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USCCB - (MRS) - Pastoral Care of
Migrants and Refugees - Vietnamese
This article is sixth in a series of articles about the religious life and
customs of Southeast Asian Catholics in the United States and how the
Church might better serve their needs. It is in two parts, adapted from
the following articles: (1) "A Historical Sketch about the Vietnamese in
the United States" by Msgr. Dominic M. Luong, director of Vietnamese
National Pastoral Center, and (2) "Characteristics of Asian Culture in the
Liturgical Life of Vietnamese Catholics" by Rev. Joachim Hien, director of
Vietnamese Federation for Clergy and Religious.
A Historical Sketch about the Vietnamese in the United States
Vietnam is a long, narrow Southeast Asian country located along the
Pacific Ocean and separated from the rest of the peninsula by mountain
ranges and hill country. It is surrounded by China on the north, and by
Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia on the west. Early inhabitants came from
China or migrated over the mountain ranges from India.
Catholicism came to Vietnam in the form of European Catholicism during the
sixteenth century. Before Christianity was introduced, Vietnamese worship
centered on several religions. Animism, a form of natural religion, taught
that nature is filled with spirits, who are most evident in natural
phenomena--rivers, mountains, oceans, and celestial bodies. The arrival of
Buddhism from India in the sixth century B.C., subsequently mixed with
Taoism, a religious-philosophical system, and finally with Confucianism in
a reformed mode. This form of syncretic religion was ingrained in the
Vietnamese culture for almost two millennia before Christ.
In modern times, the French gained control of Vietnam as well as Cambodia
and Laos by 1887, establishing the federation of French Indo-China. During
and after World War II, the country was invaded successively by troops
from Japan, China, and France. Finally, during the 1960s the country was
divided into North Vietnam (supported by the Communists from Russia and
China) and South Vietnam (supported by the United States). After the
Vietnam War, during which U.S. forces aided the South Vietnamese army, the
country was united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976.
In the aftermath of the Communist takeover of South Vietnam on April 30,
1975, the world witnessed an outpouring of refugees in small makeshift
vessels, even oil drums strung together--none considered sea-worthy. The
first wave of Vietnamese refugees numbered about 160,000 persons. Between
1970 and 1987, the number of so-called "boat people," was estimated to be
approximately 600,000. They defied death and risked their lives on the
high seas to escape the unimaginably brutal and inhuman treatment of the
Communists. An estimated forty-five percent died at sea; many women were
captured by pirates who molested them. The official U.S. policy regarding
the first Vietnamese refugees was to disperse them throughout the fifty
states. But the second and third resettlements brought Vietnamese to
warmer climates, along the West Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. According to
the 1990 Census, over fifty percent of Vietnamese refugees were settled in
California, and 100,000 went to Texas. Arizona, Illinois, Florida,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, Colorado, New York, and Washington,
D.C. have populations of approximately 25,000 Vietnamese. In these
Vietnamese enclaves, Vietnamese Catholics have formed communities among
themselves for the sake of friendship, security, and religious practices.
By 1989, the Orderly Departure Process (ODP) was initiated, which decreed
that only immediate family members--spouses, parents and unmarried
children--were qualified to enter the United States. Also, the Amerasian
Children Program allowed children of GIs entrance to this country.
Finally, under the Humanitarian Program (HO) former political prisoners
were admitted. It is estimated that as a result of these programs, one
million Vietnamese now live in the United States. Of this number,
approximately twenty-seven percent or 270,000 Vietnamese are Catholic.
Among the refugee population many are priests, religious, and brothers.
Among the first wave of refugees, approximately 200 priests and 250
sisters who escaped were able to minister with their people. These priests
and religious were a great benefit to the refugees because as they moved
out of the transit camps, the priests and religious went with them to take
care of their spiritual needs. Vocations to the priesthood from the
Vietnamese-American communities grew rapidly so that by 1995, 300 more
priests were ordained and 450 sisters entered the Vietnamese religious
orders in the United States to minister in their communities.
The proudest moment for Vietnamese Catholics in diaspora was the
canonization of 117 Vietnamese Martyrs in Rome on June 21, 1988, an event
which drew 10,000 Vietnamese from around the world, although their fellow
countrymen in the homeland were forbidden to attend. The feastday of the
Vietnamese Martyrs is November 24, when Catholics show their great
devotion to their Ancestor Saints. Another popular Vietnamese devotion is
that of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of La
Vang--the Madonna of Vietnam--celebrated during the second week in May.
This devotion dates from the persecutions in 1798, when a group of
Catholics saw a beautiful lady who consoled those who had been persecuted,
calmed their fears, and strengthened their faith. They named her Duc Phat
Quan Am, after the female goddess of Buddhism. Daily praying of the rosary
and observance of Marian feastdays are cherished family devotions of
Vietnamese Catholics.
In 1980, at the first convention of Vietnamese Catholics, the Vietnamese
Catholic Federation was formed with Rev. Joseph Tinh as its first
president. The Vietnamese Community of Clergy and Religious, formed
earlier in 1968, was merged with the federation. Fifteen thousand
Vietnamese from thirty states attended the second Vietnamese Catholic
convention in 1984. At the third Vietnamese convention, Bishop Enrique San
Pedro, liaison between the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the
Vietnamese clergy, announced the establishment of the National Pastoral
Center for Vietnamese Apostolate, with Monsignor Dominic M. Luong as its
first director.
Since that time, some dioceses have responded to the pastoral needs of the
Vietnamese by creating personal parishes, of which there are now
thirty-four in the United States. Many dioceses established Vietnamese
Apostolate Centers, many of which have now been phased out. Other dioceses
have recently created six multicultural parishes. All of these pastoral
models have been organized for the care of seventy-five percent of
Vietnamese Catholics; the remaining twenty-five percent or 70,000
Catholics live and worship in small scattered communities.
Characteristics of Asian Culture in the Liturgical Life of Vietnamese
Catholics
Like other people who have migrated to the United States, the Vietnamese
bring with them special characteristics of their own culture. These
characteristics help them preserve the foundations of their family and
spiritual life and contribute to making the American culture more
beautiful. In their liturgical life, these characteristics also help
Vietnamese Catholics preserve and practice their faith in a stable way
while adjusting to life in this new land.
Until now, although living in the United States, most Vietnamese have
continued to adhere to the structure of the extended family to form one
family unit. Each person must respect and obey his or her elders, staying
together and supporting one another. This way of life has a permanent
effect on the liturgical life of Vietnamese Catholics.
Vietnamese have a number of complex rituals in their traditional
celebration of weddings, which are not strictly followed in this country.
But the major elements are still observed starting with the parents, or
eldest among the relatives, having a prominent place in the marriage of
their children. Wedding ceremonies have three stages: a formal
announcement between the two families, a formal rite of engagement, and
the solemn celebration of the wedding.
After the wedding, a banquet is held at the groom's house or in a
restaurant. At the reception the parents guide the newlywed couple to each
table to thank the guests and to receive their congratulations. All those
who attend the reception bring gifts or money for the couple. Everyone
wishes the newlyweds "100 years of happiness." The ancestors of the
Vietnamese people believed that these complex and solemn rituals would
help the newlyweds realize the importance of forming a family. Some parts
of the Marriage Rite of the Catholic Church have been adapted to the
Vietnamese customs enabling them to preserve the family spirit and to be
more closely united.
Funerals are an important time for expressing filial love for parents and
grandparents. When someone dies, all members of the immediate family try
their best to return home to see the loved one for the last time. They
listen to the last words, and if possible, stay close during the last
hours. Often they invite the parish priest and members of parish
organizations for the celebration of the last rites to prepare their loved
one for a holy death. After the person has passed away, all family members
in the direct line openly mourn, and according to their relationshop to
the person, wear different types of mourning clothes.
The funeral is well organized according to national custom, beginning with
the carrying of the casket into the church for a solemn Mass, and ending
with interment in the cemetery. Seven days after interment, closest
members of the family must ask for a memorial Mass of the seventh day (le
ky). Subsequent Masses are arranged for forty-nine days, and one hundred
days. Then a year later, another ceremony is held called "long mourning"
(dai tuong) or "completion of mourning" (le gio het). Finally, after
twenty-seven months of mourning, the mourning garb is discarded at a
special ceremony.
Vietnamese celebrate ancestral commemorations such as memorial day, which
is a time of perpetual remembrance of parents and grandparents by their
children. Each year the family of the oldest son or first grandson
organizes a memorial or anniversary of the death of the loved one. On this
memorial day, all relatives and friends are invited to attend a memorial
Mass for the deceased and to share a meal with the family.
All the liturgical rites for Vietnamese funerals and weddings reflect
their family spirit. Parents, in addition to raising and educating their
children to adulthood, have an obligation to help them establish a career,
marry, and get a place to live. Grandparents are obliged to care for
grandchildren. The whole family shares in the joys and successes as well
as troubles of members of the family. This family spirit is an excellent
kind of "social security," helping the Vietnamese to hold together their
family foundation and to build up a good life. The family bond is
strengthened through liturgical rituals, especially funerals, weddings,
and the memorial feasts mentioned above.
The Vietnamese have several national holidays and religious feasts which
are celebrated according to their customs. The most important of these is
Tet (Lunar New Year) in late January or early February. Catholics have
transformed this national event into a religious celebration with a
penance service on New Year's Eve to ask forgiveness for sins of the past
year and to thank God for blessings received. On New Year's Day, Catholics
go to Church to ask God and the Blessed Virgin Mary for blessings in the
New Year, and then go from house to house offering good wishes to clergy,
family and friends. They may give children small amounts of lucky money in
red envelopes (li xi), as most Asian people do. The celebration of Tet may
last for three days or a week or month.
Vietnamese Catholics also celebrate feast days of national saints and
local patron saints, such as Our Lady of La Vang, Our Lady of Tra Kieu,
and the Martyrs of Vietnam. They also have special liturgical rites for
the major feasts of the Church, such as Christmas, Holy Week, and for the
month of Mary, and the month of the Rosary.
While adjusting to U.S. culture, Vietnamese Catholics have preserved their
faith and made significant and steady progress in evangelization because
of the development of pastoral activities that embrace their own culture.
This has resulted in strong family unity and sound academic achievement by
their children. More and more, they are participating in and contributing
to the life of the local community.
Email us at mrs@usccb.org
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