Good St. Anne

Novena draws hundreds each night

By Tanya Connor

STURBRIDGE – In 1982, 65 people fled Vietnam on a 40-foot boat. On the fifth night, almost out of food and clean water, they encountered a tropical storm. Many became very sick and commended their souls to God.

One of those passengers was later ordained a priest for the Worcester Diocese. He is Father Tam M. Bui, pastor of Our Lady of Vilna Parish in Worcester. He used this story – and a recent addition to it – in his homily Saturday at the Novena to St. Anne at St. Anne Shrine.

The novena, held annually July 18-26, brings in priests and musicians from various countries to share their languages and cultures, and includes prisoners and shut-ins in the prayer intentions.

Assumptionist Father Peter R. Precourt, pastor of St. Anne-St. Patrick Parish and director of the shrine, apologized that they could not give the Vietnamese quite the welcome planned Saturday. A storm had left the pavilion without power and rain poured down just before the novena. So the outdoor procession with Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth and religious flags was canceled. The congregation crammed into the smaller church and vestibule in the parish center for the rosary, novena prayers and Mass, which were held in Vietnamese and English.

But Father Bui said the shrine hosted a very nice reception for Our Lady of Vilna’s Vietnamese parishioners and they felt warmly welcomed. He said they thank the shrine for giving them the opportunity to join the novena and share their faith using their traditions.

“And also we learn from other people,” he said.

The dance children did with flowers, placing candles before the altar, had to be changed at the last minute because of the change in space, Father Bui said.

Lan Nguyen and her sister Diem Nguyen, who teach the children dances for Our Lady of Vilna, said they made up this dance to honor the Virgin Mary and her mother, St. Anne. Both women said this was their first time attending the St. Anne Novena.

Father Bui said this was the third time the Vietnamese community had participated in the novena as a group, and they hope to return next year. About half his parishioners attended, some invited relatives or friends from the Boston Archdiocese, and the Vietnamese Music Ministry of Our Lady of Vilna led the music, he said.

Father Bui used his own story to preach about the theme of this year’s novena: “To whom shall we go?”

“We go to God,” he said. “But how do you and I go to God according to his will?”

He told of running into a tropical storm when fleeing Vietnam and being unable to watch his mother and sister suffer. He lay down in fear and prayed the rosary, the only thing he had with him, he said. The next morning the sea was more calm and the passengers felt hope and thanked God.

“Where shall we go?” he asked, repeating the novena theme. “At this point my father gathers the Catholics … to ask Mary to pray for us. We did not lose our hope in God and Mary.”

At 2 p.m. that day, Oct. 10, 1982, “God answered our prayer,” he said. “God finally sent a big, big ship – the USS Midway.” The Vietnamese got on board and resettled in the United States.

Father Bui said that earlier this month he visited the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier that is now a museum in San Diego. He went to thank God and Mary and pray for those who served on the ship. He said he kissed the ship three times to show respect for it and the people who rescued him, his family and his fellow passengers. He stopped at the place on the ship where he and his family stayed, and stood quietly thinking.

“There is another ship … our Lord Jesus, who rescues you and me from the fear of this world,” from darkness, hate, vengeance and violence, he said. Jesus rescues people for eternity, and never becomes a museum, he said later. “Many of us are dealing almost daily with difficulties,” he told listeners. “Many times we ask ourselves, ‘Where shall I go?’ because our faith is not strong enough to see God … who walks beside us.” He recalled Jesus’ admonition not to fear and encouraged listeners to continue practicing their faith and praying as Jesus taught with the “Our Father.”

“Jesus came to look for us, to save us,” he said. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

“You and I must respond, ‘Yes, Lord, without you, to whom shall we go?’”