June 12 2009

Ordination a powerful moment for Father Tran

Andy Telli, Tennessee Register.

In the Communion meditation song during the ordination of Father Tien Tran, the choir from the Vietnamese Catholic Community sang a song in Vietnamese, “My Conviction of God’s Love.” One of the lines in the song translates to: “From my childhood in a war-torn land, an uncertain beginning, an anxious future, you have been with me always amid my worry.”

Listening to the song and reading the English lyrics nearly brought tears to the eyes of Father Steve Wolf, pastor of St. Stephen Catholic Community and the diocesan vocations director when Father Tran started his seminary studies.

“His story is in that song, so it was very powerful,” Father Wolf said of his newest fellow priest.

Father Tran, who was born in Vietnam and emigrated to the United States in 1997, became the first Vietnamese priest ordained for the Diocese of Nashville on Friday, May 29, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation.

Although he first felt called to the priesthood as a child growing up in Vietnam, he had to overcome many obstacles to become a priest. “I’m finally here,” Father Tran, 40, said during the reception following his ordination.

At the end of the ordination, Bishop David Choby thanked Father Tran’s family “for the example you have set” and their support for Father Tran’s vocation, and he praised Father Tran for his perseverance in pursuing his vocation.

After the Vietnam War, Father Tran’s father was jailed for five years by the Communist government because he had helped the Americans. The rest of Father Tran’s family fled their home in Saigon and resettled in a small village in the Vietnamese countryside where there was no church or priest.

As a seminarian working for a summer at St. Stephen, Father Wolf said, Father Tran told the story of working in the fields by himself, but still feeling that God was with him.

In his early 20’s, Father Tran moved to another village that did have a church, and the pastor, Father Vu Hiep, helped to rekindle Father Tran’s interest in the priesthood. Father Hiep traveled from Vietnam to witness Father Tran’s ordination, and it was the first time in 11 years they had seen each other.

Father Tran’s application to the seminary in Vietnam was rejected because of his age, but after he emigrated to Nashville to join his family here in 1997 he tried again. This time age wasn’t a problem, but the English language was.

“He really struggled with English,” Father Wolf said. Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, where Father Tran was studying, helped him enroll in an English as a second language program at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. “That was very helpful for him,” Father Wolf said. “I just stayed with him on it.”

While working at St. Stephen, Father Tran was asked to preach to the parish at the weekend Masses, Father Wolf said. It was a test of sorts to see if he could function in an English speaking parish, Father Wolf said.

Afterward, Father Wolf explained to the parishioners that the seminary wanted “to know if Tien can serve in a parish in the Diocese of Nashville. What do you think?” The parish responded with standing ovations after all four Masses, Father Wolf said.

The pride Father Wolf showed in Father Tran’s ordination was matched by that of the Vietnamese community, which celebrates a Mass in Vietnamese every week at St. Martha Church in Ashland City, where Father Peter Quang Chau is the pastor.

“We are very happy,” Father Peter said of the Vietnamese community.

In the Vietnamese tradition, a priest becomes a “godfather” to a young person interested in the priesthood or religious life. “I became his godfather to take care of him,” Father Peter said of Father Tran.

He’s hoping the ordination of Father Tran will inspire others in the Vietnamese community to consider the priesthood. “For some of the young people it’s the first time they’ve ever been to an ordination Mass,” Father Peter said.

The Vietnamese community was out in full force for Father Tran’s ordination. Besides the many relatives and friends of Father Tran in the pews, and the choir that sang two Vietnamese hymns, there were nearly 15 Vietnamese priests from across the United States – and two from Vietnam – on the altar for the ordination.

“That’s really a blessing,” Father Tran said. “This is really encouragement and support to see so many people there.”

Father Francis Huang Nguyen, a pastor in Saigon and another of Father Peter’s “godsons,” came to the United States to visit Father Peter and to attend Father Tran’s ordination.

Through a translator, he said that he has often heard about the scarcity of priests in the United States and assumed people here were indifferent about their faith. But after seeing the ordination, he said, he has a different view. “There are people answering God’s call. There is life in the American Church,” he said.

Sister Vuong Do, a member of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of St. John Bosco, traveled from Arizona to attend Father Tran’s ordination. She met him through Father Peter, who gave her First Communion when she was 8 years old and they were both living in a refugee camp in Thailand.

“What a beautiful moment to visit my spiritual father and spiritual brother for his ordination,” Sister Vuong said. “For the church it’s a blessing, not just for the Vietnamese community but for the church. Father Tien is a gift to God’s people.

“We need more priests. Maybe others will follow Tien’s example,” she said. In Vietnamese, Tien means to march forward, she said, so maybe he will be the person who opens the door for more vocations from the Vietnamese community.

There were some nerves when he first processed into the Cathedral, Father Tran said, but those evaporated during the Mass. As he lay prostrate before the bishop as the people chanted the litany of the saints, Father Tran said, he could feel “the power of God coming upon me.”

And when Bishop Choby and the other priests laid their hands upon his head, it was another powerful and emotional moment, Father Tran said.

At the end of the Mass, as they stood in the lobby of the church, his fellow priests welcomed him. “That was really good,” a smiling Father Tran said.

Also participating in the ordination was Bishop Joseph Perry, an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago and one of Father Tran’s professors at Mundelein. They had grown close during his years in the seminary, Father Tran said. “It was a blessing to have him at the ordination.”

Father Tran celebrated his first Mass on Sunday, May 31, at St. Martha. He celebrated the Mass in English at 9 a.m. and the Vietnamese Mass at 11. The parish held a reception for him and the First Communion class between Masses, and the Vietnamese community hosted a celebratory dinner for Father Tran later that evening.

Although he is already ordained, Father Tran must complete his studies before he can receive an assignment in the diocese. This summer, he will complete his Clinical Pastoral Education internship working as a chaplain at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. When that is completed in August, he will return to Mundelein Seminary for a final semester of class work. He is scheduled to return to the diocese in November.

Photos by Rick Musacchio

A newly ordained Father Tien Tran is applauded by his fellow diocesan priests after the ordination Mass at the Cathedral on May 29. Father Tran is the first Vietnamese priest to be ordained in the Diocese of Nashville. He still must finish some class work next semester before he receives an assignment in the diocese.

Father Tien Tran’s aunt, Tuyen Do, left, and mother, Lan Nguyen, present the offertory gifts during the ordination Mass.

Bishop David Choby offers Father Tien Tran a chalice as part of the ordination rite.

Father Peter Quang Chau, above, lays his hands on Father Tien during the ordination. In the Vietnamese tradition Father Chau serves as Father Tran’s “godfather,” watching out for him and taking care of him in his new ministry.

Father Tien Tran, above, offers communion to his father, Y Tran during the ordination Mass.

After Mass, he gave a blessing to two young relatives, Khang Nguyen and Trinh Tran.