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This project arises from religious education courses at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago but can be opened to other programs as well. Interested professors of religious education or faith formation should e-mail edaily@luc.edu if they want their students to be included.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Our Lady of La Vang

In writing a lesson plan for use with Vietnamese-American Catholics, I utilized this prayer to Our Lady of La Vang. The website from which I pulled the prayer tells the story of Our Lady of La Vang, who dates back to 1798 and her first appearance during a great persecution of Vietnamese Catholics.

Peter Phan, in a lecture at Seton Hall on Asian-American Catholics spoke to their "different way of being Christian." Phan mentioned Pope John Paul II's "snapshot of what he calls the 'Asian soul...." which draws a distinctive portrait of the Asian-American Catholic. However, I chose this website and this prayer for two other of their "different ways of being Christian." These are :
1. the Asian people's cultivation of popular devotions, of which commitment to Our Lady of La Vang is one
and
2. the " faith of Asian Churches having been tested in the crucible of suffering and even persecution." On June 19, 1988. Pope John Paul II in the canonizing ceremony of the 117 Vietnamese martyrs, publicly and repeatedly recognized the importance and significance of the Lady of La Vang and expressed a desire for the rebuilding of the La Vang Basilica to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first apparition of the Lady of La Vang in August of 1998.

This website contains the history of Our Lady of La Vang as well as photos, paintings and drawings of her, in addition to the prayer. I found it to be a resource appropriate for use with Vietnamese-American Catholics.

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