Filipino and Vietnamese Martyrs and Saints

Location

Founders Hall, Ministry Center and via Zoom

Cost

0

Christian Santa Maria, Director of University Ministry at the University of San Diego, a first-generation Filipino-American, will share the history of St. Lorenzo de Manila, the significance of this saint to Filipinos, and how a devotion to this saint might shape the Filipino-American experience. 

"Isang Sugo Sa Langit": Reflections of a first-generation Filipino American on the life of St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila and the diasporic experience of the Filipino people. 

Since the canonization of St. Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila in 1981, Filipinos from around the world look to him, the first Filipino Saint, as a representation of the Filipino people within the greater Catholic Church. But with 10.2 million Filipinos who have left the Philippines to reside in one of 100 countries worldwide and with millions of other 1st and 2nd generation Filipinos who are growing up outside of their home country, what does the patron saint of the Philippines offer Filipinos and the Church today?  

Fr. Christopher Nguyen, SJ, Director of Newman Center Catholic Community at UCSD, will talk about the Vietnamese Martyrs and the persecution of the Catholic Church in Vietnam from 17^th century to the present time.

Fr. Christopher was ordained a priest in June 2001. He is originally from Vietnam and has lived in the United States since 1975. He has been a Jesuit for 32 years. He has a BS/BA in Biology and Psychology at UCI and an BFA in studio art at USF, and MDiv at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. He has been the Assistant to the Director of the Jesuit Novices of the West Province, superior and teacher at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, vocation director for the Jesuits West Province, and now as the pastor at the Newman Center at UCSD.