Marian Days: A Spiritual and Cultural Homecoming

Out of the horrors of the Vietnam War comes a remarkable story of faith and warm human interest. During the fall of Saigon, a religious group of Vietnamese Catholic priests and brothers, the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, escaped Vietnam. They joined an extraordinary exodus of refugees, many of whom arrived in the United States following unimaginable adversity and danger during their journey. Ultimately, with assistance from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, the congregation settled in Carthage, Missouri. In gratitude and thanksgiving they began Marian Days, an annual and enduring spiritual pilgrimage and social festival of Vietnamese Roman Catholics; an unprecedented and awe-inspiring celebration of spirituality, culture and community-building with recent attendance estimated to include 100,000 faith pilgrims and visitors.