Our Lady of La Vang – Duc Me La Vang

This was my Church going up with my dad. Now that I’m back in the area. It will continue to be my church… Lots of thugs have changed over the years… but it still feels like I’m with my dad though he’s no longer there. One of my favorite Vietnamese masses. These masses used to be an hour long and now they run nearly 1.5 hours… Kind of a negative for me but that’s cuz the sermons make me feel guilty. lol. Anyhow… Come check out the mass at 7:30am with me on Sunday’s down by 9am. So you have your whole day ahead of you. Blessings!

We called for a private mass for our Grandpas 1 Year Anniversary that he has passed. We had family from all over south and north bay coming in. They ask for $ 150 to book the mass for 7 pm. When we got there they told us they don’t do private masses. My whole family of about 20 stood outside as the small room held mass for the public.
The fact that they kept the money blew my mind.
Safe to say that we won’t be visiting this church anymore. But we do hope it gets rebuild.

Formerly known as St. Patrick Proto-​Cathedral Parish, this church is a national parish for the Roman Catholic community in San Jose. In 1999, the church became the national parish for the Vietnamese community. Although primarily known as a Vietnamese church, the parish continues to offer services in English and Spanish.
St. Patrick was greatly damaged by a fire back in 2012 and it was then decided in 2013 that the new church would be renamed Our Lady of La Vang/​Duc Me La Vang.
My family and I have been apart of this church for YEARS. We always make sure to attend the 7:30AM Mass held each and every Sunday. It saddens me to see what is left of St. Patrick.
Church is currently being held in a small gymnasium. Chairs are filled to the brim in order to accommodate as many church goers as possible.
The massive amount of parishioners who once filled up rows and rows at the church is nowhere to be found. The Vietnamese choir and the musicians are long gone, leaving their upbeat tunes to be nothing but a memory.
Through all the hopelessness, it is very uplifting to see everyone working together in order to create a place for prayer and worship.
We have a small, yet dedicated, number of church goers who religiously attend the early early morning mass. We no longer have a huge choir to bellow out catchy Vietnamese tunes but we are blessed to have Theresa who sings her heart out each and every Sunday. Combine her vocals with 2 talented pianists and we have a match made in heaven.
We have not hit our targeted amount needed for the rebuild so things are still in the works. The new church designed has already been selected and construction will start as soon as they have all the required permits and funding necessary.
SLowLy but SureLy…