Southeast Asian Vicariate

Southeast Asian Vicariate Church of Our Lady of Lavang 5404 NE Alameda Dr., Portland, OR 97213

You can see this pink structure on the north side of NE Sandy Boulevard near NE 54th Street. It used to be a convent. I believe the present site dates to 1999, while the vicariate itself was founded in 1981. It supports the Portland Vietnamese who began to arrive here in large numbers after the fall of Saigon in 1975. You can read more about the vicariate in this article from the Catholic Sentinel.

The grounds are very large, taking up at least a square block and consisting of many buildings in addition to a large church.

The grounds are landscaped with palm trees, giving the impression that you might actually be in southeast Asia or some other tropical clime.

The service was packed with nicely dressed parishioners predominately wearing black, with a smattering of white and to a much lesser extent prints and colors. On the patio west of the church a fiesta of some sort was taking place. Five priests con-celebrated the Mass. Of the 200-300 people filling the church and another 100-200 outside participating in the fiesta, I was the only person not of Asian descent.

Mass was entirely in Vietnamese, the only words of which I know are chan muối, which is a salty lime drink. I thought I even heard the word muối during the sermon, but it may have been my imagination.

Although I clearly stood out, no one stared at me. I stood in the back the entire service so as to be as inconspicuous as possible. My fellow wall-standers to my right and left shook my hand during the handshake of peace. Other than that, I was left alone during the service. As I was leaving two little girls in the parking lot said hello and giggled.

To me the most amazing thing was to see all these immigrants, speaking a foreign language and living thousands of miles from their homeland,
who clearly have been able to make a living in their new country and to form a vibrant community.