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Problems Raised From The Current Situation Of Catholicism In The Mong Community In Lao Cai

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Chapter 4

PROBLEMS RAISED FROM THE CURRENT STATE OF CATHOLICISM IN THE HONG COMMUNITY IN LAO CAI

AND SOLUTIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS

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4.1. ISSUES RAISED FROM THE CURRENT SITUATION OF CATHOLICISM IN THE HONG COMMUNITY IN LAO CAI

Problems Raised From The Current Situation Of Catholicism In The Mong Community In Lao Cai

4.1.1. For socio-economic and national defense and security fields

Catholicism in the Mong community in Lao Cai in recent years has continued to grow both naturally and mechanically, meaning that a part of the people continue to abandon traditional beliefs and switch to Catholicism. This issue is not simply a matter of converting religious beliefs, but more importantly, it affects all aspects of social life in places where there is Catholicism, with certain impacts on social culture, security and national defense. In fact, currently, the Mong people in Lao Cai have formed a Catholic Mong community. This community is both closely connected (in family, clan, neighbor, and ethnic relations) and separate (in religious activities) from traditional Mong communities or Protestant Mong people. Therefore, when these two communities live next to each other, especially in a village, it is easy for conflicts to arise. Furthermore, when religious factors are intertwined and blended with ethnic factors, there will always be potential sensitive and complicated factors. Therefore, we cannot be subjective or take lightly ethnic work, mass mobilization and religious work in areas with religious compatriots.

In the field of spiritual culture, besides the advantages of Catholicism, the transition from traditional beliefs to new religions has been and is causing the loss of many good customs and practices of the Mong people. Relationships from family, clan to social community have changed; traditional culture has been lost; the role of village elders, village chiefs, clan chiefs, shamans no longer exists, replaced by the role of priests, monks, leaders, and parish chiefs. A part of Mong youth who follow Catholicism are not aware of preserving their ethnic identity, many traditional cultural values ​​are gradually being forgotten or even no longer exist in spiritual life such as blowing the Khen, dancing the Khen, blowing the trumpet, singing lullabies... things that will take a long enough time to restore. The differences in religion and beliefs are somewhat

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This has caused a more or less rift in the social cohesion between the Catholic Mong people and the traditional Mong people. If the majority of households in a clan follow religion, the remaining households are almost isolated in many collective activities. On the contrary, if there are only a few Catholic households in the village, it is difficult for them to participate in common activities, especially traditional festivals.

On the other hand, in the Mong community in Lao Cai today, there is still a large number of Protestants, giving rise to the phenomenon that in a village, there are households that follow Catholicism, some households that follow Protestantism, some households that follow traditional beliefs, creating diversity and complexity in culture, lifestyle, customs and practices. Many Mong Catholics believe that those who follow traditional beliefs are conservative, backward, superstitious; they consider Protestantism to be an unorthodox "reform religion". Mong Protestants believe that they are the ones who follow the "new path", "new principles". Meanwhile, Mong people who follow traditional beliefs consider worshiping ghosts to be the most correct, they must preserve their ethnic identity, they cannot "worship Heaven" but forget to worship their ancestors. Mong Catholics believe that when they die, the souls of all people go to Heaven, so they do not have to worship ancestors or ghosts according to traditional beliefs.

During ceremonies, worship, and funerals, there are different ways of worshiping and funerals between Catholic Mong people and traditional Mong people. Catholic Mong people do not eat the offerings of traditional Mong people. Therefore, during funerals, or when a family has a big event, inviting relatives and villagers to attend, if there is a Catholic, the host must prepare two types of food, one for worship (traditional believers eat together), one for guests (Catholics eat separately), so there is more or less inconvenience in the village community life.

Marriage also has obstacles between Catholic Mong people and traditional Mong people, sometimes becoming a barrier not only for the couple but also a difficult problem in the way of conducting the wedding ceremony of two families, two clans due to different procedures. Marriage exchanges often take place within religious groups, if people of different religions marry each other, the wife must follow the husband's religion (or vice versa). In some cases, families prevent their children from marrying people of different religions, in order to keep their religion (especially women).

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Catholic) because they are afraid that their children will not adapt to the customs of their husband's family. Therefore, the percentage of Mong Catholics who marry people of other religions is very small. If a couple is determined to marry, the side that follows traditional beliefs must accept converting to Catholicism in order to hold the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, there is difficulty in agreeing on the amount of dowry and performing the wedding ceremony. For example, if the bride's family organizes the ceremony according to traditional rituals and the groom's family organizes the ceremony according to Catholic rituals, when welcoming the bride, according to traditional rituals, the groom must perform a ceremony before the altar of the ancestors and the wife's parents, while Catholics do not kneel to anyone but God. Therefore, there are cases where it is very confusing to perform this ceremony.

The economic life of the Mong people in Lao Cai has improved significantly since the Doi Moi. The Party and State have many preferential policies for ethnic minority, mountainous and border areas, including the Catholic Mong people. The lives of the people have become more stable. The infrastructure system in the highlands such as roads, schools, medical stations, and electricity grids has been invested in, upgraded and completed; the appearance of the countryside has improved a lot. However, the Catholic Mong community in Lao Cai is currently still facing many difficulties in general, with a high proportion of poor households. The mentality of waiting and relying on the State's support is still quite common. This is the biggest concern for local authorities at the present time.

In terms of politics, the development of Catholicism among the Mong ethnic community in the northern mountainous provinces is recovering and developing. The number of Mong Catholics nationwide is currently about 17,000 (accounting for 2.4% of Catholics), mainly in the provinces of Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Dien Bien and Son La. This is a strategic area in terms of economy, politics, security, national defense and foreign affairs. In recent years, the Catholic Church has focused on evangelization in ethnic minority areas to mechanically increase the number of followers, causing the political security situation in those places to have some potential complications that need due attention.

Lao Cai is a mountainous, border province, an ethnic minority area, in which the Mong people account for 26% of the province's population. Although there are only 3,805 Mong Catholics, a community that accounts for a small proportion, it is important to note the relationship between Mong Catholics and Catholics of other ethnic groups; the relationship between Catholicism and Protestantism within the same ethnic group; the relationship between

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The Mong in Lao Cai with the Mong in the Central Highlands, the relationship between the Mong in the Northwest and the Mong in neighboring countries such as China, Laos, Thailand, etc. Moreover, Sa Pa town - where the largest number of Mong Catholics is located - is a tourist center, domestic and foreign visitors often come to Sa Pa town, Lao Chai commune, Hau Thao and other communes. If the government does not manage well, bad people can take advantage of the Mong people's beliefs to propagate and incite people to participate in non-religious activities, complicating the situation.

4.1.2. For state management of religion

State management of religion is a task of special importance in the current period, when the religious situation has emerging issues that need attention, especially in mountainous areas, border areas, and ethnic minority areas. State management of religion needs to ensure the freedom of religious belief of the people, religious activities are carried out in accordance with the law, promoting the positive aspects and limiting the negative aspects of religion.

Before the Law on Belief and Religion took effect, like other localities, Lao Cai implemented the Ordinance on Belief and Religion , dated June 18, 2004 and Decree No. 22, dated March 1, 2005; Decree No. 92/ND-CP, dated November 8, 2012 of the Government implementing a number of articles of the Ordinance on Belief and Religion . These are important legal documents, concretizing the 1992 Constitution , amended and supplemented in 2001 on citizens' freedom of belief and religion; institutionalizing the Party's viewpoints and policies through the Congresses, especially Resolution No. 25-NQ/TW, dated March 12, 2003 of the Central Executive Committee of the Party, term IX, on religious work .

The Ordinance on Belief and Religion creates a legal corridor to recognize and ensure the implementation of citizens' freedom of belief and religion; ensures compatibility with international law on human rights; clearly defines the rights and obligations of individuals and religious organizations; and the responsibilities of state management agencies in the field of religion. The implementation of the Ordinance on Belief and Religion has brought about changes in Party committees, authorities, and people's organizations at all levels; creates unity in leadership, direction, management, and mobilization of the masses to resolve specific issues; helps clearly define the authority and time limit for resolving issues related to religion in general and Catholicism in particular; and contributes to the effectiveness of local religious work.

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After 16 years of implementing the Ordinance, in addition to positive contributions to the exercise of the freedom of belief and religion of the people, there have also been shortcomings in regulating social relations on belief and religion, which are increasingly rich, diverse and complex. The Ordinance still lacks some specific provisions, some of which are unclear and difficult to apply; new regulations have been introduced without sanctions, causing many difficulties in state management of religion. For example, the conditions for establishing and separating affiliated organizations are not specific, especially regarding the number of followers prescribed in the charter and regulations of the religion. In fact, Catholicism does not stipulate the number of followers for affiliated organizations. This causes difficulties when the government considers and resolves Catholic requests to separate parishes and churches.

The Ordinance does not specify the authority to resolve requests from Catholics to merge, establish, separate, or merge Catholic parishes. The Ordinance only stipulates the opening of training classes for religious workers, but the management of opening classes is not mentioned. Regarding the ordination, conferment of titles, appointment, and dismissal of religious dignitaries, the Ordinance does not specify in detail the religious organizations that register for ordination and conferment of titles. In the past, religious organizations only registered with the government for the conferment of religious titles, but did not register for the appointment of Catholic religious positions such as parish priest, deputy parish priest, parish administrator, etc. The registration of association activities is also not specific, so local authorities have encountered difficulties in management.

From January 1, 2018, the Law on Belief and Religion officially took effect. The promulgation of the Law on Belief and Religion is a new development step, perfecting the legal basis to resolve issues arising in belief and religious activities and state management in this field. The Law has institutionalized the views of the Party and the 2013 Constitution on ensuring people's freedom of belief and religion; continuing to innovate the state management mechanism to create openness and transparency, creating a legal mechanism to respect, protect and ensure people's freedom of belief and religion; meeting the requirements of state management and administrative reform in this field. At the same time, it strengthens the great national unity bloc; creates conditions for freedom of belief and religion and democratic, civilized values ​​of humanity and socialism to be promoted; maintain the faith of people with beliefs and religions in the policies and laws of the Party and State. The Law also contributes to

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Partly implementing the foreign policy of the Party and State, fighting against activities that take advantage of beliefs and religions to oppose the Party and State; demonstrating national responsibility for implementing international law.

However, beliefs and religions are related to many areas in society, so to effectively implement the Law on Belief and Religion, it is also necessary to be consistent with other legal documents. For example, Clause 4, Article 56 of the Law on Belief and Religion stipulates that "The conversion, transfer, donation, lease, mortgage, and capital contribution of assets using land use rights shall comply with the provisions of relevant laws" which is related to the Land Law . Or in Article 55 of the Law on Belief and Religion, religious organizations are allowed to "participate in educational, training, medical, social protection, charitable, and humanitarian activities in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws". How to participate needs to be specified in the Law on Education .

The Law on Belief and Religion is a new law, related to many classes of people, so there needs to be sub-law documents to guide not only religious dignitaries and followers in general, Catholics in particular, but also those working in religious affairs to grasp it firmly in order to implement it effectively.

The political system in the communes with Catholic Mong people in Lao Cai today generally still has many shortcomings. The activities of grassroots Party organizations, especially village Party cells, have revealed many weaknesses. Party members in Catholic villages are still small in number and of low quality. In particular, the number of Catholic Party members is very small (Hau Thao commune has 14 Catholic Party members/102 Party members of the Party Committee; Lao Chai commune has 13 Catholic Party members/111 Party members of the Party Committee; other places have no Catholic Party members). Party development in the area of ​​Catholic Mong people is very difficult because: (i) the intellectual level of the people is low; (ii) young people do not actively participate in local movements and do not have the desire to join the Party; (iii) socio-political organizations here have not attracted the masses to participate in order to propagate, enlighten them, and create a source for developing Party members.

The grassroots government in communes with Mong Catholics in Lao Cai still has many limitations. The capacity to manage the state and operate all general work activities as well as state management of religion in the commune is not without difficulties. The team of commune officials has basically been trained and standardized according to regulations but still cannot meet the requirements of the task. Officials in charge of public work

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Religious workers in communes have not received professional training, and are mainly trained in short-term refresher courses, thus lacking knowledge of religious studies and religious work. The legal understanding of beliefs and religions of cadres in charge of this work in communes is very limited. Meanwhile, Catholic dignitaries study the State's legal documents very carefully to apply them "flexibly", sometimes even "circumventing" the law to operate. This is a difficulty for localities in the field of state management of religious activities in general and Catholicism in particular.

At the district level, state management of religion is currently undertaken by an official of the Department of Internal Affairs (usually the Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Affairs) on a part-time basis. Most of them have not received any professional training in religious studies and religious work, so when faced with practical issues, they face many obstacles, especially when dealing with Catholic dignitaries or resolving concerns of parishioners. Lack of professional knowledge leads to a group of officials being reluctant to deal with issues related to religion and often consider them "sensitive" or "complicated" and difficult to handle. When problems related to religion arise, local officials inevitably face difficulties, confusion, and lack of problem-solving skills.

4.1.3. For the Catholic Church

Currently, the number of priests working in the Mong ethnic minority area following Catholicism has increased but is not stable. The mountainous area is large, the ceremonies at the parishes and mission stations are quite far away, so in some places the priests can only come occasionally. On the other hand, most of the priests are Kinh people from the lowlands sent by the Hung Hoa Bishopric to Lao Cai, many of them do not know (or know little) the Mong language, do not understand the customs and practices of the Mong people, so they encounter many difficulties in preaching. The team of priests often rotates (both diocesan and religious priests), so some do not know much about the area and the parishioners, which is an obstacle to parish management and preaching.

The Hung Hoa Bishopric is very interested in training local priests. However, due to many reasons (low educational level, young people find it difficult to accept the commitment to become a monk who must live a life of celibacy, chastity and poverty), so far there has only been one Mong seminarian who graduated from the Hanoi Major Seminary and was ordained as a deacon in February 2020. Thus, in the coming time, there will be a shortage of Mong priests. Hung Hoa Diocese still has to transfer priests from other places.

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To support the preaching of catechism, the Church focuses on training catechists. Every year, training courses are opened on both knowledge and preaching methods. The number of people trained is quite large (about 60 people), but only over 10 people participate in teaching catechism, the rest are almost inactive, partly because they do not have a salary, partly because they are busy with family matters. There are cases where they are not able to impart catechism. This situation shows that there is a shortage of priests, and they have to work in remote areas, where traveling is difficult, and they cannot often visit distant catechism points. Activities are mainly undertaken by the catechism board and catechists, which certainly has a significant impact on the consolidation of the Catholic faith.

The parish council is selected and elected from the community, who are knowledgeable about doctrine and rituals; and are responsible for religious practice. However, due to social circumstances and conditions, the majority of parish council members have low educational levels, mostly only finishing junior high school, some only finishing primary school. With such educational levels, they encounter many difficulties in organizing religious rituals and other tasks when assigned.

The number of Mong Catholics in Lao Cai is not large, but they live scattered in the villages, interspersed with Protestant households and households following traditional beliefs. This residential characteristic will have cultural differences between people with different religious beliefs. Sometimes there are small conflicts arising in the clans and ethnic communities. The education level of the Mong Catholics is still low, many people do not know the common language and script. Meanwhile, the priests are from the lowlands, know little about the Mong language, lack understanding of the customs and practices of the people; the Mong catechists have not been properly trained, so the preaching of religion still has many shortcomings. The level of understanding of doctrine and canon law of the believers is still limited, many contents they understand according to their own way of thinking, far from the things in the scriptures. Such limited and shallow understanding can lead to misunderstanding the content of doctrine and the Bible . What is more dangerous is that bad people can take advantage of this to introduce deviant and distorted ideas for non-religious purposes, even opposing the government and going against the interests of the national community.

There are still some points in the practice of Catholic rituals that the Church needs to pay attention to. Although Mong Catholics are very enthusiastic in participating in important Catholic holidays, many do not understand the meaning of these holidays.

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