Photo Courtesy of Our Lady of Lavang community

ROSWELL—Vietnamese hymns fill the gymnasium of Blessed Trinity High School, marking the start of a new spiritual community.  

This group of believers gathers on Sundays, bringing their cultural heritage as they celebrate their faith. The cafeteria is the hub for socials, and classrooms are for religious education.   

For the past months, this nucleus of a community has met at the high school and as the school year began, its growing needs knitted the believers and the school administration closer.   

Father Dominic Tran, who was appointed chaplain for the group a few months ago, expressed gratitude for the Roswell school’s generosity in sharing its resources. However, he said the hope is this arrangement may be temporary.  

The goal is as the Vietnamese community in Fulton, Cobb and Cherokee counties comes together, and with the bishops’ approval, it will have the resources to rent or purchase its own space, Father Tran said.  

The Archdiocese of Atlanta is home to diverse languages and cultural groups, in addition to Vietnamese. There are parishes where priests celebrate Mass in Korean, Chinese, Polish, Igbo and others. To embrace the diversity, the archdiocese recently formed an intercultural commission to better serve the needs of families of various cultures.   

There are two established parishes organized for Vietnamese Catholics. Our Lady of Vietnam Church is south of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Riverdale. It opened in 1998. Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Norcross, visible from I-85, celebrated its dedication in 2019.  

Some 50,000 Vietnamese live in the Atlanta area. Census data from 2021 shows a sizable number of people of Vietnamese heritage making their homes in Cobb County.  

This new burgeoning Vietnamese community—named to honor Our Lady of Lavang—uses space at the school, around the corner from St. Peter Chanel Church. It typically draws a couple hundred people for worship.  

A procession marked Our Lady of Lavang’s feast day at Blessed Trinity High School. Vietnamese Catholics are gathering there temporarily in the hopes they will eventually be able to rent or purchase a new worship space.

Driving from Cobb County to Norcross in Gwinnett County for Mass in Vietnamese is a challenge for many due to the distance. In addition, the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church community attracts thousands of people to attend Mass already and has more than 1,000 children enrolled in religious education, said Father Tran.     

People traveling need a space closer to their own homes, Father Tran said. Word is spreading among the Vietnamese community as it comes together and continues to grow, he said. People are excited to take part in new programs, adding how volunteers are leading some 30 children in the religious education program.   

An estimated 600 worshippers, with women in traditional Áo dài, came to the school campus to celebrate its special feast day on Aug. 15. The Our Lady of Lavang feast honors the Virgin Mary’s appearance to oppressed Catholics hiding in the forest in the Southeast Asian country in 1798.