Real name: Rufino Zaragoza, O.F.M.

Nurtured in Franciscan spirituality for more than 40 years, Brother Rufino Zaragoza is one the leading experts on liturgical inculturation in the Church today. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he has a bachelor’s in church music from Mount St. Mary’s College and a master’s in theological studies from the Franciscan School of Theology, Berkeley, California. He publishes articles on Vietnamese Catholicism, pioneers multilingual song collections in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and prepares worship resources drawing from each of those traditions.

Rufino has published popular collections of instrumental music (A Sacred Place, Longing Heart/Con Tim Khát Khao), liturgical music (Love's Radiant Light) and has served as a consultant for OCP Publications’s Vietnamese worship resources including Thánh Ca Dan Chúa, the first Vietnamese Catholic hymnal published in the US, Đồng Tâm, Chon Ngài and Chung Loi Tan Tung. In collaboration with Viatorian Father Mark Francis, Rufino was a contributor to Liturgy in a Culturally Diverse Community, the revised document on multicultural liturgies published by the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commisions (FDLC). His song "Sacred Creation" is included in OCP Publications’s Our Common Home, a collection of songs inspired by Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ encyclical.

When in the U.S., Rufino offers workshops and retreats to parish choirs as well as presentations and liturgical preparation for diocesan and national gatherings. He is an excellent resource for multicultural parish communities.

Currently, Brother Rufino spends half the year based in Saigon, Vietnam, developing English worship resources and supporting English Mass choirs throughout Southeast Asia. He spends the other half in residence at Mission San Luis Rey, Oceanside, California, serving as a liturgical music consultant on the West Coast.