Personal Narrative: The Vietnamese Catholic Community

As a proud second generation Vietnamese American, I proudly associate myself with my Catholic Vietnamese community. Like all members in my group, we are indoctrinated with the typical immigrant values of perseverance, freedom, and respect for others and our cultural identity. The church that binds us together, Our Lady of Lavang, is the center where most of the Catholic Vietnamese Community gathers all over West Michigan. Since the 1st grade, I went through the Church's school program every Sunday to learn about Christian moral values, Vietnamese traditions, and language. These lessons has heavily influenced my outlook on life, enabling me to use faith to build confidence with myself, maintain integrity, and to love and respect every individual.

I lived in Barriere most of my life since 1998 .. I lived in a family with three sisters and a brother named Shilo, Jessica, Moriah, and Thomas. Moved to a 5 bedroom house, my room was downstairs. I lived in a teachers subdivision in Barriere. Back then my home church is Pentacostal Christian Life Assembly I still attend there today. My family had been going there since was about 4 years old. At that time I had been going to youth run by a guy named Cliff Millar at the PCLA. I had lots of friends in Barriere and surrounding places. I hanged with my crew in that youth group. I was just hanging with them to feel like I belonged somewhere. But really I was empty inside I felt as if I needed to act out or showoff to become cooler and or better

Unfortunately, Vietnamese Americans make up only a small percent of the total American Population today. There are many stereotypes associated with the Vietnamese, but the truth is, we really know very little about their culture. After the Viet Nam War, many Vietnamese citizens immigrated to the United States to escape political Prosecution and poverty. Faced with a variety of obstacles and

America is a melting pot filled with many different cultures; moreover, the changing color of America has made it one of the most diverse place to live. Though rich in culture, minority groups suffer from health disparities due to their socioeconomic status, education, language, and political beliefs. As most minority group will find they have similar barriers that they face during the assimilation to the main stream culture. The minority group that will be focused for this discussion will be Vietnamese Americans.

I am Vietnamese-American. I am part of the largest population of refugee children in American history, and one of the first of its community to be born in the American culture. With no prior generation in my ethnic group, I have faced the stresses of growing up Vietnamese and as an American. I faced the effects of acculturation throughout my life, and I have watched my parents’ health deteriorate. Both are borderline diabetic and have multiple vascular diseases. When I learned how chronic diseases were more prevalent among minorities from low socioeconomic classes, it all made sense. My family was a prime example. Since then, I have looked at my life in a different perspective and wanted to help people like my family to control and manage our health. In addition, when I visited Vietnam when I was 22, I was shocked to discover that my young female cousins were already parents and had several previous miscarriages. Subsequently, I came to realize the ongoing health crisis around women’s health in Vietnam and other developing countries. Thus, I also wanted to help women make healthier choices regarding their reproductive health.

Vietnamerica A Family's Journey is a graphic memoir written and illustrated by GB Tran. GB Tran is a Vietnamese American that grew up distant and indifferent to his family’s history. This story talks about many tragic history of this family and homeland they left behind. One important topic emphasised through the illustrations and words was the Vietnam War and its effect on their family.

Being an Asian-America person changes the whole dynamics of how my family are different from other Vietnamese family. Before my grandmother died, my whole family still follow the Asian tradition. Vietnam is our ethnic group that we are proud of. Vietnam is a poor country and people had to work hard for their money. When the Vietnam war was going on my parents immigrated to the United States, where they had to figure out on their own how America function. They had to find a way to adjust to

I grew up as a Catholic in Vietnam. I have never been in an environment truly united with faith outside of church. As I went to school, we Catholic students were surrounded and outnumbered by other religions or non-believers or agnostics. Though we usually receive an understanding and tolerating stance, some still find it a “cool” and funny act to tease or make fun of one’s religion and beliefs. At sixteen I traveled to America hoping I’ll get a better education. Here, I was introduced to a whole new environment: most of the people were Christians. The opportunity not only boosted my confidence but also enriched my knowledge and understanding in Christian belief. For the first time, it felt like “home” (I found no better way to express this

I went to Concordia Chapel on February 13, 2017 at North Campus. Pastor Ryan Peterson was the main speaker for the service. The bible passage he preached on was 1 John 1:4. For my outside worship, I went to Sacred Heart Catholic church on February 11, 2017. The priest for the mass was Fr. Tom McNamara. In a Catholic mass, we have three readings and there is one from the old testament, the new testament, and the gospel. The first reading was Sirach 15:15-20, the second reading was 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 and the Gospel was Matthew 5:17-37.

Our Lady of Vietnam Parish is an established Vietnamese church that have functioned for many years. However, an issue it has yet to solve is its seating capacity issues. Because there is an overpopulation of Vietnamese-Americans who would like to practice Catholicism at this church, there is not enough seats for everyone, which means some people have to resort to standing up the entire mass. With statistics proving that the number of Catholics are rising, it is even more important that the church attains enough permanent seating for its attendees in the future. My proposals are to: (1) change the seating arrangement and consider new seating options; (2) run two Sunday masses concurrently – one on the main floor and one on the basement; or (3)

The Vietnam War was an international conflict that encompassed and extended towards many regions of the world such as France, the USSR, the United States, etc. Lasting for 20 years from 1955 to 1975, there lied a significant amount of time for internal relationships existing between Vietnam and other foreign countries. The by-product, as a result, were Amerasian which is a racial term used to identify the offsprings born in Asia, but fathered by a foreign man usually during the War. I chose to focus on Amerasians existing in Vietnam specifically because I am of Vietnamese descent myself and have an extensive amount of background knowledge regarding the country. However, after 1975 when the war ended, American soldiers fled back to the United

The Catholic church is the one I grew up in. Attending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has brought a fullness to my soul from the couple times I first went to the mass. I prayed everyday asking Heavenly Father if his plan for me is to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My answer came to me when attending mass with one of the State Conference’s. As simple as I wish it was, challenges have come up ever since I have received this sign. My family tradition of the Catholic religion is causing difficulties in this decision, no matter how I explain why I am making this decision. Plans are changed; now when it will be the time I am of age to make these decisions thoroughly, I will get baptized. Even

There are several effective ways of disciplining the children; however, I forged my life with the Jesuit priests. When people asked Pope John Paul II the question “what’s one piece of advice he would give to his young men?” He responded “to follow Christ and to become a fisherman like Saint Peter.” His words encouraged me to become a teacher; especially, I followed what I loved and worked towards it. I have forged my life with the Catholics, and I learned that dedication, simple-life and leadership changed my life.

I have decided to interview my mother about her experience of poverty life in Vietnam. The reason why I want to present her story because we believe that poverty is a serious problem in our world. There are millions of people in this world who are in poverty not only in underdeveloped nations but also in industrialized nations. My mother has lived most of her early childhood and adolescence in poverty. As a child, she never had the childhood life that she wanted. My mother and I believe that every child should be provided with the basic necessities of life such as healthcare, food, water, and shelter, and more education opportunities. We believe that a child should have access to education to improve their lives physically, mentally, and financially

The Vietnamese people have said to have first appeared in the Christian era, because the religion that was first adapted was Christianity. This would explain why the Vietnamese people are such religious people. But it does not really explain there major religion change to Buddhism, because Buddhism is really not a religion that is native to Vietnam. Buddhism my be one of the most known religions in the world by name, but not by what is actually involved in it. Christine the girl that I interview said “that many people think that the religion is a cult but she says that it is anything but what would be classified as a cult to Americans (Eng).” ‘“Historically, Buddhism played a significant role in the definition