BY KATHI STEARNS

Staff Writer

ATLANTA-Father Peter Duc Ngoc Vu knew he was meant for the priesthood when as a youth he served as an altar boy at his church in Vietnam.

"I have always wanted to be a priest," Father Vu said. "Many people dream about different things. I have had the same dream my whole life--to be a priest."

In 1971 at the age of 11, he entered St. Bauy Seminary in Vietnam to study for the Diocese of Xuan Loc. "I spent four years studying there," Father Vu said. "Before I was able to finish my studies the Communists came and they closed my seminary. I was forced to return home and finish my high school degree elsewhere."

In 1978 he earned his high school diploma from Gia Kiem in Vietnam. During that time he secretly taught courses on the Catechism and was involved in youth ministry at his parish.

That same year a former instructor from his high school seminary asked Father Vu to continue his religious formation underground at the Catholic Chancery in Vietnam.

"Once Communism came we could no longer study formally," he said. "We weren't allowed to have any notebooks or textbooks because of the Communists. If we were seen with a Bible they could put us in jail."

Father Vu continued his underground studies until 1987 when his instructor was removed from the chancery by members of the Communist Party.

"They (the Communists) started to watch us so closely that I knew that I had to escape; I couldn't finish my studies there," he said. "The only way I was going to follow my vocation was to study in a free country."

In March, 1987, he and his older brother, Vu Ngoc Minh, and 65 other people fled Vietnam in a fishing boat.

"The hardest part was telling my mother that I had to leave," he said. "But she told me she understood and said she would pray that I would be able to continue my vocation. She knew how important it was for me to be a priest."

Father Vu and his brother escaped to Thailand where they were confined to refugee camps. "It was a terrible situation," he said. "We got very little food and very little water. We had to spend a year there while we waited to be accepted in the United States as political refugees. We spent our time praying that we would get a sponsor."

Father Vu wrote to his former spiritual director in Vietnam, Msgr. Francis Pham Van Phuong, who had since become a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and asked him to become a sponsor for himself and his brother.

"Before I left Vietnam I talked to his (Msgr. Phuong's) family and they told me how I could reach him," Father Vu said. "He was the one who did all the paperwork and took my brother and myself in. He took full responsibility for the both of us. He provided us with food, shelter and everything else we needed."

After he and his brother arrived in Atlanta in 1988, Father Vu applied to the Archdiocese of Atlanta to become a priest. "They told me I couldn't do it because my English wasn't very good," he said. "I really wanted to work in the Atlanta area, but since they wouldn't accept me I moved to New York where I began studies for their diocese. I really had to start over completely; since all of my studies had been underground, I had no paperwork that reflected my years of learning."

From 1989-1992 he studied at St. John's University in New York where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy. In 1992 Father Vu reapplied to the Archdiocese of Atlanta to study for the order of presbyter. He was accepted and began his studies at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. where he earned his master of divinity degree this year. He is currently completing his master of arts degree.

As a seminarian Father Vu completed pastoral internships at Our Lady of Vietnam Church, Forest Park, during the summer of 1995 and at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Carrollton, during the summer of 1994. In 1993 he spent the summer in Mexico studying Spanish. He is fluent in French, Vietnamese, English and Spanish.

Father Vu, 36, was ordained to the transitional diaconate May 6, 1995, at the Basilica of St. Elizabeth Seton in Emmitsburg, Md. Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB, of Indianapolis, was the ordaining prelate.

Father Vu's mother, Vu Thi Quy, and stepfather, Nguyen Dang Nha, who just moved to Atlanta last year, attended his ordination and first Mass with his brother. "It was wonderful to have everyone together for this day," Father Vu said. "They were able to see my dream become a reality."

Father Vu's biological father, Vu Ngoc Thanh, died during the battle for Quamg Tim when Father Vu was 5. He remembered his father in a special way on ordination day. "He fought so that people like me could fulfill our dreams," Father Vu said.

Father Vu celebrated his first Mass the very day of his ordination at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Vietnam Church.

He has been appointed to Holy Cross Church, Atlanta, for his first assignment as a parochial vicar.