Mahony Included in Delegation to Hanoi : Archbishops Visit Vietnam, Urge U.S. to Restore Diplomatic Ties

Declaring that the Roman Catholic Church is increasingly less restricted in Vietnam and that many Vietnamese leaders want to “move beyond the past,” a delegation of American archbishops has urged that the U.S. government normalize relations with its former enemy.

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and two other prelates represented the U.S. Catholic hierarchy on the bishops’ first official visit to the country since the end of the Vietnam War. They urged the United States, which has no formal diplomatic relations with Hanoi, to reassess its policy toward the Marxist government.

“We believe the interests of both nations--and the concerns and needs of their people--could be much better served by a more normal relationship,” the prelates said in a statement issued in Washington this week.

‘Candid Diplomatic Dialogue’

“This relationship could address both our real problems and our future possibilities by candid diplomatic dialogue and regular contact rather than isolation and hostility,” they added.

Besides Mahony, the delegation included Archbishops Theodore McCarrick of Newark, N.J., and Edward O’Meara of Indianapolis. They visited Vietnam Jan. 4-9 before traveling to meet briefly with bishops in the Philippines and South Korea. American bishops are expected to vote on a policy statement on Southeast Asia at their next spring conference.

During meetings with church leaders and government officials in Vietnam, the bishops discussed a wide range of issues, including religious liberty, the plight of refugees and American MIAs. Their statement observed that the Vietnamese government seems to be moving away from “repression and intimidation” and embracing a policy of “change and openness.”

About 10% of the Vietnamese population is Catholic, church officials say, with the largest concentration in the southern part of the country.

Mahony said Thursday in Los Angeles that the delegation offered to employ in the United States 94 Catholic priests recently released from prison who had served as chaplains in the South Korean army. “The Vietnam government doesn’t trust them and obviously won’t let them minister in that country,” Mahony said.

Mahony said church-run health facilities taken over by the government after the war have been gradually returned. Mahony said the prelates visited a polio rehabilitation clinic in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) that only the day before had been given back to the Daughters of Charity, an order of nuns that in Los Angeles staffs St. Vincent Medical Center.

Vietnamese Catholic officials, whose contacts include priests recently released from prisons throughout Southeast Asia, told the U.S. archbishops that they are unaware of any American military men still being held prisoner. Vietnam church leaders told them that a “handful” of Americans, perhaps soldiers who deserted, live in isolated parts of Vietnam but appear to be under no restrictions.