Amarillo—It’s a duo celebration for parishioners at Our Lady of Vietnam Church. The parish will celebrate the Feast Day (Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary) and the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the parish Sunday with several activities on the parish grounds at 2001 North Grand Street.
The public is cordially invited to attend, according to Our Lady of Vietnam pastor Father Jim Khoi, CRM.
Those activities begin at 10:00am with the Rite of Blessing of the Parish Hall and Catechetical Center. That will be followed by the blessing of a statue of the Vietnamese Martyrs. Immediately following the Rite of Blessing, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek will preside at a Mass celebrating the Silver Jubilee of the parish. The Mass will be followed by a reception and entertainment in the Parish Hall.
According to diocesan records, the first Vietnamese families arrived in the Diocese of Amarillo in 1975 and were welcomed by then-Bishop Lawrence M. DeFalco. The group of 20 families was sponsored by the United States Catholic Conference (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), processed by Catholic Family Service (now Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle) and supported by the Catholic Churches and other Christian churches in the city of Amarillo.
More families and individuals arrived between 1976 and 1981, with the number of Vietnamese residing in Amarillo reaching a peak of 2,000, with over one-half of those being Catholics. The Vietnamese population remained stable until 1984, when some companies relocated in other places, while many Vietnamese have also moved to California, Minnesota, Dallas and Arlington, according to Father Khoi.
On July 1, 1999, then-Bishop John W. Yanta established and constituted the new parish, Our Lady of Vietnam, in accord with §515 of the Code of Canon Law, He also established Our Lady of Vietnam as a personal parish in accord with §518.
Three days later, on July 4, 1999, Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston dedicated the current church building during a 10:00am Mass. The building was purchased from Christ Lutheran Church. A year after its dedication, parishioners remodeled and expanded the church and added a fellowship hall.
Cardinal Law’s relationship with Vietnamese immigrants dated back to his days as Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield/Cape Girardeau, Mo. Then-Bishop Law was appointed by the Holy See to assist Vietnamese priests and religious who were forced to leave Vietnam at the time of the North Vietnamese Communist invasion of South Vietnam. When Our Lady of the Ozark Seminary in Carthage, Mo. closed, he invited and sponsored the Vietnamese Order of the Mother Co-Redemtrix (now the Mother of the Redeemer) to take over the empty property.
Cardinal Law was the third Cardinal to visit the Diocese of Amarillo. On Oct. 29, 1936, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, visited the diocese during the midst of a two-week visit in the United States. Then on Dec. 12, 1950, Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York visited the diocese.
A number of priests have ministered to the Vietnamese community. They include: Father Joseph Do Ngoc San, who was appointed July 8, 1976. He was succeeded by Father Aram Berard, S.J. on July 1, 1977. He ministered to the people until 1981, when his Jesuit provincial granted him a sabbatical year to continue his education at Harvard. While Father Berard was on sabbatical leave, Bishop James Huynh Van Cua, exiled from Vietnam, cared for the Vietnamese Catholics. Upon his return, Father Berard was given an assistant priest, Father James Le Duc Bach. On Dec. 1, 1983, Father Berard was given the pastoral care of the Resurrection Indo-Chinese Community. At the same time, the pastoral care of Our Lady of Vietnam was entrusted to the Congregation of Our Mother Co-Redemptrix of Carthage. The first priest from that religious community assigned was Father John Bosco Duc, CMC. He was succeeded on Aug. 21, 1985 by Father James Luong, CMC. He departed Amarillo in January 1991, succeeded by Father John Vu Quang Huy, CMC.
Other priests who have served the Vietnamese Community and Our Lady of Vietnam Church include: • Father Aloysius Tran Ngoc Thoai, CMC; • Father Polycarp Nguyen Ducthuan, CMC; • Father Joseph M. Phan Nam, CMC; • Father Francis Vu, CMC; • Father John Tran, CMC; • Father Leo Huyen Vu, CMC; and, • Father Paul Nuyen, CRM. The current pastor, Father Jim Ngo-Hoang Khoi, CRM, began his ministry on June 15, 2023.