Around the construction of National Highway 1A: What we see and hear…

(Baonghean) - In recent days, following Nghe An Newspaper's report on local problems during the construction process on National Highway 1A, through hamlets 11 and 12, Quynh Giang commune and block 8, Cau Giat town (Quynh Luu), I remembered the story a few months ago when passing through this route, traffic was congested due to a few parishioners' reckless actions, both violating the law and showing disrespect to their superiors...

The thing is, on the afternoon of August 14, 2014, when the contractor mobilized motorbikes and human resources to carry out construction on National Highway 1A, passing through Hamlet 11, Quynh Giang Commune, a group of women gathered around the construction unit's motorbike crane, some shouted in protest, others carried a picture of the Virgin Mary and placed it on the excavator and began to pray right at the construction site. Like me, many passersby were very concerned, wondering why people put a picture of the Virgin Mary on the excavator and prayed in the middle of the noisy, chaotic and dusty National Highway? After many hours, traffic was still not smooth, passersby on the road kept commenting, everyone expressed concern...

As a non-believer, but born and raised in a rural area with many Catholic relatives, I know that in the Catholic faith, in addition to worshiping God, the Virgin Mary is especially revered and loved. The Virgin Mary was chosen as the mother of Jesus on earth; the embodiment of pure and holy beauty. Every church has a solemn place to build a statue of the Virgin Mary or a grotto of the Virgin Mary and has an "altar to honor the Virgin Mary". In any Catholic family, they worship and hang in the most solemn place a statue or picture of the Virgin Mary with tolerant eyes, a kind, gentle face, full of grace. And every time they are sick, ill, have natural disasters, suffer..., people often pray to the Virgin Mary for salvation, for the grace to have a peaceful, safe life, with many good news. God uses the Virgin Mary to advise and set a good example for everyone to know how to live to please God. The Church also has many prayers to praise and glorify the Virgin Mary and has established many feast days to show respect and honor to the Virgin Mary. In particular, the month of May is chosen as the month to offer flowers to thank and celebrate the Virgin Mary. The altars dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the statues of the Virgin Mary, whether big or small, are all solemnly decorated.

In the Catholic villages of my hometown, even in the families of the parishioners, the altar often only has a picture or statue of the Virgin Mary and every time they read the prayers, the parishioners are very respectful and focused; the surrounding space is also very quiet so that the Virgin Mary can hear the prayers, share and give grace, support spiritually... In my memory, the image of my neighbors kneeling before the picture of the Virgin Mary to pray is similar to the image of my grandmother and mother sincerely praying to Bodhisattva Guan Yin in a sacred, solemn, respectful and benevolent space.

Therefore, the image of some female parishioners carrying the image of the Virgin Mary and placing it on the excavator of the construction unit, in my eyes and the eyes of the people passing by on National Highway 1A on the afternoon of August 14, 2014, was somewhat disrespectful and extremely offensive. I do not understand why those female parishioners could read prayers right in the middle of such a noisy and dusty National Highway?

Although I am not a Catholic, through research I know that putting a picture of the Virgin Mary on an excavator and praying in the middle of the highway is not only disrespectful, but also violates the provisions of the Catechism and Canon Law, affecting the image of the Church. In terms of the law, gathering a large number of people causing traffic jams and obstructing people on duty is a sign of constituting a violation of the law. As a citizen, I also realize that, with the tradition of national solidarity and harmony, up to now, our Vietnamese State has always respected and guaranteed the freedom of belief of citizens, and no one is allowed to violate that freedom. However, Section 3, Article 3, Chapter 2, Decree 92/2012-ND-CP also clearly stipulates: People participating in religious activities are responsible for practicing a civilized lifestyle and complying with the law.

Although I just happened to pass by, witnessing the scenes on National Highway 1A that afternoon, I felt very sad and wondered if those Catholic women understood what they were doing? Did they know that their faith and understanding of the Catechism, Canon Law and State laws were not yet complete and were being exploited by some bad people to carry out intentions unrelated to the Church, specifically in this case, to prevent contractors and functional forces from constructing National Highway 1A - a key national project?

Nguyen An Binh