- Thai Ha Parish in Hanoi opposes a new hospital building on former monastery land
- The Redemptorists bought the 61,455-square-metre site in 1928
- The state “borrowed” the property in 1959 and 1973 and never returned it
- The hospital project is estimated at 265 billion dong (US$10 million)
Catholics at Thai Ha Parish in Hanoi have opposed plans to build a new hospital on land the Redemptorist order says it still owns, the Sunday Examiner reported on May 10, 2024.
The Redemptorists bought the 61,455-square-metre site in 1928. The government borrowed the property in 1959 and 1973 and never officially confiscated it; it now houses Dong Da General Hospital. The Redemptorists say they remain the legal owners. The new building, approved in 2023, was estimated to cost 265 billion dong (US$10 million), with construction starting in 2024 and completion within two years.
“We strongly oppose the construction on our land,” the parish said in an April 26 statement. Father Joseph Nguyen Van Hoi said: “It is unreasonable for a hospital with infectious disease departments to be built in a densely populated area and next to a church where large numbers of people attend daily Mass.” The Redemptorists, who arrived in Vietnam in 1925, planned their centenary for May 2025.
Nearly a century after buying the land, the order still does not control the site.
The Thai Ha case shows how “temporary” use of church property by the state can become permanent. In Jamaica, churches sometimes lend buildings or land to government agencies, schools or community groups. Any such arrangement should be written down, with a fixed term, clear responsibility for repairs and a right to take the property back, so that goodwill does not turn into a permanent loss.
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