Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Bookshelf: Vietnamese-American Catholics by Peter Phan

One of our Vietnamese priests recommends this book as the easiest book to read about the devotions, celebrations, and lifestyle of Vietnamese-American Catholics.

Get it from Amazon.com here.

Vietnamese-American Catholics by Peter C. Phan is the first in Paulist Press's new Ethnic American Pastoral Spirituality series, which puts practical information at the fingertips of all who engage in pastoral ministry a way to better understand, appreciate, and thereby minister to the new immigrant groups that have changed the face of American Catholicism. This first volume explores the religious and cultural traditions of Vietnamese-American Catholics.

Peter Phan distills in eight chapters essential information:

  • the history of Christianity in Vietnam,
  • the conditions of Vietnamese Catholics in America,
  • their customs and feasts,
  • the challenges facing Vietnamese Catholics and suggestions on how to meet them.

Pastoral strategies for assisting Vietnamese-American Catholics in becoming more active members of the Church are included, as are photographs and maps.

Highlights:

  • first in a promising series of books
  • no other book like this on the market
  • concise, information packed, but easy to read
  • perfect for pastoral leaders and all who minister to Vietnamese Catholics and Vietnamese-American youth who do not know their culture and history well

Professor Peter C. Phan currently holds the Ignacio Ellacuria Chair in Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University. He earned three doctoral degrees and is the author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles, several of which have received awards for scholarly excellence.

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