More than 10,000 members of Australia’s Vietnamese Catholic community came together in Sydney recently for a three day festival to celebrate Mary, the Mother of God.

Fr Manh Le SVD, a Vietnamese Chaplain in Sydney, says that the NSW Vietnamese community has celebrated a festival each October, the month of the Rosary, for some years, but this was first time that Vietnamese chaplaincy communities from right around Australia came together for the days of prayer, faith formation, music and friendship.

“This year we decided to do it nationally, and it went very well,” Fr Manh says.

“The organising committee started organising this event two years ago, so it was a dream come true to see it come to life over the weekend.

The Marian Festival Days, held at Bringelly on Sydney’s southern outskirts, opened on Friday night with Stations of the Cross, followed by Mass celebrated by Vietnamese-born Bishop Vincent Long of Parramatta. Also in attendance over the weekend was the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yilana, as well as Bishop Vincent Nguyen Van Ban from Vietnam, and Bishop Terry Brady, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney.

On Saturday, the crowds broke into three groups to hear formation talks on Youth, Family, and the Vietnamese Martyrs.

In the evening there was Mass followed by a concert featuring both local artists and guest musicians from the United States.

Sunday started with morning prayer, followed by more formation talks and finished with a spectacular Vietnamese religious dance and offering of flowers for Mary.
“In Vietnamese culture, October, the month of the Rosary is also the month of offering flowers for Mary,” Fr Manh says.

“The offering of flowers included singing and dancing and also incorporated four generations, which was lovely to see.”

The festival concluded with Mass on Sunday afternoon.

Fr Manh says the festival was a massive undertaking for the Vietnamese community, but was a big success.

“For our community it means a sense of belonging,” he says. “It’s a religious pilgrimage for them. They can come from all different places in Australia and meet together through Mary. 

“Mary is a bridge-builder. It was a big gathering together of friends, relatives and the Church.

“It was especially valuable for young people, to come and experience their culture, have formation, and learn a lot more about some of the generational and cultural issues they experience.

“For many of the young who were born here in Australia, their cultural view is quite different to that of their parents or grandparents, who came from Vietnam, so this was a means to build bridges, so that they can have something in common.”

Fr Manh says the gathering had a big impact on him as a chaplain as well.

“It was very moving to see people sacrificing themselves, to sleep in tents, with limited facilities and some wet weather to be part of this,” he said.

“They’re searching for something, for faith and to see so many of them there, all together. It touched me a lot.”

Other Divine Word Missionaries to attend the festival included Fr Joseph Vu, chaplain to the Vietnamese Community in Brisbane, Fr Ho Bach Tran, Fr Viet Nguyen and Binh Nguyen.

Fr Joseph brought a group of about 300 people from Brisbane and said it was a great event.

“The Vietnamese community has a strong devotion and love for our Mother Mary,” he says. “Everyone was very excited to come together with all the Vietnamese in Australia to pray to Our Lady, to see each other, catch up and increase our faith as a community.”