Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop has fulfilled his responsibilities and duties?
(Baonghean) -Born in a poor countryside, fully inheriting the studious, intelligent, and bright qualities of Nghe people, Lai soon had access to profound and scholarly knowledge from Western culture. However, Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop's contributions to his homeland and country were contrary to what he had accumulated.
>>Regarding the disturbance in Nghi Phuong (Nghi Loc): What did Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop do?!
As a son of Nghe An
Bishop Phaolo Nguyen Thai Hop was born on February 2, 1945 in a poor rural area of Lang Anh Parish, Nghi Phong Commune (Nghi Loc). In 1954, he migrated to live in Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province.
From 1965 to 1972, after joining the Dominican Order of Vietnam, he studied Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican Institute. During that time, he also graduated with a BA in Oriental Philosophy from the Saigon University of Letters. After being ordained a Dominican priest on August 8, 1972, he continued his studies in Switzerland, became a member of the Vietnamese Association in Switzerland, received a PhD in Philosophy (University of Fribourg in 1978), continued to study political and business at Zeneve (Switzerland), then received a PhD in Theology (Faculty of Theology in Sao PaoLo - Brazil). From 1996 to 2003, he was a Professor at the University of St. Thomas, Angelicum, Rome (Italy). In 2004, he was the Director of Academic Affairs of the Dominican Province and a member of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In 2006, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam approved his return to the country and registered his residence in Ho Chi Minh City. During this time, Father Nguyen Thai Hop was a member of the Catholic Vocabulary Committee and President of the Phaolo Nguyen Van Binh Club. He collaborated with the Institute of Religion, the Institute of Philosophy, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the National University of Ho Chi Minh City. The priest was also an active participant in charity activities through the establishment of the Faith & Culture Group and the Mai Khoi charity clinic to support disabled children and HIV/AIDS patients.
He is fluent in three foreign languages: French, Swiss, and Latin. On May 13, 2010, Father Phaolo Nguyen Thai Hop was appointed by the Vatican and approved by the Vietnamese government as the Bishop of Vinh Diocese located in Xa Doai, Nghi Dien commune, Nghi Loc district, replacing Bishop Phaolo Maria Cao Dinh Thuyen who resigned. From 2010 to present, he has been the Chairman of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Vietnamese Bishops' Council.
In his speech on the day of returning to Vinh Diocese (May 27, 2010), he expressed his heartfelt words to his homeland Nghe An: “Instead of welcoming a new Bishop, Your Excellency, priests, monks, nuns and brothers and sisters are opening their arms to welcome a son of Nghe An who has been away from his homeland for 56 years, now returning to live and die in his motherland. During the long years away from home, although my body had to be far away from my homeland, my soul still yearns for my birthplace”, “perhaps I am one of the sons of Nghe An who had to be farthest from my homeland and many times had to choose a foreign land as my second homeland. There were times when I thought I would never have the chance to return to my fatherland. Unexpectedly, I was suddenly able to return to live and serve in my homeland at the end of my life. I thank God, thank the Holy See, thank the Diocese as well as the government for creating this favorable opportunity”. The new Bishop affirmed that “according to the request of the Holy See, I accept to return here as a son of the homeland returning to his roots, as blood flows back to the heart”. The new Bishop also earnestly called on “Fathers, monks, male and female religious and all brothers and sisters to cooperate with me so that we can serve the diocese as well as the homeland and country even more”.
Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop (the person giving the hat) at the ordination ceremony of Auxiliary Bishop Nguyen Van Vien
Contribute to your homeland?
However, looking at reality, since Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop became the "shepherd" in 2010 until now, Vinh Diocese has continuously had many systematic violations of the law. That has affected both the church and the government, causing political instability, dividing the solidarity between Catholics and non-Catholics. These are the cases: Illegal encroachment, land transfer, illegal construction in Ngoc Long Parish, Cong Thanh Commune - Yen Thanh District; Lang Rao Parish, Nghi Huong Commune - Tan Ky District; Lap Thach Parish, Nghi Thach Commune - Nghi Loc District, Yen Trach Parish, Thu Thuy Ward (Cua Lo Town). Organizing ceremonies outside of places of worship in violation of the Religious Ordinance of the State of Vietnam in Yen Khe Commune - Con Cuong District; Nghia Xuan Commune - Quy Hop District; Chau Binh Commune - Quy Chau District. Disturbing public order, beating and illegally arresting people in Yen Khe Commune - Con Cuong District; My Yen Parish, Nghi Phuong Commune (Nghi Loc).
In the separation and establishment of parishes and churches, although the request has just been submitted and is being considered by authorities at all levels, or has not yet been submitted, the church has arbitrarily established parishes and churches. Not only that, it has also organized illegal religious activities, or organized religious activities in the private homes of parishioners, which has occurred in the districts of Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Con Cuong, Quy Hop, Quy Chau...
Faced with the above situation, on September 17, 2011, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Official Dispatch No. 5483/UBND-NC to Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop, specifically informing him about religious activities that violated the law in the past, stating: In the past year alone, there have been 23 cases of law violations and incidents related to parishioners in the province. Among them, activities of reclaiming land, illegal construction (10 cases); resisting law enforcement officers, destroying property (01 case); gathering crowds to file complaints, blocking vehicles (02 cases)...
At the same time, Party committees, authorities, and functional agencies have focused on resolving the issues in accordance with the law, on the basis of respecting the freedom and belief of the people; have met and discussed with parish priests and officials to propose coordination with the authorities in resolving the above issues to stabilize the situation. However, some parish priests have shown an uncooperative attitude with the authorities in resolving the issues. They also preached false content, causing parishioners to misunderstand the state's policies and guidelines; incited parishioners to cause trouble and oppose the authorities... Therefore, up to now, many cases have not been completely resolved, and new cases have even arisen that are becoming more and more complicated.
The chaos at the Nghi Phuong Commune People's Committee Headquarters caused by some extremist My Yen parishioners on the afternoon of September 4, a few hours after the ordination mass.
Worthy of the title "Shepherd"?
Before the disturbance and chaos in Nghi Phuong commune on September 3 and 4, at a meeting with the Provincial Police Representative on August 30, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop said: The incident that happened on May 22 at Trai Gao was regrettable and for everything to go well, he requested the Provincial Police and relevant agencies to allow the two subjects to return to their families.
Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police, Head of the Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Police affirmed: The incident that occurred at Trai Gao (Nghi Phuong, Nghi Loc) was a violation of the law and the police arrested the suspects in accordance with the provisions of the law, if the Bishop's Court bailed the suspects, the police would release them on bail, and when the authorities summoned them, they must strictly comply. However, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop and the Vinh Diocese Bishop's Court "demanded" an investigation to clarify the cause of the incident on May 22, 2013; claiming that the police arrested people in a gangster-like manner; the police arrested the wrong person, arrested one person and informed another; demanded the unconditional release of the suspects.
Returning to the case of law violations by some parishioners of Trai Gao Parish, it can be seen that Bishop Hop and some parishioners of My Yen Parish, Nghi Phuong Commune must be the ones who clearly know the cause of the incident of disturbing public order, intentionally beating and injuring people, illegally detaining people and destroying citizens' property on May 22, 2013. Because the incident occurred in the area (cultural house of hamlet 13 of Trai Gao Parish, My Yen Parish, Nghi Phuong Commune) of the very perpetrators.
Furthermore, at the time of the incident (May 22), authorities at all levels had repeatedly called Bishop Hop to coordinate in resolving the matter. At around 10 p.m. the same day, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop and priest Nguyen Doai - Deputy Chief of the Bishop's Office arrived at the scene and directly verified who was the victim and who was the perpetrator?! At that time, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop did not promptly rescue and provide first aid to 3 seriously injured police officers, but instead, together with the Pastoral Council of Trai Gao Parish, made a record with the content of slandering the police force for preventing parishioners from performing mass (with only 5 police officers, could they prevent hundreds of parishioners from performing mass? - Reporter). Priest Nguyen Doai read the record with distorted content to the officials, the police officers did not sign this fabricated record. When the police officers refused to sign the minutes, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop threatened: "After 10 minutes, if you don't sign, I will go home. The parishioners will solve the problem themselves."
It was not until nearly midnight on May 23, 2013, to protect their own safety, that the police officers were forced to sign the minutes. At that time, Bishop Hop called a car of parishioners in Nghi Phuong commune to transport the three comrades who were illegally detained at the cultural house of hamlet 13 to the Nghi Loc district police headquarters. At that time, the seriously injured were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Bishop Hop's presence at the scene of the incident to coordinate in resolving the problem as requested by the authorities at all levels is commendable.
But in his role as a "shepherd", seeing the wrongdoings of the parishioners, Bishop Hop should have stood up to advise the parishioners and save the victims, but he instead set conditions for those who were being controlled, and moreover, were injured and had their lives threatened, to admit to a fabricated incident, which is against the conscience and morality of a normal person.
On May 25, 2013, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province issued a decision to prosecute the criminal case for the above incident. On June 3, 2013, it issued a decision to prosecute the accused and an arrest warrant for temporary detention against Ngo Van Khoi, born in 1960, residing in Hamlet 14, Nghi Phuong Commune, and Nguyen Van Hai, born in 1970, residing in Hamlet 12, Nghi Phuong Commune, for the crime of disturbing public order, as prescribed in Article 245 of the Penal Code. On June 27, 2013, the arrest warrant for Ngo Van Khoi and Nguyen Van Hai was executed to serve the investigation according to the provisions of law. After arresting the accused, Comrade Vu Chien Thang - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police Department called Bishop Hop to inform him and affirmed that the police had arrested the accused in accordance with the law. Bishop Hop replied: You did not arrest them properly.
(Meanwhile, the Investigation Police Agency arrested the suspects Nguyen Van Hai and Ngo Van Khoi in accordance with the provisions of Article 80 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which are: The arrest warrant clearly states the date, month, year, full name, position of the person issuing the warrant; full name, address of the person being arrested and the reason for the arrest. The arrest warrant is signed by the person issuing the warrant and stamped; the person executing the warrant read the warrant, explained the warrant, the rights and obligations of the person being arrested and made a record of the arrest; When arresting people at other places, there was a witness from the representative of the authorities where the arrest was made... The fact that some soldiers wore plain clothes at the time of the arrest was to support the soldiers in uniform - this is also regulated and in accordance with the professional duties of the police agency).
As for Mr. Hop saying that the police arrested the wrong person, arresting one person and informing another person, that is incorrect, because in Nghi Phuong commune there are two people named Ngo Van Khoi, one born in 1963 in hamlet 13 and the arrested person is Ngo Van Khoi born in 1960 in hamlet 14. When arresting Ngo Van Khoi, born in 1960 in hamlet 14, the arrest warrant clearly stated his full name, year of birth, and hometown. At the investigation agency, Ngo Van Khoi admitted his crime, so it cannot be said that the police arrested the wrong person. As for saying that they arrested one person and informed another person, the police also admitted that there was an error in writing the address on the envelope sent to the commune, but when the error was discovered, they immediately withdrew and corrected it, and did not send it to the place written on the envelope. Currently, the family and the church do not have the document that they say the police made a mistake, because this document was withdrawn and corrected immediately after being discovered.
At the meeting with the provincial police representative, Bishop Hop’s request to “let the two subjects return to their families” is also an unclear and duplicitous way of speaking, because the term “let them return” is different from “bail” and “release on bail”. This request is contrary to the provisions of the law. After making unreasonable requests, intended to cover up the wrongdoings of the defendants in the disturbance on May 22, Bishop Hop said: I have fulfilled my responsibility, if you do not release them, I will let the people exercise their rights!
Or just give up?
Recently, many parishioners have written petitions to many places, claiming that the police arrested people in a gangster-like manner and demanding their release... (most of the contents of the petitions of the parishioners are similar to the demands that Bishop Hop once made - reporter). On July 11, 2013, the parish committee and the parish committee (Nghi Phuong, Nghi Loc) consisting of 15 people came to meet the standing committee of the commune People's Committee to work with the content of explaining that the incident that happened on May 22 was not an arrest or beating, but that they "protected" the police officers! (However, it was not clear what kind of danger they were protecting them from?!). And requested that the authorities clarify the incident soon. On July 13, 2013, at My Yen Parish Church and Thanh Son Parish Church, banners were hung with the content "My Yen Parish strongly protests the illegal arrest of people by the authorities of Nghi Loc district and Nghe An province"...
And the matter became more and more complicated after Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop returned from a trip abroad on August 26.
While the Ministry of Public Security has made no promise to release the two suspects in the May 22 incident, Bishop Hop told the parishioners that he had spoken with representatives of the Ministry of Public Security and they had promised to release the people, but the police and the government of Nghe An province had not agreed. Bishop Hop also “promised” the parishioners: You just wait until September 4, I will fulfill my responsibility, if I cannot do it (demanding the unconditional release of the people - reporter), then you can do whatever you want.
It was these provocative words of Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop that became the "catalyst" that created the recent disturbances by some extremist parishioners in Nghi Phuong (Nghi Loc), culminating in the crowd going to the commune People's Committee headquarters to cause disturbances and insult commune officials on August 30; the siege of the commune People's Committee headquarters and illegal detention on September 3; and the chaos that injured many people on September 4!
On September 3 and 4, the provincial leaders sent an official dispatch inviting Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop to the Provincial People's Committee to attend a meeting with the provincial leaders to coordinate in resolving the incident that occurred in Nghi Phuong commune (Nghi Loc) and sent someone to directly take him to the Bishop's Palace, but Bishop Hop still refused to cooperate and let the parishioners "do whatever they want"!
It should be added that, during the entire chaos, Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop did not cooperate with the authorities and allowed the newly appointed auxiliary bishop, Peter Nguyen Van Vien, a few hours earlier, to authorize priest Peter Nguyen Xuan Quy, parish priest of Xuan My, to discuss with the authorities and advise the extremist parishioners to leave.
As the Bishop of Vinh Diocese and Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Vietnamese Bishops' Council, are the above actions of Mr. Nguyen Thai Hop in accordance with the responsibility entrusted to him by the church and the outfit he is "wearing"?!
Public opinion cannot help but ask: Has Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop truly fulfilled his responsibility and duty as a "shepherd" to the diocese and served his homeland Nghe An as he said in his speech on his return to Vinh Diocese? At the same time, is what he has shown and is showing worthy of his role as Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Vietnam Bishops' Council? Is it true to the pastoral motto of "truth" and "love" that he answered in an interview on the Vietnam Bishops' Council's website on June 28, 2010 when he was just appointed Bishop of Vinh Diocese?
Article and photos: Reporter team
