Under the bamboo cross.

THE GIFT WE BRING

The first in an occasional series celebrating diversity in the U.S. Catholic Church

The date was Sunday, April 27, 1975; the time about 6 o'clock in the evening. We had waited for hours in the scorching sun, without food and water, in the Saigon airport before boarding a small military airplane. All its seats had been removed to make room for some 50 of us passengers to sit on the floor. Two American soldiers, armed to the teeth, stood at the doors, their machine guns pointed outward, ready to shoot at communist snipers. The plane jerked violently and lifted off with a deafening roar. As it made a few circles above the capital, I could see thickening darkness below, tiny houses with their flickering lights, streams of cars crawling like ants, and the Mekong River snaking its way among the villages and fields.

We did not know our destination. None of us, I suspect, thought it would be a journey without return, a permanent farewell to our country and loved ones. Otherwise we would not have had the courage to board the plane. We huddled together, in silence, lost in our private thoughts. Seared indelibly in my memory is the image of my father squatting, his head cradled between his hands. My mother was praying with rosary beads in her hands, a source of consolation and strength for her. After what seemed an eternity, we landed in Guam, and exactly a week later, my family and I were flown to Camp Pendleton, California.

Our departure from Vietnam, traumatic though it was, pales in comparison with those of hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese who suffered indescribable physical and emotional torment, marching in the forests or floating on the high seas for months, thousands of them drowned, robbed, raped, and killed. Many languished for years in refugee camps, waiting to be resettled in whatever country would accept them. Saddest of all, not a few were forced to repatriate because no country offered them refuge.

Vietnamese refugees were settled in various parts of the world, but the country of choice was and is the United States--partly because it had the best-organized resettlement programs (in particular, the agencies of the Catholic Church) and partly because it was perceived as offering the best opportunities.

The Vietnamese American population is now estimated at more than 1 million and represents the whole spectrum of religious traditions in Vietnam--from the indigenous religion often called animism to Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, to the native religion of Caodaism, and of course Christianity. Although in Vietnam only 8 percent of the population of 75 million are Catholic, in the U.S. at least 30 percent of Vietnamese Americans are. Many Catholics fled North Vietnam to the south in 1954 to escape communism. Having had firsthand experience of the evils of communism, they had much greater incentives to emigrate in 1975.

In general, Vietnamese Catholics are deeply attached to their Vietnamese churches and hold their pastors in high esteem. They spare no resources in building their own churches, and they have their own priests so they can worship in their language and preserve their religious and cultural customs. Dioceses with a sizable number of Vietnamese Catholics have at least one, and in many cases, several Vietnamese parishes. There are currently some 500 Vietnamese priests (diocesan and religious), some 20 permanent deacons, and several hundred sisters. Vietnamese vocations to the priesthood and religious life have been numerous. In some dioceses (for example, Orange, California and New Orleans), Vietnamese priests constitute a significant percentage of the clergy.

Among the dozen Vietnamese male religious orders, the largest is the Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix (Dong Dong Cong), founded by a Vietnamese priest and headquartered in Carthage, Missouri. Every August the order organizes a celebration in honor of Mary that attracts some 40,000 participants. There are about 20 female religious orders, the largest of which is the Society of the Lovers of the Cross (Dong Men Thanh Gia).

Like any other ethnic group, the Vietnamese brought with them to the United States a set of ideas, beliefs, and standards to help them cope with the challenges of life--in a word, their culture. The main characteristics of the Vietnamese culture are described by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, issued after the Asian Synod. Referring to what he calls the "Asian soul," he says: "The people of Asia take pride in their religious and cultural values such as love of silence and contemplation, simplicity, harmony, detachment, nonviolence, discipline, frugal living, the thirst for learning and philosophical inquiry..., respect for life, compassion for all beings, closeness to nature, filial piety toward parents, elders, and ancestors, and a highly developed sense of community. In particular, they hold the family to be a vital source of strength, a closely knit community with a powerful sense of solidarity. Asian peoples are known for their spirit of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence."

If Vietnamese immigrants practice the "innate spiritual insight and moral wisdom" that the pope attributes to the "Asian soul," they will make a much-needed contribution to American society.

Among the many cultural-religious practices of the Vietnamese, the most sacred is the veneration of ancestors. Enter a Vietnamese house and you will see, at the most honored place in the living room, an altar with photos of the ancestors and offerings of fruits, flowers, and incense. On the anniversaries of their deaths and on important events such as weddings and funerals, family members gather around the altar and offer prayers and sacrifices to the ancestors, thanking them for the good things they have done on their behalf and asking for their protection and blessings. Non-Asian Americans often find these objects and rituals strange, but they are expressions of filial piety, the most important virtue for the Vietnamese, which requires them to respect and obey their parents, to take care of them during sickness and old age, and to venerate them after their death.

There are no doubt many forces in American society that militate against the practice of the Asian values that form the fabric of Vietnamese life. In particular, Vietnamese American youth, especially those born in this country, are pressured to assimilate into American society. The lure of individual autonomy without responsibilities to the community, of consumerism and immediate gratification instead of self-discipline and sacrifice for the good of the family has sometimes proved too strong for young Vietnamese. Stories of Vietnamese youth involved in drug-trafficking and gang violence point to one of the most serious problems of the Vietnamese communities.

To promote the practice of Asian values, the forces of Asian religions must be mobilized. Vietnamese Catholicism is nourished not only by the sacraments and liturgy but also by popular devotions, pilgrimages, processions, and novenas. Vietnamese Catholics emphasize the duty of respect and assistance for their elders and parents and love for their families. Births, marriages, and funerals, along with festivals such as New Year are celebrated not only by means of the sacraments but i also with rituals of veneration of ancestors.

Vietnamese Catholicism has also been enriched by the religious and moral traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism and offers a fertile ground for interreligious dialogue. Finally, and perhaps most important, the Vietnamese Catholic Church has been tested in the crucible of suffering. The memory of martyrdom is still fresh in the minds of Vietnamese Catholics with the canonization of 118 martyrs in 1988. Many Vietnamese American Catholics have themselves borne severe persecutions because of their faith, not least under the communist regime.

The Vietnamese have chosen the bamboo tree as their national symbol. Villages are typically surrounded by high rows of bamboos, bonding the villagers with one another and shielding them from natural disasters and human invaders. Bamboo shoots provide poor people with nourishing food, and the canes and leaves are used to build houses and roofs. The wood is woven into the most common utensils. Above all, bamboos are extremely resilient; they bend but cannot be easily broken, like the Vietnamese spirit during centuries of oppression and colonialism.

For Christians, the cross is the symbol of God's unconditional love for humanity and final victory over evil. Vietnamese Americans--as Vietnamese and as Catholics--live in the shadow of the bamboo and the cross, now gratefully adopted as their own. If they are faithful both to their cultural heritage and their Christian faith, their cruciform bamboo will grow and prosper in the soil of the New World.

By FATHER PETER C. PHAN, professor of religion and culture at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and vice president of the Catholic Theological Society of America.