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DOMRADIO.DE: Australian society has been increasingly characterised by immigration in recent decades. You yourself fled the war in Vietnam as a boat refugee in the 1970s and were the first Vietnamese to be ordained a bishop outside Vietnam. What is your story?
Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFMConv (Bishop of Parramatta): That's right, after the fall of Saigon, I had to flee my home on a tiny boat as a child. That was exactly 50 years ago, on April 30th, 1975. 147 of us were in a small, rickety nutshell. We didn't quite make it to the coast, but we were rescued by an oil tanker coming from the Netherlands. We were then allowed to go ashore in Malaysia and were first taken to a refugee camp. I spent some time there before I was finally able to immigrate to Australia.
My fate as a refugee played a very big role in making me the person I am today. This also relates to my views on how to deal with refugees and migrants today. Australia is a country of migration. Our society is made up of people from many different backgrounds who have come to us from all over the world.
The only people who are not immigrants are the Aboriginal people who have cared for this land for thousands of years and are largely responsible for what Australia is still today.
DOMRADIO.DE: You are the Bishop of Parramatta, which will mean something to very few people in Germany.
The diocese is part of the Sydney metropolitan area and is growing enormously at the moment because immigration is very high in these suburbs in particular. What does this mean for your diocese?
Long Van Nguyen: We have migrants from all continents in our diocese. The diocese stretches from the western suburbs of Sydney to the rural mountain regions. This certainly brings with it some challenges. How can we create a harmonious coexistence where everyone can identify equally with the church? That's a big task, and I think I can build bridges, especially with my biography. I myself have experienced what many refugees go through and know what it takes for successful integration.
I see myself as an advocate for refugees. Especially since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, anti-migrant sentiment has become established in some areas of society here in Australia. That's why I see it as my duty to stand up for the rights of people who have come to us from a different culture.
DOMRADIO.DE: This is also one of Pope Francis' main topics. Has the Church's attitude towards migrants and refugees changed under him?
Long Van Nguyen: The Pope's words and actions are a great encouragement for us in our work. There are refugee groups in our country that are less euphorically welcomed by society than others. It is precisely these groups that we as a church must support.
I know what I'm talking about. As boat people from Vietnam, we are still sometimes viewed with suspicion. What is currently being discussed in Europe has existed here for years: We were the first country to introduce reception centres for refugees outside our borders, in Papua New Guinea, Nauru or Christmas Island, which is officially part of the national territory but is thousands of kilometres away from the mainland. It's a bit like Lampedusa in Italy. People like to ignore what is far away.
That's exactly where I see my task, to put my finger in the wound. To show that the people who came by boat from Vietnam also have dignity, as do those who come to us today from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Africa. We are all children of God, and it is precisely from this perspective that we as Christians must approach the issue.
DOMRADIO.DE: As you said, it is now 50 years since you left your home country. Have you also experienced such hostility during this time?
Long Van Nguyen: Not directly. The mood towards migrants was different back then than it is today. Australia fought alongside the Americans on the side of the South Vietnamese in the war. When the South lost the war, many Australians felt morally obliged to support the refugees. So the reception for us was much more positive than migrants experience today.
The refugee centre policy, which is virtually unique in the world to date, has been maintained by a wide variety of governments in our country. There are people who are held there without knowing whether they will ever be able to leave these camps, and that is an enormous psychological stress factor.
DOMRADIO.DE: If you look at Europe, we also have a very tense refugee situation there at the moment. Syria, Ukraine or the refugee centres in Albania that Italy is considering come to mind. Nevertheless, the mood in Australia seems less tense than in Europe. What can we learn from Australia when it comes to integration?
Long Van Nguyen: Australia is a country of migration, but ultimately we are still an island, far away from the major world conflicts. Although we have humanitarian aid programmes to bring people from these regions to us, the numbers are of course far lower than in Europe or the Middle East.
Australians in general are generous, but we are not being overwhelmed in the way that other countries are at the moment. So I can certainly understand the tense situation in European countries. Nevertheless, multiculturalism has played a very important role in our country from the very beginning; our society has become what it is because we combine influences from the most diverse regions of the world here.
This is perhaps something that Western Europe could be a little more aware of, although many countries there have also been very generous in their treatment of refugees and migrants. They are old countries with a long tradition, we are a young country that was built up by migrants. With the exception of the indigenous people, we are all migrants in this country in the end. And that is a success story.
The interview was conducted by Renardo Schlegelmilch.
