A communist country, Vietnam still puts al lot of pressure on the shoulders of Christians. How is this pressure dealt with, we can see in the input submitted by Assumptionist Vietnamese theologian Paul Duong Van Nguyen.

After the war with USA, Vietnam was a country devastated by hunger, massive distruction, but one of the most severe situations was also that of Christians. Being accused of collaboration with the Americans by the other religious communities, Catholics were on the run for much of the time, being persecuted and forbidden to hold administrative functions. The fact that in 1955 almost 60.000 Catholics had fled to the south once the communist regime was established, contributed to the aggravation of their status.
At Vn, a city in the center of the country, inasmuch as there are no orthodox, a few protestant and no jewish and other communities, the word Christian is pronounced very seldom. The exceptions are "catholic" and "buddhist".

Catholic Church counts 8% of the 82 million population. The religious freedom in Vietnam is always relative. The bishops can travel more often and more free, most of the priests and the religious people were already liberated from prisons, but not all of them. Some of them are still banned from ministry by the communists (in a diocese 38 priests are banned from a total of 275 priests). They all depend on the permission granted by the authorities for ordinations, some of the dioceses have lost a lot of priests. The diocese of Langson has but one and others only two! In this situation, being a Christian means to have courage and hope.

Starting in 1980's, the communist regime was very interested in giving the impression Catholics are in a stable, free situation, having rebuilt their former destroyed churches and being active in the social department. Actually, in Vietnam social projects financed by the Church are always welcomed, but the implementation of a well-working organized structure in forbidden on grounds as absurd as submining the communist authority. Schools and formation institution for local Christians are strictly observed by the authorities, obliging the young Catholics to leave the country for France and Great Britain, most of them never coming back.

The Chinese policy of easing the pressure on "dangerous" communities also influenced Vietnamese government. The arrival of global market made the authorities to be more opened to the arrival of foreign investments. This opened a door also for the Church, who took this opportunity as a gift from God to help their local opresed communities. Some of the old churches were rebuilt, it's now easier to go overseas to study theology, mostly in Europe, and Vatican's voice is better heard by the local Church with the help of media service.

But still, counting almost 6 million people, the Vietnamese Catholic Church has no voice in matters of great importance as freedom of speach, it cannot liberate its priests enprisoned and, most important, it is not allowed to have its own free means of communication with its communities. Being a country with a very difficult landscape and with poor travel facilities, it is crucial to have means of fast communication with the local Churches. In order to have them, one could sped years and years searching for the appropriate approvals and still not receive them.

Not surprisingly for those who know the Vietnamese mentality, the people is of very optimistic nature, not losing their faith. But they look up to those who have the authority and the power to negotiate with the communist regime on their behalf in order to make their lives more easy. They still wait for an answer. Because their fight is now over. Now it's time for peace and work.

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