St. Patrick Parish Fr. Sonny de Rivera, SVD Last year, the Vietnamese Ministry at St. Patrick Parish was offered to the Society. Fr. Chau Pham, SVD, was asked to take on the ministry considering his background and experience with the Vietnamese ministry for several years at St. Thomas of Aquin Parish in St. Louis, Missouri. Fr. Chau recalls, “When the Provincial asked me if I would be interested in taking charge of the Vietnamese Ministry at Fort Wayne, I told him that I was ready to leave St. Thomas and if he wanted me to go to St. Patrick Parish, I was willing.” The Vietnamese community has been meeting at St. Patrick for several years. A Sunday Mass was celebrated by a Vietnamese priest, Martin Nguyen, who works with another Vietnamese community in South Bend, Indiana. Martin was no longer able to commit himself to the ministry. Bishop John Michael D’Arcy turned to the Society and offered us the ministry. Although Chau resides at St. Patrick Church, he also does ministry with the Vietnamese community in South Bend. St. Patrick Church is a multicultural parish composed of Hispanics, Anglo-Americans and Vietnamese. Half of the parishioners are Hispanics. With roughly 1,000 families in all, 400 families are Anglo-American, and 100 families are Vietnamese. Chau mentioned that the Vietnamese community that attends St. Patrick comes from different parts of Allen County. A county census counted 2,000 Vietnamese in the county but only 633 Vietnamese in Fort Wayne itself. The count for Hispanics was 11,884. Fr. Chau says the Hispanic community is the most active. Fr. Manuel Evangelista, a diocesan priest from Mexico, tends to the Hispanic community’s needs. Like most urban parishes in the United States, St. Patrick embraces the multicultural reality of the country. The constant influx of immigrants paved the way and opened doors for new ways of doing ministry. Fr. Chau describes this reality as a challenge to the community. He mentions that integration among the three communities is something that still needs to be worked out. Some of the members of each community seem to think that the easiest way of doing things is do it your own way and on your own. On the other hand, Fr. Chau thinks that the simplest and most significant way to approach integration is to take small, cooperative steps with certain projects, one project at a time. St. Patrick Parish was built by the countless efforts of many people, all of whom have contributed in their own special way. The first church was built in 1858 and was located a significant distance from Ft. Wayne. The parishioners found it very inconvenient to travel the distance to Chesterton, Indiana, to go to church. In 1874 the first pastor of St. Patrick, Rev. John Flynn, bought two lots on which the present St. Patrick Church was erected. At first the church was devoid of ornamentation and even furnishings. Today the church seats 500. When I first stepped into the church I was awed by the beautiful frescoes and marble altars. The parish school, which is closed, dates back to 1887. Fr. Chau considers serving the Vietnamese community at St. Patrick a privilege and a momentous opportunity for the Society to minister in a multicultural setting. His most important goal is to strengthen the Vietnamese community and encourage it to work more effectively with the other communities. He hopes that, in due time, the Vietnamese community will confidently open itself to others and share the richness of its culture. |
