Greeted by words of welcome - "Chao mung quy vi quan khach" - Vietnamese Catholics arrived Sunday at what many of them characterized as a major milestone.
The event was the dedication of Utah's first Vietnamese Catholic church and community center to serve the rapidly growing population of Vietnamese immigrants in Salt Lake County.Located in a former ward house of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints at 5415 S. 4360 West, the new church was formally named and dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Monsignor J. Terrance Fitzgerald announced at the ceremonies that the Rev. Dominic Thuy-Dang Ha will serve as pastor of the church.
More than 400 members of the Vietnamese Catholic community, along with religious leaders, neighbors and friends, participated in the celebration, which included religious services, traditional Vietnamese pageantry, music and food.
Monsignor Fitzgerald and the Rev. Thuy, speaking in English and Vietnamese respectively, told the participants that the dedication of the facility marked a historic turning point for the Vietnamese community.
Though relatively new to Utah, the Vietnamese immigrants have made a place for themselves in their new home atop a foundation of "sacrifice and generosity," the two men said.
The Vietnamese community pledged more than $300,000 toward the purchase of the building from the LDS Church and helped renovate it. Monsignor Fitzgerald noted that the Stations of the Cross inside the chapel and some of the other religious relics came from the former Holy Cross Hospital, which he said establishes a link between the new church and the state's past.
Monsignor Fitzgerald and the Rev. Thuy also discussed Vietnamese history, saying Catholicism in Vietnam can be traced to Jesuit missionaries who first visited Southeast Asia about 500 years ago.
According to church estimates, there are 130 Vietnamese Catholic families in the Salt Lake diocese. Most were on hand for Sunday's celebration, which also featured an open house and reception.
Following a procession around the periphery of the church, Monsignor Fitzgerald presented the keys to the Rev. Thuy with a prayer that the facility be dedicated to the development of "faith, hope and love" in the community.