On a rainy Thursday, Nov. 21, a small group of parishioners, clergy and construction workers gathered at the site of the future Our Lady of La Vang shrine on the Christ Cathedral campus. As Auxiliary Bishop Thanh Thai Nguyen began blessing the construction site and praying for an on-time and safe completion of the shrine, as if in a nod from the Blessed Mother on the proceedings, the sun winked out from behind the cloud cover.

At the private ceremony, Bishop Nguyen noted for the first time publicly an October 3, 2020 target date for completion. “We are God’s co-workers, so today we ask you to bless the project,” Bishop Nguyen said….

Ground was broken more than a year ago on the $10 million project that Vietnamese volunteers brought to Bishop Kevin Vann in 2016.

The Marian Court is expected to eventually be home to several shrines honoring the Virgin Mary. It will be anchored by a 12-foot-tall statue of Mary as she appeared in the late 18th century to persecuted villagers who had fled to the jungles in central Vietnam….

The ceremony was quick, with two Vietnamese songs, a “Hail Mary” and “Lord’s Prayer,” and the bishop’s blessing. Bishop Nguyen said he and parishioners are eager to see the finished project. “They are loving her so much,” he said of Our Lady of La Vang. “They want to SEE her.”

The above comes from a Dec. 10 story in OC Catholic.