This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, which resulted in the displacement of an estimated 2 million Vietnamese people. To commemorate the moment, the Priests of the Sacred Heart co-sponsored an online roundtable with the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communications on September 4. The topic: “The Vietnamese Migrants’ Experience in Context of the Mission of the Church.”
Presenters spoke about the impact of Vietnamese immigrants in their newly adopted homes, and more broadly, about the pilgrim nature of the Church, a Church in which its members are constantly moving into new contexts physically, intellectually and spiritually.
“The Church is called to promote migrants; it is called to integrate fellow pilgrims into their new environment by recognizing the gifts they bring,” said Fr. Stephen Begans, SVD, an emeritus professor from Catholic Theological Union.
“…As we reflect today on the Vietnamese experience in the context of the mission of the Church we can only be thankful to our Vietnamese brothers and sisters for showing the Church who we really are: fellow missionary disciples, fellow pilgrims on the way to the radical kinship of God’s reign.”
Besides Fr. Begans, presenters included Fr. vănThanh Nguyễn, SVD (Catholic Theological Union), Sr. Thu T. Do, LHC (Georgetown University), Fr. Anh Quoc Tran, SJ (Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University) and Dr. Tuan Hoang (Seaver College and Pepperdine University).
Approximately 100 people attended the roundtable via Zoom, with others viewing it on Facebook Live. Click here to access a recording of the event on Facebook.
