As I've said on many occassions, Catholicism is alive and well in VN. There's alot of Catholics in the Communist Party there. You can see this as you drive by huge mansions with catholic statuary on the balcony, or a catholic shrine in the courtyard. This is a not-too-subtle catholic shrine at a gas station that we stopped at. The gas stations are privately owned, but the government comtrols the flow and the price. Most of these stations sit on a good sized piece of real estate, with the owners usually huge house next door to it.