Vietnamese Mass returns to former church home at St. Joseph Parish

By Mary Ann Wyand

Vietnamese Catholics living in the Indianapolis area will celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost at 1 p.m. on May 15 in their new church home at St. Joseph Parish, located at 1375 S. Mickley Ave. just south of West Washington Street and east of I-465.

Divine Word Father Hien Pham is currently director of the Vietnamese Apostolate in the archdiocese.

The weekly Vietnamese Mass has been celebrated by Society of Divine Word priests at St. Rita Church on the near-east side of Indianapolis for several years, but will return to its former home at the West Deanery parish this weekend.

Father Glenn O’Connor, pastor of St. Joseph and St. Ann parishes in Indianapolis, said the Vietnamese Mass was celebrated at St. Joseph Church for many years.

“They are delightful people,” he said. “We’re really glad to have them back. We enjoyed having them at St. Joseph [Parish].”

Father Kenneth Taylor, director of Multicultural Ministry for the archdiocese and pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Indianapolis, said the official Vietnamese Apostolate in the archdiocese, which is under the umbrella of the Commission for Multicultural Ministry, had been celebrating eucharistic liturgies at 2 p.m. on Sundays at St. Rita Church for four years.

“When [the late] Father Mark Tran Xuan Thanh, who formerly had been ministering to the Vietnamese community in the archdiocese at St. Joseph Parish, had his stroke, the community came to the Multicultural Ministry Commission to see if there was any way we could help,” Father Taylor said. “The archdiocese was agreeable to formalizing a Vietnamese Apostolate.”

After Father Thanh died on April 27, 2001, the Society of Divine Word priests assigned Divine Word Father Joseph Dao Vu to Indianapolis to minister to Vietnamese Catholics in central Indiana at St. Rita Parish, located at 1733 Dr. Andrew J. Brown Ave.

“At that time, the Masses began to be held at St. Rita Church,” Father Taylor said. “They had been at St. Joseph Parish previously under Father Thanh’s ministry.”

Father Taylor said he appreciates St. Rita Parish’s hospitality to the Vietnamese Catholics since 2001 and the Society of Divine Word community for continuing to provide a priest for the archdiocese to direct this apostolate. †