The Rev. Andrew Thu Pham left Mass on Sunday with a new year’s resolution in his pocket.
He pulled the slightly wrinkled paper from its envelope and translated the Vietnamese words, from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The “words of God” given out at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 2120 S. Harrison St., represented just one tradition of Tet, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year, the community’s most celebrated holiday. The lunar calendar observed by the Vietnamese also is followed by other Asian nationals, including Chinese and Koreans.
Thu was one of several celebrants at St. Patrick Church’s Lunar New Year celebration, which included Mass in three languages – Vietnamese, English and Spanish – followed by dinner and music that blended religious and cultural traditions.
St. Patrick in recent years had become a magnet for the Vietnamese community because the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has installed priests who can celebrate in the native language. Immigrants came to Fort Wayne from Vietnam in several waves beginning in the 1970s, Thu said.
Many of the young people in the crowd were born in the U.S., although some wore the traditional dresses and headpieces of their homeland for Sunday’s event. They brought forward gifts of fruit and flowers and performed ceremonial dances.
My Nguyen, 23, was born in California, but she speaks Vietnamese and considers the celebration an important part of her family’s tradition.
She clutched a small red envelope, traditionally given to children as tokens of the holiday. “All the kids get money, to bring good luck to them,” she said.
Bishop Emeritus John M. D’Arcy could only offer one brief phrase in the language, but he said he felt an affinity for the history and culture of the crowd in the pews. “My own mother and father, like so many in this church, were immigrants,” said D’Arcy, who retired two years ago.
D’Arcy told the parishioners his Irish parents, like many of the Vietnamese immigrants, came with few material possessions but deep spiritual traditions.
“They came to America, land of the free, and they had their faith,” he said.
St. Patrick draws many Hispanic immigrants as well. At the front of the church, a large portrait of Our Lady of La Vang, a Vietnamese Marian apparition, stands on an easel in front of a permanently placed portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
In a special message to youth, D’Arcy referred to the persecution of Catholics in the 19th century, when Vietnamese Catholics hiding in the rainforest said they saw the apparition of Mary now referred to as Our Lady of La Vang.
That was one of many times throughout history Vietnam’s Catholic population faced persecution, D’Arcy said. He told the congregation the Vietnamese community and its deep Catholic faith have been a blessing to the diocese and urged the youth to “live up to the great faith of those who came before you.”
“Your brave parents and grandparents crossed the great ocean, sometimes in fear,” D’Arcy said. “The young people must always keep in mind the suffering of their parents and grandparents.”
