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August
7, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 14Oakland,
CA
Asian, Pacific
Island Catholics in U.S. celebrate
faith, diversity during first national gathering
ARLINGTON,
Va. (CNS) -- Hundreds of Catholics of Asian and Pacific Island heritage
from all over the country, including seven from the Oakland Diocese, gathered
in Arlington June 30-July 3 for the first National Asian and Pacific Catholic
Convocation.
“We are witnesses of a historic moment,” said Paulist Father
Ricky Manalo from San Francisco, who was master of ceremonies for the
event, which drew religious and lay leaders, diocesan ministry directors,
social workers, theologians, educators and youths.
“We gather together to give thanks for the many gifts of the Asian
and Pacific cultures and traditions. This weekend we gather to praise
God most of all, and the power of the Holy Spirit,” he added.
“We meet at a hopeful moment in this world,” said Auxiliary
Bishop Dominic M. Luong of Orange, Calif. “A time when more people
have a chance to claim the freedom God intended for us all. It’s
also a time of great challenge.
“In some of the most advanced parts of the world, some people no
longer believe in hope,” said Bishop Luong, who is the nation’s
first Catholic bishop of Vietnamese origin. “The Catholic Church
rejects such a pessimistic view. We offer a vision of human freedom and
dignity rooted in the same self-evident truths of American founding.”
The convocation was organized and hosted by the National Asian Pacific
Catholic Organization, based in Ontario, Calif., in cooperation with the
Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services.
The California-based organization was established in 2004 to bring to
the U.S. Church’s attention issues affecting Asian and Pacific Island
Catholics, to dialogue and to advocate on their behalf with bishops, dioceses
and other national Catholic organizations. Its aim is to strengthen these
Catholics’ connection to the local church, and to advocate for social
justice in their communities.
Participants in the first national event, which had as its theme “Harmony
in Faith,” included Filipinos, Tongans, Samoans, Chamorros, Chinese,
Vietnamese, the Hmong and Kmhmu peoples, Indians, Laotians, Koreans, Indonesians,
Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Attendees represented eight
geographical Asian and Pacific Island regions.
What U.S. Catholics from these regions bring to the Church is vitally
important, Father Peter C. Phan told participants.
And they bring much, he said, from their ancestors who shed blood dying
for the faith, to a strong practice of popular devotions that animates
their faith life, from their experiences of “the fruits of mission”
and interreligious dialogue, to the long history they have in this country
as lay leaders who have pushed church leaders to meet the spiritual needs
of their communities.
The “radical denial of self” seen in the martyrdom of Asia’s
saints and “hundreds and hundreds” of others not canonized
is a vital message for a U.S. culture “obsessed with self-fulfillment,”
the priest added.
He called Asian and Pacific Catholics the “pioneers of interreligious
dialogue.” Coming from Hindu, Buddhist and other cultures, “we
have Confucian DNA in our souls,” he said.
In a plenary address, Father Phan, a theologian who came to the U.S. as
a refugee from Vietnam in 1975, gave “a bird’s-eye view”
of “where we came from ... where we are now ... where we are going
in the near future.”
There are 12.8 million Asians and Pacific Island peoples in the United
States. Of that number 11.9 million are Asians, including Chinese, Filipinos,
Indians, Koreans, Vietnamese and Japanese, according to the 2000 U.S.
Census. Asian and Pacific Island Catholics constitute 4 percent of the
U.S. Catholic population of about 69 million. Asian Americans currently
are the second largest ethnic minority group in U.S. seminaries.
Attending the convocation for the Oakland Diocese were St. Joseph Sister
Felicia Sarati, diocesan director of ethnic and cultural services; Quinhon
Missionary Sisters of the Holy Cross Rosaline Lieu Nguyen and Christine
Chi Le, representing the Vietnamese community; Redemptorist Father Prasit
Kunu, representing the Thai community; Mele Mausia of the Tongan community;
Bella Commelo of the Asian Indian Community and Seminarian Rolando Bartolay.
Jenny Yang, 16, from the Hmong community of St. Peter
Claver Church in Sheboygan, Wis., joins hundreds of participants at the
National Asian and Pacific Catholic Convocation July 1 in Washington,
D. C.
CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC
Hiromi Tsuda, 17, places a crown of flowers on a statue of the Virgin
Mary following a mulit-lingual rosary at the Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception July 1 in Washington, D.C. She is
a member of St. Luke Parish in McLean, Va.
CNS PHOTO/NANCY WIECHEC
