St. Peter undergoing change

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Father John Tran Nguyen celebrates Mass at St. Perter in Fulton, which he is shepherding to a new future.

Alfredo E. Cárdenas, South Texas Catholic

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St. Peter Parish in Fulton got its start as a mission of Sacred Heart of Rockport to meet the needs of the faithful of Indochinese ancestry that had moved to the area after the fall of Saigon. Today, it is its own parish with a congregation of mostly Vietnamese immigrants and their offspring but membership is declining as the original members retire and their children move away to pursue their own careers.

This declining membership and a change in the demographic makeup within the parish boundaries are challenges its new pastor, Father John Tran Nguyen, OFM, is facing.

The Church belongs to everyone and God is God to all, Father Nguyen said. That is why he is gradually introducing a more bilingual approach to the parish. 

He has begun by celebrating Mass in both Vietnamese and English, including his sermon. He is also planning to use English in the religious education program he is initiating, since the young people feel more at ease in English. 
 

The choir at St. Peter in Fulton provides an important component to celebration of the Liturgy. Alfredo E. Cárdenas, South Texas Catholic

Father Nguyen acknowledges the beauty of maintaining the Vietnamese culture and passing it on to the next generation, but the reality is that the children are influenced by the culture around them. Many of them choose English as their primary language and dress in accordance to local American customs.

Using English will help the young “understand their faith.”

“Helping them understand the Liturgy will help them grow in their faith,” Father Nguyen said.

The pastor is also introducing an English language Mass to serve the English-speaking Catholics in the neighborhood who have begun to attend St. Peter.

Bishop Rene Gracida issued a Decree of Erection of St. Peter Indochinese Catholic Pastoral Mission on Dec. 23, 1983. A year later, Bishop Gracida designated St. Peter as an independent or quasi-parish. In February 1989 the present sanctuary was dedicated.

Father Nguyen does not know why it was referred to as an Indochinese parish when all its members are Vietnamese. Indochina is a peninsula located in Southeast Asia between India and China consisting of the countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. 
 

Father Nguyen has been providing training to altar servers and other ministries at St. Peter to provide them a deeper understanding of the faith. Alfredo E. Cárdenas, South Texas Catholic

When it was first founded, the parish served nearly 500 members. Today it numbers around 100 families, Father Nguyen said. Many of the founding families were employed in the shrimping industry, today only a few work on fishing boats. Some work in technology jobs but most, Father Nguyen said, own nail salons in Corpus Christi.

When Vietnam was split into North and South, with the communists in control of North Vietnam, most Catholics fled to South Vietnam for fear of communist persecution. When North Vietnam captured control of South Vietnam many Catholic Vietnamese fled in boats and ships, coming to be known as the “Vietnamese boat people.” 

Father Nguyen was among these boat people and came to the United States in 1989, settling in California. He comes from a family of 13, of which three are priests and two are religious sisters. He has an uncle who was a priest who influenced his call to the priesthood. 

He was attracted to the Franciscan order because he was aware of their work with lepers in the part of Vietnam from where he came. Father Nguyen was ordained into the priesthood 10 years ago in July 2006.

He has been at St. Peter only a few months but has begun to revitalize the parish. One of his first initiatives was to recruit readers for the Sunday Mass. Before his arrival only one person did all the readings all the time. He is trying to impress on the congregation that the Church belongs to all and all should take part.

Among other ministries at St. Peter are a choir, altar servers, greeters and he is working on introducing Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Father Nguyen is actively providing training to all ministries. 

He sees the future of St. Peter in the young people and in welcoming English-speaking Catholics to the parish. 

“It (St. Peter) has to be a community. The Church belongs to God and he is God of everyone,” Father Nguyen said.