Northern Catholic Refugees in South Vietnam, 1954-64

i The Virgin heads South: Northern Catholic Refugees in South Vietnam, 1954-64. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Peter Hansen Melbourne College of Divinity Kew Victoria 3101 ii To the people of Tai A Chau Detention Centre, 1991-3 iii All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognizing that they were only strangers and nomads on the earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them. (Heb 11:13-16) iv ABSTRACT When the Accords of the Geneva Conference brought an end to the First Indochina War in July 1954, more than 800,000 people from north of the seventeenth parallel took the opportunity provided by the accord provisions to seek refuge in what was to become the Republic of Vieät Nam (RVN) in the South. They were fleeing from the regime of the Democratic Republic of Vieät Nam (DRVN) in the North. More than 75% of these were members of Vietnam’s Catholic minority. They became known as the baéc di cö ; Refugees from the North. 1 This thesis examines the evolution of the baéc di cö as a distinctive regional Catholic micro-culture within the Vietnamese Church. It examines the motivations of Northern Catholics in leaving their home areas to travel south, and critically analyses some existing commentaries as to who were the principal agents of influence in their decisions to leave. The process of their integration into southern society was complex and prolonged. Under the Catholic president of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), Ngoâ Ñình Dieäm (President from 1955 until his assassination in 1963), they had a significant influence on the polity and institutions of the southern state. But their influence on the Church in the South was even more marked. Not only were they a Catholic cohort more numerous than the southern church itself; they were also heirs to a quite different ecclesiastical culture, social structure, and mode of leadership. These differences meant that their assimilation into the southern Church – like that of their assimilation into southern society as a whole – was by no means a facile process. Using archives from the Dieäm presidency, fieldwork interviews, and contemporary press sources (particularly the Catholic press), this dissertation describes the process of their departure from the North, and their reception and resettlement in the South. Particular reference is made to the role of Catholic Church agencies, both domestic and international, in aiding the Dieäm administration in ensuring their transition from temporary evacuees to integrated permanent residents. This interaction led to a complex inter-dependence between Dieäm’s government, the southern Catholic hierarchy, and the Northern Catholics themselves. The thesis will assert that, contrary to some historiography of the era, no one of these entities was entirely beholden to the others. No less complex was the relationship between the eùmigreù church and the indigenous church of the RVN. For a period, the former functioned autonomously within the territory of the latter, before the process of ecclesiastic integration began in earnest. But even then, the baéc di cö church in many ways came to dominate its southern hosts. This thesis asserts that the insular worldview, tight social structures v and dominant ecclesiastical leadership which characterized the northern Church was largely replicated in its re-establishment in the South, and that this, as much as their numerical strength, accounts for the profound influence which the baéc di cö exercised over the host church. vi Statement of Authenticity This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university, and that, to the best of my belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. The thesis (including footnotes, but excluding bibliography and appendices) is approximately 96,698 words in length. Dated the fourth day of June, 2008. .......................................... vii Acknowledgements I consider myself uniquely fortunate to have had as my supervisors Rev. Dr. Austin Cooper OMI, of Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, as my principal supervisor, and Professor David Marr, of Australian National University, Canberra, as associate supervisor. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. Not only do both have an exhaustive knowledge of their respective areas, they have been unstinting in their enthusiasm, encouragement, and sage advice. To have had Austin as a mentor, colleague, advisor and friend for more than twenty years, and to have drawn on the warm support and knowledge of David Marr for more than a decade, has been a great blessing. One of the many ways in which David assisted me was to arrange for my placement as a research fellow at the Vieän Nghieân Cöùu Toân Giaùo (Religious Affairs Institute) of the Trung Taâm Khoa Hoïc Xaõ Hoäi vaø Nhaân Vaên Quoác Gia (National Centre for Social Sciences and the Humanities) in Hanoi during 2003. Whilst I am greatly indebted to Professor Ñoã Quang Höng, and to all staff of the Institute, who made my stay there so profitable and enjoyable, I am particularly grateful to Dr. Nguyeãn Hoàng Döông, Deputy Director of the Institute, who organized my field work in his native Ninh Binh Province, and accompanied me during it. Apart from offering warm hospitality, I must acknowledge that Professor Höng and the Institute took something of a risk in accepting me; a foreigner, a priest, and working on a controversial, albeit historical topic; all of these were firsts for the Vieän. I hope I justified their faith in me. I thank everyone at the Institute. Whilst in Hanoi, I was befriended by Dr. Nguyeãn Quang Höng , from the Philosophy Department of the National University in Hanoi, whose research was of great assistance to me, as was his kindness in making me feel at home. Professor Ñoã Quang Höng and Dr. Nguyeãn Hoàng Döông arranged for my access to two vital sources of primary research material in Hoà Chí Minh City, where I spent three months in 2003; the Restricted Reading Room at the Thö Vieän Khoa Hoïc Toång Hôïp (General Sciences Library), and the Löõu Trö Quoác Gia Soá 2 (National Archive No. 2). My requests for assistance were dealt with patiently and graciously by Miss Höông Giaûng at the Library, and Dr. Phan Ñình Nham and his staff at the Archive. Mr. Vöông Ñình Chöõ, Deputy Director of Coâng Giaùo vaø Daân Toäc [Catholicism and the Nation] magazine, also allowed me considerable access to their office’s library, which proved very useful, whilst the Sisters who administer the Library of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Hoà Chí Minh City, allowed me to look in dusty places where no one had ventured for a very long time. I also acknowledge with great gratitude viii the care given to me in Hoà Chí Minh City by Michael Hardie, my great friend, sounding-board, and landlord. Back in Australia, my thanks also go to Dr. Shane Mackinlay at Catholic Theological College, Tony McCumstie, Rosalie Cotter, and Lisa Gerber of the Mannix Library, and to Dr. Matthew Martin, Dr. Anne Elvey and Dr. Albert Haig, of the Melbourne College of Divinity. Oanh Collins, Rob Hurle, Ben Kerkvliet, Stan Tan, Nola Cooke and Jacob Ramsay, all of ANU, also provided assistance, materials, and advice, for which I’m grateful. I also thank Cardinal George Pell, former Archbishop of Melbourne, his successor, Archbishop Denis Hart, and his Vicar-General, Msgr. Les Tomlinson, for their support for my studies. Msgr. Ian Waters, Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Melbourne, provided extremely helpful advice concerning Canon Law. Frs. Vincent Leâ Vaên Höông and Philip Leâ Vaên Sôn acted as occasional translators when the Vieät-Anh dictionary no longer sufficed. In the United States, Dr. Ed Miller, Charlies Keith and Hoaøng Tuaán have all been truly helpful correspondents, as has Associate Professor Thomas Dubois of the National University of Singapore. My particular thanks go to Stephen Denney, who gave me the greatest assistance in accessing the Indochina Archive of UC Berkeley, for which he was then curator. The staff of the Parish where I minister – Kerin Conway, Louise Critchley, Arthur Donovan, Anne Hill and George Kurisingal have all been extraordinarily understanding and helpful, and have graciously filled in for me in the Parish when I was off working on this thesis. Particular thanks to Louise for help with tables and illustrations. My final thanks go to the Catholic people of Vietnam – clergy, religious and laity – who gave of themselves so generously, and whose enthusiasm and faithfulness both encouraged and inspired me. Notwithstanding all of the above, who contributed in no small part to this work, its deficiencies are entirely my own. Peter Hansen Melbourne June 2008 ix Table of contents Page Statement of Authenticity vi Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations xvi Select Glossary xvii A Note on Translation xviii A Note on statistics xxi 1. Introduction 1 2. The Development of Vietnamese Catholicism 21 (a) Early background 21 (b) The Church in the South 27 (c) The Church in the North 39 (d) Strategies, structures and organization in the Northern and Southern Churches 54 3.

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