USCIS 100:10 What is freedom of religion?

You can practice any religion,

or not practice a religion.

In honor of Easter, here is a quick tour of the religious communities of Milpitas and Berryessa (East San Jose).

St Victor's Tet Mass, Berryessa San Jose

My family moved to San Jose in 1964. My father was assigned to teach in the new public high school, but the building wasn't ready. Instead, the Milpitas and San Jose students had to "share" a school campus: the current site of Milpitas Adult School. My siblings and I went to the newly built Catholic school, St Victor's. When the school began, the religious sisters were Irish-Americans and the students were either Italian- or Mexican-Americans. Now there are lay teachers and the students are mostly Vietnamese- or Filipino-Americans.

On Sunday, many people park in the Milipitas Adult School parking lot, then walk to Silicon Valley Alliance Church. Around the corner is a storefront Muslim mosque, Masjid Dar Al-Salaam, and down the street is a Buddhist charity Tzu-Chi.

The Pao-Hua Buddhist Temple (McKee Road, San Jose) serves free vegetarian meals every Sunday.

Many of the Buddhist Vietnamese students visit Duc Vien Temple (McLauglin Road, San Jose) to give thanks for passing their Citizenshp Test.

The Chinese Church in Christ (Main Street, Milpitas) offers US Citizenship preparation classes. Main Street, Milpitas is also home to (2) the Avatamsaka Buddhist Lotus Society, (3) the Jain Center of Northern California, (4) Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, (5) St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School, and (6) St. James Orthodox Church (great festival!). The Sikh Temple, (6) Gurdwara Sahib, is a quick trip up 680, to Mission Blvd, Fremont.

Christ Community Church
offers daily ESL classes.

St Elizabeth's Catholic Church & Mount Olive Lutheran Church host very active scouting programs.

More: GoMilpitas' List of Places of Worship