CARTHAGE, MO. — The call came in about 5 a.m. for the Rev. Louis Nhien, the organizer of one of the largest U.S. gatherings of Vietnamese Catholics.
He was summoned to the local police station, where officials told him that 15 people on their way to the annual Marian Days festival had plunged to their deaths in a fiery bus crash north of Dallas.
"I was shocked," said Nhien of the Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix.
He announced the tragic deaths over a public announcement system during the 7:30 a.m. Mass, his voice faltering in sobs. Soon churchgoers began to cry, as well, a looming statue of the Virgin Mary towering over them.
"I couldn't concentrate throughout the Mass," said Cam Thi Le, 58, of Lafayette, La. "There was a like a shadow over all of us."
The men, women and children who died Friday in a horrific crash in Sherman were supposed to take part in one of the most revered summer traditions observed by many Roman Catholic families.
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Americans and Canadians travel to Carthage, where a group of Vietnamese priests established a lone parish about 31 years ago. It is a four-day spiritual feast that helps them to remember their homeland and to strengthen their faith by attending prayer meetings, concerts and musical concerts.
The participants sleep outdoors, creating a huge tent city sprawled over about 30 acres of the parish's grounds.
Instead of sleeping in tents with their loved ones, eating special rice dishes and catching up on news of old friends, victims killed in the crash are being prepared for funerals.
"Everybody should be here," said Nguyen Nguyen, 46, of Denver, who was kneeling before the Virgin Mary statue to offer a prayer for the accident victims. "We all look forward to these days."
Philip Doan, 47, of Southwest Houston wanted to return home Friday — his best friend's father is one of the dead.
"He was going to go in a van with the son, but he wanted to go with his friends on the bus," said Doan.
"This is just awful."
Nhien said each Mass throughout the weekend will pray for the victims and their families.
"We will pray for those who died to go to heaven and for those who survived to let them have courage and consolation from God," he said.
(Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle)
He was summoned to the local police station, where officials told him that 15 people on their way to the annual Marian Days festival had plunged to their deaths in a fiery bus crash north of Dallas."I was shocked," said Nhien of the Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix.
He announced the tragic deaths over a public announcement system during the 7:30 a.m. Mass, his voice faltering in sobs. Soon churchgoers began to cry, as well, a looming statue of the Virgin Mary towering over them.
"I couldn't concentrate throughout the Mass," said Cam Thi Le, 58, of Lafayette, La. "There was a like a shadow over all of us."
The men, women and children who died Friday in a horrific crash in Sherman were supposed to take part in one of the most revered summer traditions observed by many Roman Catholic families.
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Americans and Canadians travel to Carthage, where a group of Vietnamese priests established a lone parish about 31 years ago. It is a four-day spiritual feast that helps them to remember their homeland and to strengthen their faith by attending prayer meetings, concerts and musical concerts.
The participants sleep outdoors, creating a huge tent city sprawled over about 30 acres of the parish's grounds.
Instead of sleeping in tents with their loved ones, eating special rice dishes and catching up on news of old friends, victims killed in the crash are being prepared for funerals.
"Everybody should be here," said Nguyen Nguyen, 46, of Denver, who was kneeling before the Virgin Mary statue to offer a prayer for the accident victims. "We all look forward to these days."
Philip Doan, 47, of Southwest Houston wanted to return home Friday — his best friend's father is one of the dead.
"He was going to go in a van with the son, but he wanted to go with his friends on the bus," said Doan.
"This is just awful."
Nhien said each Mass throughout the weekend will pray for the victims and their families.
"We will pray for those who died to go to heaven and for those who survived to let them have courage and consolation from God," he said.
(Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle)