By Theresa Carson
On May 24, Most Rev. Robert Lombardo CFR, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, presided over the priestly ordination of six Divine Word Missionaries at Holy Child Jesus Church in Chicago. The Society of the Divine Word Chicago Province presents a series about the newly ordained priests. Today, we focus on Father Tin Trung Vu SVD.
Father Tin Trung Vu SVD benefits from the discipline of his formation in Vietnam and the personal freedom of an education in the United States.
As a youth, he thought about becoming a diocesan priest. However, vocations in Vietnam are plentiful, and his application initially was denied because his parents are divorced, he said.
“There are many vocations in Vietnam. Three of my friends took the test to enter the seminary and only one passed,” he recalled.
“There’s a saying in Vietnam: ‘If you put your hand on the plowshare and you look around, then you’re not ready for Christ,’” Father Tin said as he sat at the Theologate wearing a 150th SVD anniversary jacket and sandals.
For a time, he attended technical school to learn about heating and air conditioning systems. Seeing his potential, a parish priest endorsed Father Tin, who then passed the seminary entrance test and enrolled in Lạc Hồng University in Biên Hòa City, Dong Nai, Vietnam, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English.
His path to priesthood was not without doubt, though.
The older of his parents’ two sons, Father Tin felt called to care for his father when the elder man had surgery for a hip replacement. His superiors gave him permission to take time off and attend to his father. All the same, Father Tin thought his decision indicated that perhaps he was not ready to become a priest.
He went to work for a Vietnamese company. However, the nudge to consider the priesthood continued. He persevered. After his father recovered, Father Tin returned to formation.
A religious sister suggested that Father Tin consider the Society of the Divine Word. He joined the congregation in Vietnam in 2014.
In 2016, he began his pre-novitiate in Nha Trang and professed vows in 2017.
That’s when the unexpected happened. His superiors decided to send him abroad. In January 2018, Father Tin arrived in the United States and began studying philosophy and pre-theology at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa.
For his Cross-Cultural Training Program (CTP), he was assigned to the Appalachia District and Holy Rosary Parish in Buckhannon, W. Vir., where he worked with Father Ed Tetteh SVD.
“I thought people would look at me as an alien,” he said. On the contrary, he found the people to be openhearted.
“I thought, ‘They don’t know me, and I don’t know them, but they are waiting for me,’” he exclaimed. “I experienced that in Buckhannon. I fell in love with Buckhannon. It is a small, peaceful town.”
“The thing I want people to know about West Virginia is that it’s almost heaven,” he said. “There’s the nature, of course, and very friendly people.”
He then slipped into the pronoun “we,” an indication that he had become part of the community.
“We are not pretentious,” he continued. “We are forthright.”
Coming from Vietnam, something else about West Virginia also surprised him.
“The United States is a developed country, and yet in parts of West Virginia, there seems to be an ‘invisible boundary,’” he ruminated.
“Father Ed gave me a chance to visit a widower who lived alone,” he said as he painted the mental picture. “He needed someone to visit him, someone with whom to talk and share. He told him about what he ate [that day] and about his house wobbling.”
After CTP, Father Tin returned one November to visit his friend Father Thien Duc Nguyen SVD in Gassaway, West Virginia.
“People there need a lot—not only material goods but care as well,” he said.
Father Thien and Father Tetteh help many who need assistance—Catholic and non-Catholic alike, he said.
“To future SVDs, please go there,” he said. “We need missionaries.”
One of the most difficult aspects of being a missionary is leaving the people whom you have come to love, he said. He keeps in mind what another priest told him: “Never give up. Know that people are waiting for you in the [next] ministry site.”
As Father Tin completed his post-graduate studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, he also served as a transitional deacon at Queenship of Mary in Joliet, Ill.
Considering his journey to priesthood, he pondered the foundation he received and said that he received the best of both worlds.
“In Vietnam the formator runs after you,” he said. “You understand your duty and responsibilities, what to do and what you can and cannot do. When I came [to the United States] one of the things that impressed me was that they leave the door open, so I could come to an understanding of how to nurture myself. If I don’t work from my side, God cannot compel me.”
He named prayer and Eucharistic Adoration as sources of inspiration.
“My goal is to love the Eucharist and to bring that love to others,” he concluded.
For his first assignment, Father Tin will go the Western Province. He will work for Wordnet Productions, a Catholic media ministry founded by Divine Word Missionaries and serve St. Anthony in San Bernardino, Calif.