In an event that mixed moments of sadness and exuberance, Roman Catholic members of the Vietnamese American community gathered Sunday to remember the difficult origins of their faith and celebrate their current triumphs.
Nearly 5,000 people arrived at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center for the annual Mass celebrating the Vietnamese martyrs. The 117 martyrs, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988, were killed during the persecution of Catholics in Vietnam from 1798 until 1861.
For many people, the annual commemoration is one of the most significant events for this ethnic Catholic community, estimated at more than 45,000 in Orange County.
"The Irish have St. Patrick’s Day. Hispanics have Our Lady of Guadalupe," said attendee Phuong Tran of Anaheim. "This is our day."
Yesterday, of course, President Bush visited a Catholic church in Hanoi:
The president and First Lady Laura Bush, in the Vietnamese capital for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, joined a mixed Protestant and Catholic congregation at the ornate Cua Bac church.
"A whole society is a society which welcomes basic freedoms, and there’s no more basic freedom than the freedom to worship as you see fit," he said after leaving the French colonial-era church.
Bush said he hoped "that people all across the world will be able to express religious freedom." "It’s our way of expressing our personal faith and, at the same time, urging societies to feel comfortable with and confident in saying to their people, ‘if you feel like praising God you’re allowed to do so in any way you see fit’." I
nside, a display of hundreds of white roses lay in front of a giant wooden cross. The church, only blocks from the mausoleum of revered former leader Ho Chi Minh, can hold 500 but its simple wooden pews were not full.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also present for the ceremony, which was mostly sung. There was no sermon and no remarks in English.
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