Saigon Cathedral, Vietnam
Posted on 08/12/2007 5:18:01 AM PDT by NYer
This is how communities are built. It means the monks are doing an excellent job of holding families together. My Maronite pastor just returned from a mandatory clergy conference and retreat in VA. He told us about a parish in PA where, many years ago, the pastor built up the new community with a parish hall, outdoor sports facilities, etc. Today, the community numbers 150 children, all descended from that first group of parishioners.
In small immigrant parishes, it takes innovative methods such as those cited above, to keep the community together and grow it over the course of decades.
According to Catholic News Service, the Vatican estimates there are currently between 8 million and 12 million Catholics in China, a number that continues to grow. I do not have statistics for the non-Catholic denominations.
My small parish-Vietnamese language- has always had crowds of kids for the 23 years I have been a member
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When the President of Communist Vietnam recently came to Orange County CA, where he had no business being in the first place,
...the Freedom loving Vietnamese-Americans living there had something very important to say to him:
‘Making their voices heard’
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1741241.php
(See - ‘MORE PHOTOS’ & ‘VIDEO’)
.
.
I have been very blessed to attend a Vietnamese-American Catholic Mass in Little Saigon, witnessing just how seriously they take their Catholicism. Fully committed, many Holy Communions.
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onedoug -
You’ve posted the photo of the cathedral in Ha Noi, not Sai Gon.
At this link, http://www.mindspring.com/~jrpaulson/VN%20Photo%20Gallery/FrameSet.htm, is the Notre Dame Basilica in Sai Gon.
I have my own photo in a shutterfly account, with no idea how to share it with you.
Although in Saigon a short time in APR 2000, I didn't see the cathedral there. I did see Hanoi's though admittedly from some distance.
However, we also saw a Christian church as bold as you please between Tam Ky and Danang in the central part of the country.
It seems Christianity there is flourishing despite totalitarian setbacks that occassionally issue from the aging communist government in Hanoi.
I'm hopeful.
This is my wife’s home town. I’ve never been there during Marian days, but avoiding it was one of the deciding factors in setting our wedding date. I never realized how big a deal it was until I was talking to Vietnamese co-worker (in San Jose, CA) who mentioned going to a Vietnamese Catholic festival in small town Missouri... this one.
Con gai Trish Thuy Trang dep nhieu lam!
ThanhPhero, not to be blasphemous, but... it’s interesting that next to this August, 4-day celebration of the Virgin Mary, is the May/June, 4-day Buddhist celebration of Ba Chua Xu (of Chau Doc).
Lots of Buddhist VN refugees visited Ba Chua Xu immediately before embarking on their ramshackle boats in the 70’s, and it’s the first place they visited (or will visit) on their return to VN. Also I know that some folks are trying to replicate the VN annual festival here in the U.S.
Anyway the similarity seems interesting in some ways. Also right after wifey got her immigration visa we I paid our thanks at the Chau Doc temple with offerings of a 30kg heo quay, flowers, incense, and plenty of ruou (I guess Ba like a nip). The place was very crowded, lots of VK doing the same as us.
http://www.tuanlinhtravel.com/Vietnam/BaChuaXuTemple.htm
Great story, thanks for posting.
onedoug, where is the cathedral you posted?
Hanoi. See #28. The west side of Hoan Kiem lake. We were on the east.
I wish I could speak Viet. Can you translate for me?
Saigon Cathedral in Hanoi?
Who’d a thunk it.
I should have recognized all of that Hanoi mildew on the walls :)
“Con gai Trish Thuy Trang dep nhieu lam!”
Literally:
The girl (con gai) Trish Thuy Trang is pretty (dep) very (nhieu) much (lam)!
Actually the construction of “nhieu lam” is not quite literal.
dep = pretty
dep nhieu = very pretty
dep nhieu lam = extremely very pretty!
I always think of “nhieu lam” with an exclamation point at the end.
I said goodbye this time because I will not likely be able to go back and that was a hard realization. I had to do something ceremonial, do something to lessen the weight on my heart, to take formal leave. I went up to the temples at Po Nagar with a Buddhist ba cu of my acquaintance shortly before I had to ve My. The tourists were entirely too thick in the middle of the day. They were stepping over and sometimes on the prostrates and kneelers and elbowing each other in the temples as they tried to get better camera angles. I am happy to say they were mostly NOT Americans. We came back at dusk when the foreigners had departed. We entered the smallest of the temples and I said goodbye to Viet Nam in as proper a way as I could. I had to discuss this with my priest when I got back here but for me Ba Huyen and the temple represent Viet Nam. I also left some money with the monks at Den Son Thanh in Khanh Hoa. I had been there 4 years ago with no money and was immensely impressed with what they were doing with a large bunch of orphans. They have more orphans now and are building new dorms and a refectory.
The government finally lifted the last social and political disabilities from Catholics last year and the seminaries are full with waiting lists. There was some pretty heavy US pressure but it had become politically advisable domestically. Catholics had not been not allowed to work for the government or government related entities but had been allowed to go to university because the government made money from that. The Buddhists graduated from University and went to work for the government directly and indirectly. The Catholics graduated and hađ to start businesses and consulting firms. The changes also brought the benefits of a building boom to Khanh Hoa province a large part of which had been designated as Catholic and thus off limits to development. Now if the government can figure out that the Protestants are not space aliens and get off of their backs, too...
Co Trish la thieu nu Kinh vi vay chac la mot lo day bang nhan sac!
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