By: Joseph Ng
Salesian Cooperator

St. Bridget Chinese Catholic Church, a Salesian parish, is located in Chinatown on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. In the span of just one weekend, our parish celebrated three major events.

On January 31, 2020, Archbishop Savio Hon, Salesian of Don Bosco (SDB), who currently serves as the Apostolic Nuncio to Greece, celebrated the Feast Day of St. John Bosco with a Mass at St. Bridget.  Our parish was first introduced to Archbishop Hon when he served as the Provincial for the Salesian Province of China. After many years, he continues to be a good friend to the St. Bridget community.  At the Feast Day Mass, 23 Salesian Cooperators from St. Bridget renewed their promise to share the spirit of St. John Bosco with the world. This was the largest group of St. Bridget Salesian Cooperators.

On February 1, 2020, Archbishop Hon led the parishioners of St. Bridget, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in celebrating Chinese New Year at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.  The festivities began with 30 minutes of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations, including a dragon dance, a lion dance, and other forms of Chinese dance. After the Mass, Archbishop Hon led the gathered faithful in venerating and paying respect to our ancestors, a time-honored custom in the Chinese culture.

The third celebration was held on February 2, 2020 and commemorated several milestone wedding anniversaries. We celebrated 10 couples with wedding anniversaries ranging from 35 years to 60 years of marriage.  We thanked them for setting an excellent example of love and fidelity to each other, their families, and to the Church. Even though many of our parishioners do not live close to St. Bridget, our community continues to thrive by welcoming young and growing families that enjoy a church that offers both a strong Salesian Catholic spirit and Chinese identity.