By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating Mass with the Vietnamese community gathered at Our Lady of La Vang Church in Hallandale Beach, July 2, 2023. During the Mass, the archbishop established Our Lady of La Vang as a “personal parish” rather than a mission, and installed Father Joseph Long Nguyen as its pastor.
For years, the Vietnamese community in South Florida celebrated Masses in several locations. For many years you met at the Schott Center and then at St. Helen’s. I remember about ten years ago celebrating Mass with the Vietnamese community at St. Helen’s, and you all very persuasively requested your own home.
Nine years ago, I was able to grant that request. After many years, the Vietnamese Catholic community in South Florida found a permanent home here. You all worked very hard – contributing time, talent, and treasure to renovate this church, the rectory, and the hall. I remember well the Mass I celebrated with you in December of 2013 here in this church when I officially established Our Lady of La Vang Mission.
Today, as I announced in January when I came to celebrate Mass during Tet, that I would raise Our Lady of La Vang Mission to the dignity of a parish. Being a “mission” often implies something provisional, or a community that is dependent on help from others in order to survive. Parish implies permanency; it also implies that the community has matured sufficiently that it has the resources – both material and spiritual – to participate fully in the life of the local Church.
Now most of the time we understand parishes as having a particular geographical territory, and the pastor is entrusted with the care of souls of all those who live within that territory. Our Lady of La Vang does not have defined territorial limits; it will be rather a personal parish. And so the pastor is entrusted not with care of souls of those living within a certain territory but with the care of souls of persons of Vietnamese descent.
Today in the first reading, the hospitality given to the prophet results in a great blessing to a woman of influence and her husband. They would be blessed with a child. And in the Gospel today Jesus says,"Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Hospitality is a core virtue for the follower of Christ, and hospitality is also prized in many cultures, including the Vietnamese. In Polish, we have a proverb: Gosc domu, Bog domu. A guest in the home is God in the home.
Today, we thank God for the hospitality shown to the Vietnamese and other ethnic groups here in the Archdiocese of Miami. This is really how we show that we are truly “Catholic” – which means “universal,” for all peoples. For all should feel welcome in the Church – for the Church is the Father’s house – and we are all his children. But to be universal, to be Catholic, we also need to be particular. For to be a good Catholic, Jesus doesn’t ask us to change our culture, our customs, or our language. He asks us only to change our hearts. As I said, the Church is the Father’s house, and as his children we all should feel welcome. And the best way to feel welcome is to speak the mother tongue. So, in the Archdiocese of Miami, we are very Catholic, very universal – we speak in Vietnamese, in Korean, in Chinese, in Tagalog; we speak in Polish, in Portuguese and in Haitian Creole, in Spanish and in English.
This mission is now a parish; but this parish has a mission: to be the home of the Vietnamese Catholic community in South Florida. May all who pass through its doors feel welcome. May all experience warm hospitality from the priest, the sisters and all the parishioners. May everyone feel at home in this parish and in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Well, since this community is now a parish, its priest is formally given the title of pastor. Before we called him the administrator; now we give him a new title. But the responsibilities are the same as before; and so is the pay.
Support Father Long by your prayers and with your cooperation. Together, as missionary disciples, you are to work together to make this community a school of communion and prayer, a living witness to the Gospel, that will attract others to faith in Christ.
May Our Lady of LaVang – patroness of your parish and of your country of origin – intercede for you so that you grow in your commitment to the faith, and that love for the family, joy in the faith, devotion to the Church, and the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life continue to be characteristic fruits harvested from the good soil of the Vietnamese culture in which the Gospel has taken root and grown.
