Print Issue: August 1, 2002

Father Dung Nguyen: Life-Threatening Experiences Reveal To Him More Of God's Goodness

Father Dung Nguyen listens as Atlanta Beat Soccer players Amanda Cromwell and Marci Miller speak to soccer camp participants at St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell. (Photo by Michael Alexander)

By Priscilla Greear, Staff Writer

ATLANTA - For Father Dung Nguyen, who escaped from Vietnam as a child to come to the United States, the American dream did not mean a successful career in computer science, a large house and a family, but embracing the counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience in the priesthood.

His older brother, Father Michael Joseph Vinh Nguyen of New Orleans, also knows that sacrifice, as well as the rewards.

"Coming from a very poor country, living here in the U.S., it seems everything is just so wonderful. (The natural question is) why do you have to make a sacrifice to be a priest? You can have a nice home, find a pretty girl and get married, the American dream. When he made a decision, he just followed his path. (He has) a very strong will and clear determination."

In the Nguyen family, Religious life is more revered than a career in law or medicine, even as in Vietnam the government controls and persecutes the church, said Father Michael.

Father Dung (pronounced young), who comes from a family of 11 children, also has an uncle who is a priest and two aunts who are nuns. His brother, Tuan, is a seminarian for the Atlanta Archdiocese.

"He has a very good personality to get along with people very well, very patient, kind, gentle and serious, very determined and very decisive," Father Michael said. "I believe he's very Americanized. However, it doesn't mean he's losing his Vietnamese heritage or beliefs or values. He is a very good son to my parents and very good brother to all of us. He's the favorite son of my parents."

Father Dung, ordained July 13 at the Cathedral of Christ the King, will serve as a parochial vicar at St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell.

Father Dung sees the positive in his difficult past in Vietnam, which he escaped at 9 with his aunt on a four-day boat trip. He lived for six months in a refugee camp in Singapore before coming to Lincoln, Neb.

"You're just on a big ocean, on a wooden boat with 100 people, no food, no water. It was all in God's hands," he recalled from his escape. "I look at it as an experience God has given me to be able to see and live in whatever environment and find positive things in life . . . God is good and God is kind in every situation, even in the worst one."

In this country Father Dung attended Catholic elementary and high schools, and was positively influenced by Father Michael, who raised him, as his parents didn't come to the United States until 1990. All of his siblings except two sisters now live in this country.

Father Michael "always taught us to say our prayers, go to Mass, say the rosary, all these things. He was a good model."

He described his discernment process as "a continuous listening to the voice of God . . . calling you and you taking the initiative and you just walking with God."

In the meantime, he earned a bachelor of science degree in math and computer science from St. Michael College, Santa Fe, N.M. After school he worked in computer programming at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for a year and then moved to New Orleans where he took a management position in the same field at the Veterans Administration. While he loved his job, he was actively volunteering in a parish and grew more sure of his vocation, as he thought and prayed deeply about it.

As a priest he knows that computer skills "can only improve your ministry in serving the people of God here in Atlanta using the best tools you can."

He went on to study at St. Thomas University in Rome, Italy, for the Atlanta Archdiocese, earning a degree in sacred theology in 2000 and a licentiate in canon law in 2002. He noted that honesty with oneself, God and one's program and spiritual advisors and willingness to learn and give of oneself are all important aspects of healthy seminary formation.

He enjoyed everything about his five years in Rome, from walking the streets and sipping cappuccino to studying canon law, rich with theology, traditions, customs and norms. Regarding his canon law training, he said, "The minister with this background helps people to figure out what they can do within the confines of the church. What are the rights, obligations and duties of the Christian faithful."

As he works at St. Peter Chanel, he would also be happy to work in the Tribunal or wherever he's needed.

"To those who are crying, you cry with them, to those who are joyful, you enjoy with them . . . I will embrace everything in the parish, in the Tribunal, whatever the bishop wants me to do . . . Whatever we do today we participate in God's will for us today, right now."

Father Dung also takes the positive perspective on the timing of his ordination in a year of revelations of sexual abuse by some priests.

"It's a good time to be a priest, to be a good witness . . . to work with the people, to talk with the people, to bring Christ to the people," he said. "You do find joy in it and that's the confirmation God's calling you to priesthood. How you are can bring hope and joy and happiness, everything of who God is, to other people. If they accept that and they feel that, you can't go wrong."

Father Dung Nguyen

Age: 31

Birth Date: Feb. 18, 1971

Place of Birth: Bienhoa Honai, Vietnam; came as refugee to United States in 1981.

Parents: My and Nhan Nguyen

Siblings: Four brothers, two deceased, and six sisters; one brother, Father Michael Joseph Nguyen, is a priest in New Orleans; another, Tuan Nguyen, is a seminarian for the Atlanta Archdiocese.

Education: Bachelor of science degree in math and computer science, 1992, St. Michael College, Santa Fe, N.M.; STB in theology, 2000, and licentiate in canon law, 2002, from St. Thomas University, Rome, Italy.

Work Experience: Computer programmer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M., 1992-93; computer programming supervisor at the Veterans Administration, New Orleans, 1993-97.

Primary Hobbies and Interests: Reading, running, soccer, watching football and baseball.

Pastoral Internships: Metropolitan Tribunal and St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell, summer 2001; St. Jude the Apostle Church, Atlanta, summer 2000; Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, summer 1999; Our Lady of Vietnam Church, Riverdale, summer 1998.

Additional Languages: Vietnamese, a little Italian.

Particular Ministries of Interest: Parish ministry.

First Assignment: Parochial vicar at St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell, a parish of 1,305 families.

Pastor: Father Frank McNamee