PAOLO AFFATATO | Vatican Insider | 06/25/2014
ROME
Reporters Without Borders have included the Redemptorist Anton Ngoc Than in their list of “100 information heroes”. Vatican Insider interviews the man himself
The campaign for human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam is gaining momentum on the web. “Almost 40 million people use the internet in Vietnam. The most efficient way to awaken people’s awareness and evangelize is to create apps for smartphones and tablets – which are very popular tools – so that farmers, young people, students and workers can access information on faith and freedom with just one click.” The priest-blogger Fr. Anton Ngoc Than, who manages theVietnamese Redemptorists’ News website and a Catholic radio station in the archdiocese of Saigon (in 1976, this southern Vietnamese city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after its capture by the Viet Cong) said this in an exclusive interview with Vatican Insider.
FR. ANTON NGOC THAN
Anton is a 45-year-old Redemptorist priest who was catapulted to international fame when he was included in the Reporters Without Borders’ list of “100 information heroes”. The list gives recognition to individuals fighting for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, particularly in difficult contexts. Vietnam fits into this category: the main news sources (newspapers, television channels and websites) are State-run. The government controls mass media and the information that is published or broadcast. But there is a growing online movement that is defying the system. The internet’s very nature, a web that is constantly evolving, makes it very difficult for police to control every single citizen. There are holes in the country’s censorship. Blogs and social networks have become a fundamental means for Vietnamese to express themselves freely. Anton sees the web as fertile ground for enhancing people’s desire for freedom. His campaign for the respect of human rights has attracted criticism from the Vietnamese government, it is under constant police surveillance and has led to his arrest on more than one occasion.
Anton tell us about your life and vocation.
“I was born in a poor neighborhood in Saigon where priests from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer are ministering. Their spirit won me over at a young age. However, our country found itself under a cloak of communist atheism. As I was growing up, I felt empty despite my academic success. One day I came across the passage from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, which says: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” I suddenly realised that God was deep inside my soul. I began helping Redemptorist priests take care of homeless children. Then I joined them: they taught me that Christ dwells among the poor and the abandoned.”
What led you to decide to go into the news field?
“When I was 16 a passion for the press and communication started growing within me. I wanted to be a journalist and started working as a freelancer. When I became a priest, I was sent to the diocese of Kontum which is home to groups of ethnic minorities. I learnt how to get to know the indigenous people and made a short documentary on them. In 2005, when the social networks were born, I started writing some brief reflections on a blog and on Facebook. In 2009, the Vietnamese Redemptorists decided to give fresh impetus to the field of communications and they entrusted me with this task. Since then, an enlarged group of religious, lay people and I created an informational system on the web and via radio. We cover current affairs relating to the relationship between Vietnamese society and Christian values. Religious freedom and the unalienable rights of man are very close to our hearts.”
How is your pastoral work going?
“I am working in the archdiocese of Saigon. I provide my pastoral service mainly via the web. We are able to serve locals but also to collaborate with Vietnamese all over the world thanks to the internet. It is a service to life, to the truth and to the Gospel. For example: we need to denounce cases where people are deprived of their own land without any compensation. Anyone who protests is arrested. Or we come across young people whose lives are centered around online gambling, violence and pornography. Many young people have lost hope in life. We try to meet them in persona and help them.”
What difficulties do you face?
“We often express our solidarity to some activists or bloggers who are arrested for engaging in “anti-government propaganda”. At a demonstration in support of Nguyen Van Hai, (known as Dieu Cay), the police arrested me, preventing me from reporting on that unjust trial. The same thing happened with Dinh Nhat Huy who was arrested because of some Facebook posts. All reporters, including myself, run the same risks. In order to support each other on this mission for freedom, we organize a weekly gathering, helping each other and praying together. We are unarmed, but violent power does not scare us because it cannot weaken our conscience.”
What situation is the Vietnamese Church faced with today?
“In our communist society, religions are not fully free. Although the Constitution states that citizens are free to choose their own religion, all religious activities must be authorized by the State. Religious communities like the Catholic Church do not have a recognized legal status. But besides these structural problems, in the Vietnamese Church I also see problems linked to people bearing wholehearted witness to the faith in their daily lives. The challenge is to live a truly Christian life. Yet the Vietnamese place great faith in the Church, which they consider to be a strong and united body. For this reason, the Church has the duty to give its own contribution to democratic progress, for the good of the entire nation.”
Do you believe that the late cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was an example in this sense?
“He is a model figure for us: he is from southern Vietnam, like me, and the communist authorities put him behind bars because of his faith in God. His book “Along the path to hope” gives strength and encouragement to all Vietnamese Catholics, even in the current difficult situation. Van Thuan acted as Christ’s witness even in prison, bringing a message of peace to the prison officers. I hope Pope Francis will beatify him soon.”
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June 27, 2014
The Vietnamese priest-blogger fighting for religious freedom
by Nhan Quyen • Le Ngoc Thanh
PAOLO AFFATATO | Vatican Insider | 06/25/2014
ROME
The campaign for human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam is gaining momentum on the web. “Almost 40 million people use the internet in Vietnam. The most efficient way to awaken people’s awareness and evangelize is to create apps for smartphones and tablets – which are very popular tools – so that farmers, young people, students and workers can access information on faith and freedom with just one click.” The priest-blogger Fr. Anton Ngoc Than, who manages theVietnamese Redemptorists’ News website and a Catholic radio station in the archdiocese of Saigon (in 1976, this southern Vietnamese city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after its capture by the Viet Cong) said this in an exclusive interview with Vatican Insider.
FR. ANTON NGOC THAN
Anton is a 45-year-old Redemptorist priest who was catapulted to international fame when he was included in the Reporters Without Borders’ list of “100 information heroes”. The list gives recognition to individuals fighting for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, particularly in difficult contexts. Vietnam fits into this category: the main news sources (newspapers, television channels and websites) are State-run. The government controls mass media and the information that is published or broadcast. But there is a growing online movement that is defying the system. The internet’s very nature, a web that is constantly evolving, makes it very difficult for police to control every single citizen. There are holes in the country’s censorship. Blogs and social networks have become a fundamental means for Vietnamese to express themselves freely. Anton sees the web as fertile ground for enhancing people’s desire for freedom. His campaign for the respect of human rights has attracted criticism from the Vietnamese government, it is under constant police surveillance and has led to his arrest on more than one occasion.
Anton tell us about your life and vocation.
“I was born in a poor neighborhood in Saigon where priests from the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer are ministering. Their spirit won me over at a young age. However, our country found itself under a cloak of communist atheism. As I was growing up, I felt empty despite my academic success. One day I came across the passage from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, which says: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” I suddenly realised that God was deep inside my soul. I began helping Redemptorist priests take care of homeless children. Then I joined them: they taught me that Christ dwells among the poor and the abandoned.”
What led you to decide to go into the news field?
“When I was 16 a passion for the press and communication started growing within me. I wanted to be a journalist and started working as a freelancer. When I became a priest, I was sent to the diocese of Kontum which is home to groups of ethnic minorities. I learnt how to get to know the indigenous people and made a short documentary on them. In 2005, when the social networks were born, I started writing some brief reflections on a blog and on Facebook. In 2009, the Vietnamese Redemptorists decided to give fresh impetus to the field of communications and they entrusted me with this task. Since then, an enlarged group of religious, lay people and I created an informational system on the web and via radio. We cover current affairs relating to the relationship between Vietnamese society and Christian values. Religious freedom and the unalienable rights of man are very close to our hearts.”
How is your pastoral work going?
“I am working in the archdiocese of Saigon. I provide my pastoral service mainly via the web. We are able to serve locals but also to collaborate with Vietnamese all over the world thanks to the internet. It is a service to life, to the truth and to the Gospel. For example: we need to denounce cases where people are deprived of their own land without any compensation. Anyone who protests is arrested. Or we come across young people whose lives are centered around online gambling, violence and pornography. Many young people have lost hope in life. We try to meet them in persona and help them.”
What difficulties do you face?
“We often express our solidarity to some activists or bloggers who are arrested for engaging in “anti-government propaganda”. At a demonstration in support of Nguyen Van Hai, (known as Dieu Cay), the police arrested me, preventing me from reporting on that unjust trial. The same thing happened with Dinh Nhat Huy who was arrested because of some Facebook posts. All reporters, including myself, run the same risks. In order to support each other on this mission for freedom, we organize a weekly gathering, helping each other and praying together. We are unarmed, but violent power does not scare us because it cannot weaken our conscience.”
What situation is the Vietnamese Church faced with today?
“In our communist society, religions are not fully free. Although the Constitution states that citizens are free to choose their own religion, all religious activities must be authorized by the State. Religious communities like the Catholic Church do not have a recognized legal status. But besides these structural problems, in the Vietnamese Church I also see problems linked to people bearing wholehearted witness to the faith in their daily lives. The challenge is to live a truly Christian life. Yet the Vietnamese place great faith in the Church, which they consider to be a strong and united body. For this reason, the Church has the duty to give its own contribution to democratic progress, for the good of the entire nation.”
Do you believe that the late cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was an example in this sense?
“He is a model figure for us: he is from southern Vietnam, like me, and the communist authorities put him behind bars because of his faith in God. His book “Along the path to hope” gives strength and encouragement to all Vietnamese Catholics, even in the current difficult situation. Van Thuan acted as Christ’s witness even in prison, bringing a message of peace to the prison officers. I hope Pope Francis will beatify him soon.”