Mass & War Museum

We went to the 9:00am English Mass this morning.  The doors of the cathedral were open to catch the breeze, and there was a lot of commotion going on outside.  Loud pop-style music was blaring in, and our priest seemed determined to get us all on board with competing against it.  So before the service started, he took us through the responsorial psalm until he felt we were all singing it like we knew it.

Communion distribution here is a free for all, just like in Guatemala.  There is no usher to herd the faithful in an orderly fashion.  Everyone just gets up and forms a log-jam of bodies down every aisle.  The church was packed – there must have been 1000 people there – and there was just one priest distributing communion.  The people slowly moved forward much the way they drive, gently merging with one another, yielding when it’s appropriate, moving forward when it’s their turn, with a center row person getting served, then a side person, and on and on.  We looked at each other and said, this is going to take forever.

It wasn’t long before there were three more priests up on the altar, hastily preparing plates of Eucharist.  Once they came down, things began to move along quite crisply.  I wasn’t really too distressed by it.  It was quite amusing to watch, plus the choir was amazing, so we were well entertained during the process.  Having been to Europe and seen the grand empty cathedrals there, we were impressed by the numbers and youth of the congregants. 

Attending Mass in another country is something that always reminds me that I am part of something much larger than just my particular community.  We hear so much about the negative side of Catholicism, and the criticism is fair.  But it’s good to be reminded of what brings us together… our common humanity and our mutual desire for justice and peace. 



After church we stepped out on the plaza and that place was hopping.  Even more young women, but now joined by families who were all dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing, having their photos taken in front of the Cathedral and the beautiful Post Office directly across the street.  MacDonald’s was having a Grand Opening next to the P.O. and it seems that was the source of the blaring music we heard while in the cathedral.  The Post Office which reminded me a bit of Grand Central Station in NYC – it had that same kind of grandness to it.  It didn’t take us long to look around, then we plunged back into the carnival atmosphere on the street.  There was a group of young people trying to take their photo with the P.O. in the background and Jeff offered to take it.  They were so pleased with the resulting image and very excited.  So we got a photo of all of us together with the same backdrop, them in their beautiful costumes and us looking hot and sweaty in our already grubby clothes. 

It is such an exciting time to be here in HCMC during the lead up to Tet.  We are being warned that as we get closer to Tet Eve and the official day of Tet, we will encounter many museum closings; something we were aware of when booking for this particular time of year.  But the air is positively giddy with excitement and energy here in the city.  It has been contagious and we’ve all four had a ball being part of it.

The afternoon was spent at the War Remnants Museum.  It was quite a sobering experience.  Various displays of weapons or maps, would spur Gary to share his knowledge about how they worked and who might use them.  There was a graphic and disturbing display on the effects of Agent Orange and Phosphorus bombs on those who were on the receiving end of them.  Not only photos of the immediate damage, but the long term consequences for those who lived and farmed in those areas in the years after the war.  Terrible birth defects and deformities. 

It brought to mind the two men I had seen earlier in the day begging outside the Cathedral.  When I saw them, I wondered how it was they still had thalidomide babies over here.  Now I realize, these men were exhibiting the side effects of poisoned parentage.  The exhibit did point out, that those effects were not limited to the Vietnamese alone, but suffered by the American GI’s who were exposed.  Again, a sobering reminder of the horrors of chemical warfare.

In the evening, we met our fellow Intrepid travelers.  We took some time for introduction and then reviewed the details of our itinerary.  We are well impressed with the group, who seem to be a nice collection of ages and experiences. After that we all walked to dinner at a restaurant specializing in authentic Vietnamese food, which gave us some time to get to know one another a little before embarking tomorrow on our tour.