Priest Bridges Cultural Gap With Teens : Youth: The Rev. Joseph Son Nguyen’s youthfulness, sense of humor and zeal for his religion draws him closer to O.C. group.

DENVER —  At first glance, there was nothing to set apart the animated young man from the group of Vietnamese-American teen-agers eating lunch under the sprinkling rain.

Against the backdrop of waving yellow and red banners, signifying the colors of their homeland’s former flag, he heartily belted out Vietnamese folk songs, his voice pure and clear. He cheered and clapped just as loudly as everyone else when the singing was done.

He blended in perfectly, wearing the same white visor and T-shirt that identified everyone in this large group from Orange County as participants of World Youth Day. However, a closer look revealed a crisply starched white band under his folded collar.

When a visitor mistook the Rev. Joseph Son Nguyen for one of the teen-age celebrants, he replied with a mischievous smile. “That’s OK,” he said. “When I’m old and gray and stooping, I’ll remember this moment fondly.”

Nguyen, from St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim, is 30 years old, but his diminutive, 5-foot-3-inch, 120-pound frame makes him appear younger. He ruefully admits that many often mistake him for a teen-ager--until they notice that telltale white collar.

Nguyen’s untethered sense of humor and zesty youthfulness have endeared him to the more than 800 Vietnamese-Americans from Orange County who are on a pilgrimage this week to see Pope John Paul II. The young people are roughing it, sleeping on the floor of local churches here.

They regularly seek the company of the man they call Cha Son (Father Son). His zeal for his religion is infectious as together, he and the delegation eagerly anticipate today’s long-awaited audience with the Pope.

“This whole week, we’ve gotten to know him pretty well and he’s wonderful because he didn’t snub the hardship we all went through what with not staying at a hotel and eating stale sandwiches and everything,” said Phuong Nguyen, 18, of Westminster, who is not related to the priest. “And it’s always easier to relate to someone who looks like he’s around your age.”

Added Khanh Hoang, 19, of Fountain Valley: “During Mass, Cha Son, he’s a bit conservative, but it’s great that he’s not solemn with his readings. During all the other times, he’s great because he always cracks jokes.”

Nguyen, a refugee to America after the Vietnam War, traces his calling back to South Vietnam. When he was 10, a fifth-grade teacher asked the class if anyone would ever consider joining the priesthood.

“To my surprise, I raised my hand and said, ‘Me!’ ” Nguyen recalled as he waited in line under pelting rain, along with more than 150,000 others from all over the world, to welcome the Pope to Denver.

Two years later, in 1975, along with his parents and a younger brother and sister, 12-year-old Nguyen fled Vietnam when the North Vietnamese Communists overran the country after American forces had pulled out in defeat.

For the Catholic refugees who left their homeland during that painful time and the following chaotic years, it was their religion that held them together and kept them going in their new home in the United States, Nguyen said.

“For the Vietnamese, politics have failed us,” the priest said. “So religion has always given us some hope or cohesion in our lives.”

During his formative years in his adopted land--three years in St. Louis, before coming to Westminster in 1978--Nguyen noticed that many of his countrymen had problems adjusting to their new culture while their children struggled between their Vietnamese traditions and their newly learned American ideals.

Nguyen noted that these families often turned to the church for guidance. He entered the priesthood because he wanted to help his people, who felt rudderless in this profoundly different country.

His advice to those who seek him out, he said, is that they should not be blinded by the allures of the capitalistic opportunities of the West. Instead, they should focus attention on their children who are struggling to find their own cultural identity.

“If the parents would slow down from their need to have all the material goods and spend some time with their children,” he said, “then perhaps some of those children would stay away from tempting challenges such as gangs and drugs.”

But, Nguyen asserted, only a small segment of the Vietnamese-American youth are involved in such problems.

“I believe in our young generation,” he said, offering his umbrella to a group of girls who were looking for shelter from the downpour.

“Look at all these younger people,” Nguyen continued, his arms widespread. “They are our future, and there are many of them who know that.