Happy New Year! Our seminary community welcomed back Father Nhat Le ’05, pastor of St. Alphonsus Ligouri Parish, to celebrate Mass and the Asian Lunar New Year, a very important celebration in many countries.
For our seminarians, this is an opportunity to be intentional about building fraternity, to praise God for a fresh start, and to pray for family and friends. Before Mass, everyone was reminded to take a moment to remember their parents, families, friends, benefactors, and beloved ones who have passed, as our seminarian Asian Choir sang “Cau Cho Cha Me (Prayer for Parents).” Throughout the Mass a variety of languages – Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and English – were featured in readings, hymns, and petitions.
Our rector, Father John Kartje, blessed a basket of Bible verses that will serve as inspiration in the coming year, a Christian version of the traditional ritual that features quotes from Confucius.
View photos, a video of musical performances and listen to Father Nhat Le’s complete homily below.
The celebration and fellowship continued in the evening, with a big table of festive foods that are only made for the Lunar New Year, traditional games, a performances with an appearance by the dancing lion.
We are especially grateful to seminarian Tim Weber for providing photos from the evening festivities. He also provided some video of the evening’s performances below.
