St. Peter in Fulton is on road to recovery

A statue of the Blessed Mother and Baby Jesus, sculpted by a deaf and mute Vietnamese artist named Tran Van Luyen, stands in front of St. Peter Parish welcoming the church’s Vietnamese Catholic community in the Rockport-Fulton area. On Sunday, Oct. 8, the parish community celebrated Mass in a tent in the shadows of the Blessed Mother. Hurricane Harvey deprived them of their sanctuary, but it did not make a dent on their faith.

In 2012, Phillip and Sherre Ernster donated the statue—made from crystal marble found in the mountains of Vietnam—to St. Peter.  Since 2003, the statue had been located on the Ernsters' shoreline property on Fulton Beach Road, welcoming seafarers to Fulton. When they sold the property, they donated the statue to St. Peter Church, with whom Sherre Ernster’s parents—Deacon Robert and Evelyn Cantwell—had a special connection. In 1975, the Cantwells sponsored an extended Vietnamese family, that had fled the fall of South Vietnam, to permanently relocate to Rockport.

It was a natural fit; the people who prayed for the Blessed Mother’s intercession during their time of anguish were now directly under her loving watch.

Hurricane Harvey demolished St. Peter’s church and rectory and extensively damaged its parish hall. The Diocese of Corpus Christi has contracted a firm to begin demolishing the structures.

“Whatever damage was done, no lives were lost. That is what is important. Buildings can be replaced,” parochial administrator Father John Tran Nguyen, OFM said.

The plan to rebuild is still under discussion, but the church and rectory will be rebuilt for sure; when and how long it will take is still undetermined. While insurance is expected to take care of replacing the buildings, the parish will still need to do their part for items that go inside the church. 

“We’ll need help of the community,” Father Nguyen said. 

And help has been coming in from near and far. Immediately after the hurricane the Vietnamese community from Austin, both Catholics and Buddhists, came every weekend to help clean up the debris. The Knights of Columbus from St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Austin donated the tent the faithful used to celebrate an outdoor Mass for several weeks after the hurricane. Today, and until the new church is built, services are being held at the Dyzars Academy of Gymnastics thanks to the generosity of parishioners Matt and Rina Dyzars. A local attorney is preparing space in his office for the parish to hold religious education classes.

St. Michael Parish, from St. Florian, Alabama, has adopted St. Peter. In October a group of parishioners, along with their pastor Father John O’Donnell, OSB, flew into Fulton on a private plane to help with the cleanup. St. Michael’s, which has a significant Vietnamese community, donated $5,000 in Wal-Mart gift cards for parishioners at St. Peter’s. 

“It’s about us in ministry. We want to be involved in the life of this parish,” said Steve Kirkpatrick a deacon candidate at St. Michael’s. They plan to have people come out “as church” to help St. Peter rebuild for the duration of the recovery, Kirkpatrick said. 

Kirkpatrick pointed out that oftentimes in a tragedy like this, the focus is on buildings rather than on the people. Indeed, parishioners of St. Peter’s suffered extensive loss. 

Parish secretary Leah Oliva said that some parishioners did experience great personal loss. She said that some of the children that have moved away are coming back to help because of the language barrier. 

Still everyone at St. Peter is eager and looking forward to rebuild the church, Oliva said. “There is a history. They have been here,” she said. 

They have been engaged in the recovery, even before the hurricane landed; parishioners took statuary and other valuable items home with them for safekeeping. They were the first on the church grounds—ready to help—after the storm cleared. 

In October, parishioners went forward with their annual fundraiser, a food stand at the Seafair Festival. They sold beef kabob sticks, fried shrimp sticks, eggrolls and ice tea. They followed that up with a similar food sale at the grounds of St Peter's the following week.

They are selling t-shirts designed by one of the parishioners with the slogan “Rockport Strong” in the front and the Bible passage “Though I Fall I Will Rise Again -Micah 7:8” on the back. The shirts can be ordered on the parish Facebook page, which also has a "Donate" button. 

Father Nguyen points out the Vietnamese community number perhaps 100 families, making it a challenge to maintain a parish with such a small—albeit extremely dedicated—community. With Winter Texans the total parish family numbers about 225 people. 

He does not know how long it will take to rebuild, but whatever they do he wants to rebuild with both Asian and American communities in mind. He wants to have a church that is more welcoming to everyone in the community, without losing its identity.  

“The church is for everyone. We want everyone to come together. Everywhere I go I talk about us all being God’s children, one family,” Father Nguyen said. Even though the parish started as a Vietnamese church, now it is more multicultural, even the younger Vietnamese now are “more American,” he said. 

“We need to have a church to worship the Lord,” Father Nguyen said. “We ask for prayer. If they can support us financially that’s wonderful.” 

“In my opinion the gift of Christ only becomes present when each of us learn to share, learn to serve one another. The more you give the more you get. The more you keep for yourself,” Father Nguyen said in a recent homily.