A Church for a Change

Ground-blessing ceremonies for a new $9.3-million Catholic parish--the first in Southern California given a Vietnamese name--will take place today in a stretch of Santa Ana that’s home to California Girls Nightclub, El Fracaso (The Failure) bar and Spanky’s Adult Video store.

But the church’s name, Our Lady of La Vang, has been a tough sell to the Latino congregants, whose roots to the current Our Lady of Lourdes parish date to the 1920s.

Our Lady of La Vang is also the first church that was given both land--4.5 acres--and cash for building by the Diocese of Orange. In addition to the diocesan gift, St. Bonaventure, an affluent parish in Huntington Beach, has promised Our Lady of La Vang $500,000 for a parish hall.

“Part of the Great Jubilee Year 2000 [initiated by Pope John Paul II] was for churches to look for opportunities to do extraordinary works of charity,” said Father Bruce Patterson, pastor of St. Bonaventure. “We’re one of the wealthiest parishes and Our Lady of Lourdes has some needs. We’re just getting a lot of extraordinary donations.”

Until now, Catholic parishes have raised their own money for facilities. But the new church, rooted in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the county, wouldn’t have been able to raise enough.

Our Lady of La Vang--scheduled for completion in 2003--will replace the tiny and overcrowded Our Lady of Lourdes two miles away.

“The Vietnamese Catholic community is the second-largest ethnic community [behind Latinos] in the Diocese of Orange,” Bishop Tod D. Brown said. “Yet they were the only ones who didn’t have the privilege of having a parish named after their patron--or in this case, patroness.”

The name--suggested by Brown--has been praised by leaders of Orange County’s large Vietnamese Catholic community. But it has stirred controversy within Our Lady of Lourdes’ mostly Latino congregation.

“I was in shock and feeling really depressed,” said Oselia Maldonado, who has attended Our Lady of Lourdes for 20 years. “But then I started thinking that the name was about the same person [Mary], and it doesn’t matter. Still, it’s going to be sad.”

Other longtime congregants remain upset about the name change--and leery about the parish’s new direction.

“When they introduced the new name, I thought [Pastor William D. Barman] was leaving the tradition of the Hispanic community behind,” said Maribel de Santiago, 21, of Westminster.

She has attended the church with her parents and five brothers her entire life.

“We worried that [the diocese is] trying to get more of that [Vietnamese] community into the church and leaving behind the people who’ve worked hard to build up this church,” she said.

Our Lady of La Vang refers to the site in Vietnam where persecuted Catholics--some later martyred--believe they saw Mary, mother of Jesus, appear in 1798. For Vietnamese Catholics, Our Lady of La Vang is held in the same reverence as Our Lady of Guadalupe is for Latinos.

The new parish name “has real meaning for us,” said Father Quang Vinh Chu of St. Columban Church in Garden Grove. “We realize that we don’t have to miss our country as much because we know that Mary is with us and here to protect us. We are so happy and surprised.”

Orange County has the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam. In 2000, an average of 23,500 parishioners attended Vietnamese Masses.

Santa Ana Councilman Jose Solorio said the name debate eventually will be a footnote in parish history.

“It’s great the church is taking into account the Asian community that lives in Santa Ana,” Solorio said. “And once it opens, whether people are Latino, Vietnamese or Anglo, everyone will enjoy the beautiful church for generations to come.”

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The one thing everyone agrees on is that the old church needs to be replaced. Our Lady of Lourdes seats 200, but serves 1,400 people during four Sunday Masses, with standing-room-only crowds that spill outside the church. For major holidays such as last week’s Ash Wednesday, a single outdoor service in the church parking lot draws more than 1,200. Our Lady of La Vang will seat 1,150.

In architecture alone, the parish will stand out among the low-slung businesses at 288 S. Harbor Blvd., just south of 1st Street. The church facilities will be built over a ground-level parking garage, and the dome will rise 57 feet above the street.

“Nothing will compare to this on Harbor Boulevard short of the Matterhorn in Anaheim,” said Barman, the church’s pastor. “This parish will have a high profile in God’s vineyard on this street.”

Sharing the vineyard with Our Lady of La Vang will be a string of adult-oriented clubs and bars.

“Jesus would love it,” Barman said. “What better place to evangelize? This neighborhood is just begging for this kind of parish.”

The ground-blessing festivities begin at 8:30 a.m. with a two-mile procession from Our Lady of Lourdes to the new church site.

Councilman Solorio said the church will help the redevelopment of Harbor Boulevard, a major county thoroughfare that has grown tired in spots.

A major challenge for the parish will be bringing together three diverse communities that make up the surrounding neighborhood: Latino, Vietnamese and white. Barman projects initial attendance will include 6,000 Latinos, 2,500 Vietnamese and 1,000 whites, instantly making it one of the largest parishes in the diocese. Separate Masses will be said in three languages.

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The current church already has white, Latino and Vietnamese components. But the new parish will be the first in the county being planned from the outset to serve the three cultures.

Blending diverse communities into one church is made more difficult with the Latino congregation’s 80-year history in the community.

Our Lady of Lourdes has shrines to its French namesake, plus Our Lady of Guadalupe and La Vang. But in the new church, where the shrines of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of La Vang should be placed is symbolic of the tension the parish faces. Both images of Jesus’ mother are revered in their communities.

Because of the Vietnamese name, Barman envisions a shrine of Our Lady of La Vang at the entrance of the church with an Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine inside in a special chapel.

“I told my congregation that Latinos shouldn’t have a problem with it,” Barman said. “They are used to big families, and used to having two moms in the same house.”

Members of Our Lady of Lourdes expect unity to be a slow process.

“I think it’s going to take time,” Maldonado said. “We’re not used to sharing anything with another community. There’s a fear [the Vietnamese parishioners] are going to take over the church.”

Barman, 46, is white and speaks “competent” Spanish after being at the parish since 1994. His pitch for the name change to his Latino congregation was this: Remember not too long ago when Spanish Masses in this county weren’t allowed? Remember being new in this country and feeling discriminated against? Now you, the Latinos, are in the majority. How are you going to act?

Barman tells them that Vietnamese Catholics need their Latino brothers and sisters to hold out a hand: “We need to confront our racist feelings. This is the first intentionally trilingual Catholic church in the county. We don’t all speak the same language, but we want to be one parish.”