Saint Ho Chi Minh? Oppression of the Church in Vietnam continues

In a remote corner of the Vietnamese province of Gia Lai, an intrepid traveller would find the village of Dak Pnan. The people who live there are lepers. The chapel is based in Dak Pnan village, whose members are lepers. Most of them belong to a tiny ethnic minority, the Bahnars. And most of them are Catholics

In 1999, a charitable organization based in France built a chapel in Dak Pnan in which the villagers could worship and hold their common activities. The villagers furnished the building with an altar, tabernacle, crucifix, and an image of the Blessed Virgin.

Last week, Communist officials ordered the faithful villagers to remove the Catholic pictures and items -- every last one -- from their chapel. If they didn't, the Communists told them, their lay leader would be put in prison.

So the villagers had to carry the cross, Marian picture, altar and tabernacle to the lay leader’s house. Authorities then put two pictures of Ho Chi Minh in the places where the cross and Marian picture were.

On the following day, authorities dismantled the bell of the chapel after local Catholics refused to do it. The bell was also taken to the lay leader’s house.

Stories like this are common in Communist-ruled countries like Vietnam, China and North Korea, but also in nominally secular states like India. I'm posting this one to remind all readers (not just Catholics) that Communism and Christianity are antithetical. The official belief system of Communism is atheism. That's why we call it "godless Communism". To Communists and atheists, Christianity is the enemy, to be treated accordingly, as in this example.

The same can truly be said of the secular humanists who rule the United States of America. President Obama and his administration are waging war on Christianity, especially in its truest form, Catholicism.

Believers! It is your right and your duty to resist such oppression, at home and abroad. Support in whatever way you can those who are persecuted for the sake of the True Faith. And remember Christ's promise: Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kindgom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and peresecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake. (St. Matthew 5:10-11)