Red envelopes, fresh fruit, and colorful ornaments adorned the altar at San Gabriel Mission during the Vietnamese New Year celebration, known as Tết, or the Lunar New Year.
This year carries special meaning. This year the San Gabriel Mission, led by the Claretians, will celebrate its 50th anniversary as the first church in California to openly welcome and provide a permanent spiritual home for the Vietnamese Catholic community.
A Church That Opened Its Doors
Vietnamese refugees began arriving in California in 1976. In the early years, Masses were celebrated in different locations, wherever space could be found. Then, around 1978, the Claretian missionaries at San Gabriel Mission took a courageous step: they began hosting Mass in Vietnamese every Sunday.
The church quickly filled.
Memories from those early days speak of more than 800 people packing the pews with families seated in balconies and standing near side doors. For many years, San Gabriel Mission was the only church in California that offered a dedicated place for Vietnamese Catholics to celebrate their faith in their own language.
Today, that seed has grown. There are now 15 churches throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that serve Vietnamese Catholic communities.
A Missionary Formed in Silence
For the past eight years, Father Lê Thái Hoàng, CMF, has preached in Vietnamese at San Gabriel Mission, shepherding a community of around 100 families, nearly 400 faithful.
Originally from India, Father Hoàng had long felt called to missionary life. Shortly after his ordination in his home country, that calling became real in an unexpected way.
There was a great need for Claretian support in Vietnam. He was sent there, not as a visible parish priest, but as a missionary who had to remain discreet.
Because Vietnam is a communist country with restrictions on foreign religious ministry, he could not openly present himself as a priest. Instead, he lived and served quietly in a student house, teaching, accompanying young people, and celebrating Mass early in the morning without music to avoid drawing attention. For eleven years, he lived as an “underground” missionary, protecting both his vocation and the community he served.
After more than a decade of hidden ministry, he was assigned to the United States in 2018 to serve the Vietnamese community in San Gabriel. Since his arrival, one of his primary goals has been to strengthen the spiritual life of the faithful including establishing daily Mass in Vietnamese, now celebrated Monday through Friday.
Tết: Faith, Family, and Blessing
On February 17, Father Hoàng celebrated a special ceremony for Tết, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture.
For three days, families gathered in prayer and community. Homes and church altars were decorated with fruit, flowers, red envelopes, and traditional foods. It was a time to ask for happiness and prosperity in the year ahead.
Each of the three days carries deep meaning:
- First Day: Dedicated to God
- Second Day: Honoring ancestors
- Third Day: Blessing work and daily life
Like the Chinese New Year, Tết follows the lunar calendar. It is not only a cultural celebration but a spiritual renewal, a moment to reconnect with faith, family, and heritage.
A Living Tradition
At San Gabriel Mission, the Vietnamese community continues to preserve these traditions while deepening their Catholic faith. What began in 1978 as a bold welcome by the Claretians has become a thriving spiritual family.
Fifty years later, San Gabriel Mission remains what it first chose to be: A home where faith and thriving languages and cultures meet.
