Hanoi: attacks continue against Thai Ha parish

Local authorities, hooligans and police intensify attacks, threats and acts of violence against Catholic religious and laity trying to defend their parish from unlawful dispossession. Dozens of people have been arrested. Prayers are being said around the world for Thai Ha.

a local uniformed civil defence team member entered the building
shouting and proffering threats against the celebrating priest

Hanoi (AsiaNews) – In the past two weeks, Vietnamese Catholics both at home and abroad have prayed non-stop for Thai Ha parish, northern Vietnam. Incredibly, 600 police and local government officials have surrounded the Redemptorist parish church, seizing its land. Redemptorist priests and religious were mistreated and threatened, but parishioners, including young people, are still gathering at Thai Ha to pray to God and Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Communist Party officials broke the cross in Dong Chiem. They poured dirty oil on the statue of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Thai Ha parish, broke into a church courtyard and desecrated the Eucharist in Hanoi Cathedral. In Thai Ha church, more than a hundred hooligans attacked the Redemptorists and threatened to kill them.

Local authorities, which are supposed to protect religious freedom, instead violated it. Wherever Communism and atheistic materialism rule in Vietnam, religion is oppressed.

“Many people have endured the injustice of prison without trial,” Paul Hung, of Thai Ha parish, told AsiaNews. “In the city of Hanoi, local authorities are using thugs and police agents to crack down and arrest the faithful, patriots like Fr Nguyen Van Ly, but also some 20 bloggers and 15 young Catholics.”

For many members of Thai Ha parish, the authorities “are engaged in dialogue with Redemptorist priests in Thai Ha, whilst using hooligans to devastate and destroy the parish. They use plainclothes police to break the law. They rely on hooligans to attack the faithful and the clergy so as to avoid criticism from Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups.”

Speaking to AsiaNews on ‘Teachers’ Day’ (20 November), Fr Nguyen said, “Once the educational system is built on atheistic materialism, the regime becomes egocentric and deceitful towards the people.”

“We need prayers for ourselves and for the young generation to protect us from atheistic materialism,” said Bishop Hoang Duc Oanh.

In reference to education today, he said, “Let us pray for a just educational system, one that can prepare people to be good in society. Let us pray for a harmonious development based on justice and love as Jesus taught us.”

Recently, some 500 Vietnamese-Australians organised a prayer vigil in Melbourne for Thai Ha parish and their homeland. “We have a duty to speak for those who have no voice,” said Bishop Vincent Nguyen Van Long.

Urging the gathering to pray for those treated unjustly, he said, “Our concern is for our brothers and sisters, who are victims of deceit. Let us raise our voice to demand the protection of justice and the public interest of the Vietnamese people.”

Sadly, such solidarity towards the Vietnamese Church is hard to come by in other parts of the world.
From Vietcatholic news

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Posted in: Asia,Politics,Society,Vietnam

English Idoms - Unit 3: Challenges/Difficulties

I’m feeling very frustrated. I have so much work to do, and I’m still waiting for tech support to upgrade my system to improve the processing speed. I feel like I’m doing the job of three people. I tried multi-tasking, but even when I talk on the phone and read and answer my e-mail at the same time, I can’t get everything done. I’m also having problems with my staff. I have one person who always makes waves and causes arguments with the rest of the staff. Whenever there’s a bottleneck and work builds up so that we fall behind schedule, she’s usually responsible. Our budget has been cut, so I have to find ways to save money; this means I have to cut corners on hiring, so I can’t bring on any new people. I just have to make do with the current team. I was talking with Joe, the other supervisor, during a break. He’s in the same boat. He says his job has become a pain in the neck. His boss is always in his face about something. We both feel like we’re between a rock and a hard place. My wife is going to have a baby, so I need to have a steady income. Joe is about 25 years older than I am. He was planning to retire next year, but he put all his eggs in one basket and invested in a high-tech stock that was supposed to make him a million dollars. Then the market went south and now he’s really up a creek. He doesn’t want to tell his wife about his bad investment, so now he has to keep working for a lot longer than he expected.

1. Upgrade: improve, update, or change for the better

 He needs to upgrade his job skills so he’ll be more employable.

 I upgraded my computer system so I could work better.

2. Multi-tasking: doing more than one thing at the same time.

I can’t keep up with my work. I need to try multi-tasking so I can get everything done.

He got a ticket for multi-tasking while he was driving. He was talking on the car phone and looking up another phone number while he was at the wheel.

3. Make waves: to cause troubles or problems

 I don’t want him on my team because he always makes waves and upsets the others.

 She made waves wherever she went, so she didn’t usually stay long in one company.

4. A bottleneck: a person or place that stops or slows the easy flow of ideas or products

 There’s a bottleneck in manufacturing at the third station on the assembly line.

 We need to make some changes in the process there. That department is always a bottleneck for us when we try to get anything done quickly. They always delay the process.

5. Cut corners: save money or time by substituting inferior materials or not carrying out all the required steps.

 The company cut corners on the new product by using a less expensive part in the design.

 We have to find a way to cut corners on this project because we’ve already gone over our budget.

6. Make do: complete a task using only the available supplies or people

 We don’t have enough yellow paper, so we’ll have to make do with white.

 She ran out of butter, so she made do with oil for the recipes.

7. Be in the same boat: be in the same situation as someone else

 They are both engineers who worked for start-up companies and then left to start their own companies. They are in the same boat.

 Both women have just had their first babies. They are in the same boat.

8. A pain in the neck: a difficult problem or person

 This project has had problems from the beginning. It’s a pain in the neck.

 I left that job because it was a pain in the neck.

9. Be in someone’s face: make someone uncomfortable, be confrontational

 That salesman was really in my face. I didn’t like him. He stood very close and was very persistent.

 She’s a difficult person to work with because she is always in your face. She likes to argue.

10. Be between a rock and a hard place: be a difficult position, unable to escape.

 She’s caught between a rock and a hard place. She needs to invest in research and development to be competitive, but she has to spend all the money just to keep the company going.

 He’s between a rock and a hard place. If he does what his mother wants, his wife will be angry. If he does what his wife wants, his mother will be angry.

11. Put all one’s eggs in one basket: put all one’s money or energy in one place

 Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s less risky to have more than one investment.

 She put all her eggs in one basket, so when the price of gold dropped, she lost everything.

12. The market goes south: the value goes down/declines

 We were doing well with our investments for retirement until the market went south. Now, we’re all worried.

 That country was exporting coffee for a good price, but then the marker went south, and their economy is really hurting now.

13. Be up a creek (without a paddle): be in a difficult situation

If the programmer leaves without giving us any notice, we’ll be up a creek without a paddle.

Our child-care provider quit yesterday, and we are really up a creek trying to work with our new twins.

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Posted in: Learning English