Cultures join together in thanksgiving
Huong “Helen” Nguyen moved to the United States from Vietnam in 1975, shortly after the war in that country ended. She came straight to Spokane, lived on College Street in the West Central neighborhood and began attending St. Joseph’s, a Catholic parish around the corner from her home.
Like the Pilgrims who came to North America 400 years ago, Nguyen found comfort in her community and in her faith here. She returned to Vietnam recently for a visit, to find that a lot has changed.
“It was a way to see how blessed I am to be here and to be a part of America,” Nguyen said.
Just as it was with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians who supposedly first celebrated harvest at a meal together in 1621, Nguyen and other Catholics spent Thursday pulling together some of the different cultures that shape America today. The St. Joseph and St. Anthony parishes held a multicultural Mass at St. Joseph’s in which the songs and readings were done in Vietnamese, Spanish and English. It was the first such Thanksgiving celebration for the parishes, although Mass is frequently said in those languages at the two churches at separate times.
“We always go to Mass on Thanksgiving,” St. Joseph’s parishioner Jan Nicolai said, “but we were delighted to hear it was going to be a multicultural experience.”
The blending of cultures wasn’t limited to language. A group of Vietnamese women performed a symbolic dance of thanksgiving, wearing traditional Ao Dai dresses of long, flowing satin and carrying bundles of wheat to the altar. A group of musicians played a communion hymn on two guitars and an accordion, making sounds one might associate with a stroll through a Mexican village.
Even the food at a reception after the Mass was diverse. Among the options were ponche de fruta (a fresh Mexican fruit juice) and egg rolls – a combination parishioner Catherine Paul couldn’t resist.
“It’s got that salty-sweet thing going on,” she said.
The diversity of parishioners is nothing new to Sister Irene Knopes, pastoral administrator at St. Joseph’s. Last weekend she watched as the Vietnamese dancers practiced their routine, followed by a group of Hispanic Catholics working on a performance for Our Lady of Guadeloupe on Dec. 12.
Tim Groh, who grew up across the alley from St. Joseph’s, said his church has always been very accepting of diversity.
“This has always been a real down-to-earth parish,” he said. “I’ve never experienced any parishioners disliking other cultures.”
Many of the 60 to 70 Catholic Vietnamese families in Spokane attend St. Anthony’s parish because the Rev. Joachim Hien, a Vietnam native, is the priest assigned to that parish. The Rev. Mike Cook, who speaks English and Spanish, says the Mass in Spanish once a week at St. Joseph’s, where many Hispanic Catholics belong.
The two priests performed the Mass together Thursday, alternating between the languages during readings, prayers and communion.
Parishioners were advised to “Darlen gracias, amigos.” Give thanks, friends. After readings from the Bible, the church was reminded that it was “la palabra de Dios.” The word of God.
In English, they thanked God for being able to worship in freedom and asked him to remember those who are persecuted for their beliefs.
Sabrina and Annie Nguyen, 7 and 4 years old respectively, helped bring forward the gifts, wearing yellow and purple fabric Vietnamese crowns.
When it came time to say the Lord’s Prayer, parishioners recited it in the language of their choice.
And, bringing tears to some parishioners’ eyes, the Mass ended with the English-, Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking choirs coming together and leading the faithful in one final song:
“America the Beautiful.”