South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1987 Page: 3 of 12
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January 2, 1987—3
Around the Diocese
Father Hai-Nguyen to teach philosophy course
By Rachelle Parry Ramon
STC editor
CORPUS CHRISTI—Father
Joseph Hai-Nguyen, PhD, a Viet-
namese priest whose specialties in-
clude philosophy and theology, will be
teaching a new course through the
Pastoral Institute for Ministry and
Christian Service and working as the
spiritual director of the St. John Vian-
ney House of Studies at Corpus
Christi Academy.
The new course, entitled
“Philosophy of Religion,” will be a
study of the concept of God across time
and culture, examining humanity’s
eternal quest of God. The course’s 13
sessions will be held at Corpus Christi
Academy in Classroom 1 from
7:15-9:15 p.m. on Mondays beginn-
ing Jan. 19.
Father Hai-Nguyen , 41, has been a
priest for 14 years, he said in a recent
interview. Born in Nghe-An (the bir-
thplace of Ho Chi Mihn), Joseph and
his family fled to South Vietnam in
1954 and in 1957 he was enrolled in a
minor seminary.
After nine years at the Pontifical
Seminary in Dalat, Father Hai-
Nguyen received his licentiate in
theology, as well as a licentiate in
philosophy from Saigon University.
The young priest’s first parish was
quite a challenge—it consisted of
14,000 people. He served as pastor
and principal of St. Theresa Church
and High School in the city of Tanh-
Lenh, near the U.S. base at Cam
Ranh Bay in the Diocese of Nha-
Trang.
Father Hai-Nguyen's parish was the
first in South Vietnam to fall to Com-
munist forces in 1974, thus heighten-
ing the nightmare for the priest and his
Sister Patrice Floyd, IWBS, principal of St. Patrick School, Corpus
Christi, proudly shows oft her school's Excellence in Education plaque
with Msgr. Patrick Higgins and Bill Goodwin, school board president.
Father Joseph Hai-Nguyen
people.
“Over 1,5000 people were killed
when my parish fell,” he said. They
were then forced to carry weapons for
the Communists in a sort of "open-air
prison.”
At night they were allowed only two
hours of sleep so that they may be in-
doctrinated into the Communist way
of life, Father Hai-Nguyen said.
Educated people, among them the
clergy, were the most threatening to
the Communists. But the priest con-
tinued to defy them by wearing his col-
lar, so that "if I die, I die with
dignity.”
But the threat to his life was very
grave, so Father Hai-Nguyen’s
parishioners arranged for his escape.
For a whole week he walked and swam
until he reached Saigon.
"My prayer was, ‘Please bring me
to freedom.”’ The symbol of that
freedom after havinv had little
or drink for a week, became "a pure
glass of water with an ice cube.”
To this day, Father Hai-Nguyen
vividly recalls his ordeal whenever he
secs a glass of iced water, he said.
Upon reaching Saigon, the priest
met his bishop, who temporarily
assigned him to work in a hospital
while taking English lessons.
But the city quickly fell to the Com-
munists in 1975, and an American
friend helped Father Hai-Nguyen fly
to the American Air Force base in
Guam, where a chaplain helped him
get to Ellins Air Force base in Florida.
For three months he helped other
Vietnamese people relocate in the
United States. From there he went to
Chicago to work in a parish and to
complete courses in human services
and counseling at De Paul University.
Father Hai-Nguyen established a
Vietnamese magazine and a Viet-
namese cultural center in a large Viet-
namese community in Chicago, where
he also sponsored CCD, social service
and music programs.
He has also worked at Springhill
College in Alabama and the Jesuit
Resident House in New Orleans.
Father Hai-Nguyen's love for learn-
ing is evident. "Learning is a gift—the
more you learn, the more open you are
to understanding God,
As a clarification: The Pastoral In-
stitute's theological course entitled
‘ ‘Spirituality ’' will be conducted by
Dr. Megan McKenna at the Diocesan
Pastoral Center in Corpus Christi on
Friday, Jan. 9 from 7-10 p.m. and
Saturday, Jan. 10 from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m., and on Friday, March 20from
7-10 p.m. and Saturday, March 21
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more infor-
mation, call Emilia Rios at 289-6501.
Family
From page 1
sons in their communities, said Father Albano.
“We need to reach out to them and make them feel
welcome by caring for their special pastoral needs,”
he said. These include housing, employment, food
and clothing, social activities—“making them feel
part of the local Christian community.”
Father Albano and members of his community
minister to migrant farm workers through a special
team, and Catholic Social Services offers several pro-
grams to aid undocumented persons, refugees and
others.
The priest noted that National Migration Week
falls after the Feast of the Holy Family and the
Solemnity of the Epiphany. "It was then that the Ho-
ly Family became migrants themselves,” having to
flee to Egypt to save Jesus’ life.
Father Albano said the flight of the Holy Family is
a “good example of the dangers migrant families
face” trying to escape war and oppression in their
countries. Migrant families, therefore, can identify
with the Holy Family, he said.
Farmworkers FromPasel
In some places such as Nebraska they are trying to
address this problem of the housing shortage; com-
munity groups comprised of church and lay leaders
are working together to find solutions.
Father Albano noted that migrants do not only
consist of farm workers, but also of carnival workers
and military personnel and others.
The diocese’s migrant ministry, however, primari-
Sisters Maria Elena
Colay (left) and Maria
del Rosario Muralles,
SLT, visit with a
migrant farm worker
woman in one of the
camps they stay in
each year during the
picking season. In the
background are some
of the workers' small
shacks.
ly reaches out to the farm worker, which includes im-
migrants, refugees and American citizens.
Father Albano said that parishes around the
diocese will be asked to commemorate National
Migration Week in whatever ways parishes deem ap-
propriate to welcome migrants into their com-
munities. In so doing, they are welcoming Christ into
their midst.
Apart from living conditions, many migrants will
be affected by the new immigration reform law which
was signed earlier this year by President Reagan.
Hispanic advocacy groups and civil rights
organizations have criticized the employer sanctions
provision of the new law, saying that the law will en-
courage discrimination against Hispanics.
Official appointment
Rev. Joseph Audet, MSF, is appointed
parochial vicar of St. Joseph Church, Corpus
Christi, effective Jan. 15, 1987.
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Freeman, Robert E. South Texas Catholic (Corpus Christi, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, January 2, 1987, newspaper, January 2, 1987; Corpus Christi, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth840609/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .