The Common Letter of 1980 of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam, an Important landmark on the Way of Catholicist Company together with the Nation

Abstract

This article is written to commemorate the day of publication of the Common Letter of 1980 of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam. This is an important landmark on the common action of Vietnamese Catholicism together with the whole nation. Religions in Vietnam in general, and Catholicism in particular, have been always closely linked to the nation, though at certain times, some Catholic authorities and believers had gone against the national interest. But, in general Vietnamese Catholic compatriots are always longing for national independence. The author gives some common letters before the letter of 1980 with anti - communist ideas of the Episcopal Conference of Catholicism of Vietnam, especially in the period from 1954 to 1975 in South Vietnam to show the ideological change to the common way of going together with the nation in the Common Letter of 1980. An argument well known in the Common Letter of 1980 was “the attachment to the nation and the country”, “the attachment to the fate of the nation in the national tradition to integrate itself in the happiness of the country”, “to live according to the Gospel to the service of the happiness of the compatriots”. In the end, the author points out the role of the Committee of Catholic Solidarity in carrying out the spirit of the Common Letter of 1980. Full text in Vietnamese Religious Studies 2005/5 pp.26-34