Berkley Center

Anh Nguyen: My parents came from Vietnam, my dad's Buddhist and my mom's Catholic, in the early '90s. They fled during the war. So growing up here, we started with literally nothing, just each other, and my parents just really went straight to work. My mom had my older brother, and then she had me, and then she had my little brother. The three of us were raised mostly by my mom, as my dad was working. We grew up Catholic. We were always well-behaved.

Growing up in America, as a Vietnamese-American kid, you don't really get a sense of your identity, your Vietnamese identity, at least for me. I think the Vietnamese communities were still forming, still solidifying. It wasn't until I started Bible study school, and that's where I started to get in touch more with my Vietnamese roots because we had Vietnamese classes that we would learn, where we would learn our language. I love food, and that's how I stay in touch with my roots. I love cooking Vietnamese food.

The Catholic faith and Vietnamese identity really go hand-in-hand for me. That's where I'm mostly mainly around Vietnamese people, my friends, my family. We just have shared stories, shared narratives of our upbringing, people that can relate. Of course it comes with its challenges, but I think there's something beautiful about culture that brings out a different side of the faith, a different way of expressing it, and I'm thankful for that. One of my, I'd say strengths, is my ability to connect with people.

Anne Hayes: I would say that's a strength of yours also.

Anh Nguyen: Thank you. When you mentioned curiosity earlier, I'm also a very curious person. I want to hear a person's stories. I want to, not figure them out, but I just want to know them. Know them as God's creation. I think everyone I meet is a gift. When it comes to, say, being around maybe someone who's not nice or difficult, it's like, how can I try to see God in them? I think compassion helps a lot. I don't know their story, I don't know their life. Maybe they have had a bad day, maybe something happened in their lives, something drastic. That gives me a little bit more patience for them. I think it comes back to seeing how God works and seeing how the Creator has made us to really experience each other and experience God through each other. I think people make God much more real. If I were to look back, say at the end of my day, if I were to try to find where God was in my day, he'd be in those moments of connection.

Anne Hayes: Totally.

Anh Nguyen: Can I ask you a question?

Anne Hayes: Yeah.

Anh Nguyen: How do you conceive of God?

Anne Hayes: God is kindness. God is compassion, as you said. I love that you said compassion. I think my studies have actually helped me be able to name for myself personally that God is not just God existing above or out there, but that God is also so present in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. God coming here to Earth to be human, to live among us, to show us how to live a life that is rooted and oriented toward love and that nothing stops love, and that not even death can stop love. That's what God is, God is love. The Holy Spirit reminds me of that, the way she just breaks in and pours forth love in sometimes the places I would least expect love to burst forth. I guess what I'm noticing is so much gratitude that you possess for your family, and your upbringing, and your background, and your culture, and your faith, and your heritage. I just really admire that.