About Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnamese) · Wyoming, Michigan
Our Lady of La-Vang (Đức Bà La-Vang) is a Vietnamese Roman Catholic parish in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, established in 1999 to serve the Vietnamese Catholic community of West Michigan. Located in the city of Wyoming, just southwest of Grand Rapids, the parish sits in Kent County within the Grand Rapids South Deanery. Its worship life centers on the Vietnamese language, with most Masses celebrated in Vietnamese and one bilingual English/Vietnamese Mass offered during the school year. The parish is named for the 1798 Marian apparition at La Vang, Vietnam — one of the most beloved devotions in the worldwide Vietnamese Catholic diaspora.
- Established
- 1999
- Patron
- Our Lady of La Vang (Đức Bà La Vang)
- Rector
- Rev. Thomas Dung Ha, C.Ss.R. (Redemptorist; appointed pastor July 14, 2025)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Grand Rapids
Why belong here
Our Lady of La-Vang offers a rare opportunity in West Michigan to worship in Vietnamese within an English-speaking diocese, with several weekend Masses celebrated in Vietnamese and a bilingual English/Vietnamese Mass during the school year. The community keeps a strong Eucharistic devotion, including weekly Thursday Exposition and Benediction and a monthly First Saturday Mass, alongside the Vietnamese cultural and Marian traditions of La Vang. Newcomers, Vietnamese-American families, and anyone drawn to this Marian devotion are warmly welcomed at 2019 Porter SW in Wyoming.
Mass times at Our Lady of La Vang (Vietnamese)
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Or by appointment — call Fr. Victor at 616-531-2412
Adoration times
- Thursday 7:00 p.m. — Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction
Parish Identity & Background
Our Lady of La-Vang (Đức Bà La-Vang) is a Vietnamese Roman Catholic parish in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, established in 1999 in the city of Wyoming, Michigan. The parish takes its name from the 1798 apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at La Vang, a village in central Vietnam, which is one of the most venerated Marian devotions among Vietnamese Catholics worldwide. Within the diocese the parish sits in Kent County in the Grand Rapids South Deanery and is recognized on GCatholic.org as a Roman-Rite church serving the Vietnamese community of West Michigan.
- Established 1999
- Diocese of Grand Rapids — Grand Rapids South Deanery, Kent County
- Vietnamese Rite/Roman Rite community
Worship Site & Contact
The parish's worship site is at 2019 Porter SW in Wyoming, Michigan. Phone inquiries are handled at 616-531-5213 (fax 616-531-1948), and email correspondence is received at [email protected]. The parish's official presence is hosted through the Diocese of Grand Rapids website at grdiocese.org.
- Address: 2019 Porter SW, Wyoming, MI 49519
- Phone: 616-531-5213
- Fax: 616-531-1948
- Email: [email protected]
Weekday Masses
Weekday Masses follow a regular Tuesday–Friday morning pattern, supplemented by special monthly Masses on the First Thursday, First Friday, and First Saturday of the month, as listed on the diocesan parish page.
- Tuesday – Friday: 8:00 a.m.
- First Thursday of the month: 6:00 p.m.
- First Friday of the month: 6:00 p.m.
- First Saturday of the month: 8:00 a.m.
Clergy & Pastoral Leadership
Our Lady of La-Vang has been served by Redemptorist (C.Ss.R.) clergy since summer 2025. The current pastor, Fr. Thomas Dung Ha, C.Ss.R., was appointed effective July 14, 2025 by Bishop David Walkowiak and is a member of the Redemptorist Province of Extra Patriam, ordained July 2, 2010. Fr. Joseph Toan Lai, C.Ss.R., also of the same Redemptorist province (ordained May 20, 2017), serves as parochial vicar, jointly assigned to Our Lady of La-Vang and St. John Paul II Parish in Cedar Springs. Fr. Victor Kynam, who served as pastor before the 2025 reassignment, was ordained June 2, 2007, and is now pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Jenison.
- Rev. Thomas Dung Ha, C.Ss.R. — Pastor (since July 14, 2025)
- Rev. Joseph Toan Lai, C.Ss.R. — Parochial Vicar
- Rev. Victor Kynam — former pastor (now at Holy Redeemer, Jenison)
Diocese of Grand Rapids Context
Our Lady of La-Vang is one of more than 80 parishes in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, the Roman Catholic diocese covering 11 counties of West Michigan. The parish belongs to the Grand Rapids South Deanery and is among a small number of diocesan parishes that regularly celebrate Mass in a language other than English, serving the spiritual needs of West Michigan's Vietnamese Catholic faithful alongside the diocese's other ethnic ministries.
- Diocese of Grand Rapids
- Grand Rapids South Deanery
- Kent County parish
The Our Lady of La Vang Devotion
The parish's patroness refers to a Marian apparition reported in 1798 at La Vang, in what is now Quảng Trị Province in central Vietnam, when Catholics hiding in the jungle during persecution reportedly saw the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child. The apparition became a defining devotion of Vietnamese Catholics. On 1 July 1998 Pope John Paul II blessed a Vietnamese statue of Our Lady of La Vang in Rome and proclaimed her patroness of the Catholic Church in Vietnam; the following month more than 200,000 pilgrims gathered at La Vang for the bicentennial of the apparition. Vietnamese Catholic communities across the diaspora — including the United States, Canada, France, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan — have since named parishes after Our Lady of La Vang, and the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Washington, D.C. was completed in 2005.
- Apparition reported in 1798 in La Vang, Vietnam
- Patroness of the Catholic Church in Vietnam (declared 1998)
- Vietnamese Catholic diaspora devotion shared by parishes worldwide
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Victor Kynamthrough ~2025
Long-serving pastor listed on the Diocese of Grand Rapids parish page; reassigned as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish, Jenison in the summer 2025 pastoral appointments announced by Bishop Walkowiak.
- Rev. Thomas Dung Ha, C.Ss.R.effective July 14, 2025
Member of the Redemptorist Province of Extra Patriam; appointed pastor of Our Lady of La-Vang Parish by Bishop Walkowiak in the spring 2025 pastoral appointments.