faith is disrupted through the actions and words of Mr. Sang.
Not only did she arbitrarily build a chapel in violation of the Land Law and Construction Law, the pastoral council also ignored the guidance document published by the Vietnamese Bishops' Council, "Building from Living Stones" (Religion Publishing House 2006), in chapter four: Practical considerations when building churches and chapels. "...the intention is to help those who are responsible or interested in the issue, have a place to look up, think and apply it accordingly so that the work of building the house of God and other works of the parish achieves the highest results."
I think people need to refer to the issues discussed in this document when building churches and chapels if permitted, and not arbitrarily follow the "do as you like" style as our people are doing. Every country has its own system, the issue of religious practice, the issue of freedom of belief has been stipulated in the highest document of the Constitution of the State, all organizations, individuals, and citizens are equal before the law, no one is an exception.
I think the Catholic community in Duc Xuan should be alert so that we do not get caught up in the law, but we must wisely build the house of God with love, with sharing, build a monument of faith and light to honor the face of God with holiness and tolerance.
An Giang
My Du Parish
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