They’re Off to See the Pope : 800 Local Vietnamese Leave on Denver Pilgrimage to Meet Pontiff

After months of excitedly counting the days, more than 800 ethnic Vietnamese residents of Orange County boarded a caravan of 19 buses Monday and departed on an emotion-charged pilgrimage to meet with Pope John Paul II in Denver.

“The Pope is such an important part of the Catholic faith, and I just can’t believe the chance actually exists for me,” said Thi Vu, 22, of Lake Forest. “I’m torn between feeling excited and honored.”

Around her in the parking lot of St. Callistus Church, others expressed similar sentiments as they queued up for the buses that would take them to their meeting with the pontiff.

Their destination is World Youth Day ’93 in Colorado, a celebration beginning Wednesday that is the first international gathering of young people and the Pope to be held in the United States.

More than 160,000 people from 70 countries--2,000 from Orange County--have registered for the event, created by the pontiff in 1986 to celebrate the spirit and strength of youth and young adults in the Roman Catholic Church.

On Sunday, the event’s final day, the Pope, or Duc Giao Hoang, has granted a 30-minute audience with the Vietnamese-American delegates from Orange County and elsewhere in the United States--the only personal meeting with any ethnic community on this visit.

“This is something I only dream about, never believing it would ever be possible,” Ngoc Nguyen, a Fountain Valley resident, said before the group’s departure. “The Pope is the one person I’d never in all my imagination thought I’d see in person.”

World Youth Day officials estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 ethnic Vietnamese from around the world will gather at McNichols Sports Arena to hear the Pope speak. The 800 locals come from Orange County’s 12

Vietnamese Catholic congregations.

For Nguyen, aside from the possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Pope, the weeklong trip marks the first time she will be away from home and her parents, with whom she lives, for any length of time.

“I’ve been away on overnight retreats, of course, but going away from home for a week is something I’ve never done before and my parents are a little nervous,” Nguyen said in an almost breathless voice. “I’m 26, so they trust me and they’re not worried about this, my first long trip from home, from Orange County.”

“But, it will feel so good to just get away from my everyday environment and meet hundreds and hundreds of people,” she added. “And it will certainly be an interesting, learning, spiritual experience--not to mention fun.”

Nguyen is not the only one who is excited about going on what many young people in the delegation say is not only a spiritual journey but an adventure away from home.

Culturally, most ethnic Vietnamese parents are protective and especially strict about their children’s freedom, rarely allowing teen-agers to leave home without a relative’s supervision. But in this special case, no parent protested this trip and instead encouraged their children to take advantage of the learning opportunity.

Nina Kim, 18, of Fountain Valley, said her parents “feel more secure about this because the whole thing is being run by the church.”

“They know this is for spiritual reasons and not all fun and games,” she said. “They also are happy that we’ll be together with other Vietnamese and we’ll be learning more about our culture and roots.”

The way his parents see it, said 15-year-old Thanh Nguyen of Laguna Hills, this visit to Colorado is akin to a pilgrimage. “We’re going to a mecca for Catholics,” he said. “We’re going to worship and we’re going to learn about Catholicism.”

Still, the adult chaperons were taking no chances Monday as they gave the youths one last instruction before their departure. “The girls here are very pretty, and the young men are very strong and masculine,” said Cuong Tran, the leader of the Orange County delegation, who bellowed his remarks to a cheering and boisterous crowd. “So you young people go to have fun, go to make friends and meet the Pope, but remember rule No. 1: No kissing.”

He gave no other rules.

The local Vietnamese-Americans, who learned four months ago that they would see the Pope, are going on a tight budget, so there will be some sacrifices along the way.

For example, the bus caravan will not make any stopover on the 28-hour trip to Denver. Once there, most will spend the nights in sleeping bags on the hard, cold floors of local churches that volunteered their facilities for World Youth Day events.

“We’ll be rolling all over each other in our sleep and waiting in lines to use portable showers and toilets,” grimaced 16-year-old Cathy Nguyen of Fountain Valley. Then, she quickly brightened and said: “But just to see the Pope, just to hear his voice and feel his presence--anything will be worth that experience!”

Realistically, the local Vietnamese-Americans know they may not get close to the pontiff given the size of the audience and the security measures for his visit. No matter, they said; theirs is an opportunity others will not get.

“There were many groups that requested for an audience with the Pope, but he chose to grant it to the Vietnamese community,” said World Youth Day spokeswoman Sister Mary Ann Walsh. “The Holy Father wanted to go to Vietnam, but because of the political situation there, he couldn’t so he’s doing this instead.”

According to World Youth Day officials, it would be unsafe for Pope John Paul II to enter Vietnam because the country’s Communist government does not recognize the Vatican and will not guarantee his personal safety.

The government’s antagonism toward Catholicism stemmed from France’s conquest of Vietnam in 1884. It was during the French colonization of Vietnam that the religion was introduced to the country.

“Of course, it would be ideal for the Pope to visit Vietnam but the timing and situation make it impossible,” said Huan Le, who is choreographing a 300-dancer performance, entitled “Vietnam the Beautiful,” to be presented to the Pope before his address Sunday. “But it’s enough that he will speak to us now.”

According to Le and others in charge of preparation for the address, Pope John Paul II will speak to the ethnic Vietnamese in their native language.

“It’s still a secret but that’s what we’ve been told,” Le said. “Everyone knows that he’s a linguist and he has been learning our language and I hear he’s done very well.”

No one knows yet what the Pontiff will say in his 30-minute address. “But whatever he will say,” Le said, “it will give us spiritual hope and strength about ourselves, our religion, our lives in this country and the lives of those in our homeland.”