My Dear Parishioners,
How was your 4th of July celebration? Mine was great; I celebrated it with my family at one of my sisters’ house. Amazingly that night I slept like a baby in my own bed. The fireworks didn’t bother me. I must have been really tired from playing with my nieces and nephews. Become a Church’s Family: Becoming a church family is who we are at All Saints and only we can make it possible. We are to be together in Church to pray and to worship God. We are also to be with each other for our parish events. Please help our parish to become a church’s family with your faith, love and lives, for we are God’s family here at All Saints. I am looking forward to this weekend’s special Holy Masses to celebrate our Catholic faith and to be with you after every Mass in the parish hall for fellowship and food. I will be with you on Saturday night, Sunday mornings for breakfast and also for lunch. You are welcome to attend one or all of these events with me. This will be a great opportunity for me to know you and for you to know me and other members of our parish. Here are the details for this weekend: Saturday Potluck: Altar Society will provide chicken; everyone is invited to bring what you would like. Sunday Morning: Knights of Columbus will provide breakfast for everyone. After 9:30am & 11am Masses, the Vietnamese parishioners will provide Vietnamese food for everyone. I can’t wait to be with everyone and to enjoy great food. At 11 am Mass, Mass songs will be sung in Vietnamese. Church’s South Entrance Doors: For the safety of everyone in church. Beginning August 1st, these doors will be used for leaving only. Please enter through the main entrance. Thank you for your cooperation! Our parish leaders and I apologize for any inconvenience, please know that our goal is to keep everyone as safe as possible while attending Church. Sadly, our world is not a safe as it used to be. (Continued from last’s week) It was late April that Bishop Kemme asked to meet with me in person. Personally, I was not looking forward to the meeting because I was happy living in McPherson. My parishioners were so good to me. To be honest, St. Joseph of McPherson is one of the best places that a priest can ask for it has newer church, school and rectory. After six years there, I have learned where things were and I had a nice modern rectory to myself. I love to bike my yellow bike every day back and forth to church. I love to see the flowers and plants I personally purchased and planted. I enjoyed them every day and watered them every other day. I also could easily go fishing at Kannapolis, Maxwell Lakes or the Marion Reservoir. I also have hunting spots near McPherson, Lindsborg and Marquette. Moreover, in my conversation with our bishop, I learned that he really needs me to return to Wichita. I asked him, “Why me? The diocese has many wonderful and better qualified priests then me. You know that I would love to be in a country parish so that I don’t have to deal with financial shortage and city rules and regulations of running a school, etc…” Bishop said that he chose me because of my 18 years as a priest and also because of my Vietnamese background. I responded that I was ordained to do God’s will and not mine and if there’s a need of me in Wichita, then I must do God’s will for me. We ended our visit in great spirit for we knew that we were doing God’s will. Lord, I love and I will serve you, Fr. Hien My Dear Parishioners of All Saints,
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to everyone living in this blessed country. Our forefathers found our culture on God and committed themselves and the people of America to the Almighty God with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Today, let everyone give thanks to God and to always TRUST in Him. May the lighting up of the sky on the 4th be the signs of our gratefulness and love for God and our beloved country, the USA. Happy 4th everyone! (Continued from last week) It was on Good Friday, 2012; unexpectedly Bishop Jackels called me and said he would like to send me to St. Joseph in McPherson and St. Bridget in Lindsborg. I was surprised and didn’t know what to do. Bishop explained that St. Joseph has been going through tough financial situations due to their large debt of about 2.3 million dollars. They were hit hard by the downturn in the economy. To make the story short, I said to him, “Bishop, you know that I don’t want to deal with debt or run a Catholic school. I would take a country parish anytime.” He says, “I understand.” Finally, I said to him, “Can I think and pray about this?” He said, yes but don’t take too long; I could tell that he was surprised at my request. After we hung up, I reminded myself that I was ordained to serve and I must trust in God’s plan for me. Immediately, I called him back and he said, “That was quick.” I said, “Bishop, if you believe that this is what God calls me to do and that I can help the people of St. Joseph, I will do as you wish.” He was relieved and thanked me. I continued, ”Bishop, I can’t promise you that I can fix their financial problems but I can promise you that I will love God and the people of my parishes.” Six years have gone by and I was so blessed to be loved by so many people of McPherson County, especially the children. Together we paid off about 1.4 million dollars of debt. Now that I have been at All Saints for about three weeks, I learn that the parish usually holds a parish picnic in July. I was told that due to the extreme summer heat, the turnout has been low, it’s too hot for so many people especially the elderly parishioners. Also, I was told that the parish would like to have a welcoming event for me to All Saints. So, here is what we’ll do: On Sat, July 14th, after 4pm Mass, in the Fisher Center, the parish will host a potluck dinner for everyone to come and to be a church family. Our Altar Society will provide Fried Chicken for everyone, please bring a side-dish to share. On Sun, July 15th after 8am Mass, everyone is invited for a breakfast/brunch meal provide by our Knights of Columbus; and after our 9:30 &11 am Masses, the Vietnamese people will provide homemade fried rice, egg rolls and stir fry for everyone to enjoy. I would love to visit everyone in the Fisher Center after every Mass (no confessions before or after 9:30 am Mass on July 15). So, please join us for these special events of our parish, both days if you can. At the 11am Mass, a group of our Vietnamese parishioners and others will sing Mass songs in Vietnamese. Holy Mass will be said in English. Please help our church and school to be a church family full of love for God and for each other. Thanks, Fr. Hien My Dear Parishioners of All Saints,
Blessings from our Lord through the intercession of All Saints be with you all. For those of you who don’t know me yet, I am Fr. Hien (pronounce like THIN without the T). I am happy to be here at All Saints and I am looking forward to meeting you and being with you at Holy Mass. I was born sometime in the summer of 1972. God bless my parents for they have forgotten the date and month of my birth; so since I have been in the United States, I have been celebrating everyday as my birthday---isn’t it good to be me who gets to celebrate everyday as my birthday? The day of birth on my driver’s license is July 12th. I was born in a little village in South Vietnam, about 120 miles south of Saigon. I have two brothers and five sisters. My two older siblings died in Vietnam when they were little. All of my younger siblings and their families are living on the west side of Wichita near my parents, except a sister and her family who are living in the Kansas City area. My parents have been married for 51 years and I am very close to them. I am blessed with 12 living nieces and nephews and one deceased niece who would have been about 16 years old now. In the Spring of 1985, my family and I escaped in a little boat with 33 people. We sailed across the Pacific Ocean to an island in Malaysia and were found by fishermen. We were transferred to numerous island/refugee camps in Malaysia, then to a refugee camp in the Philippines, and finally to the United States for freedom and education. We have been living in Wichita for over 30 years and we love it here. We have made this city our home for good. Furthermore, everyone in my family is Catholic and all of my nieces and nephews are attending Catholic Schools and they love it. After I came to Wichita in 1986, I started going to school. I remember learning the ABCs at North High. In 1991, I entered the seminary at Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri; the Immaculate Heart seminary in Winona, Minnesota; and finally the Pontifical Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. I was ordained a deacon in the spring of 1999 and served at St. Mary’s, Newton. I was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gerber on May 27, 2000 at our Cathedral with Fathers Eric Weldon, Joseph Tatro and Joseph Eckberg. I was 27 years old and the youngest of the group. As a priest, I served at the Old Magdalen (on Kellogg & Woodlawn - we called it the HAMBURGER CHURCH) and also the new Magdalen at the current location (we called it the BIGMAC CHURCH). As a young priest, I didn’t want to be a pastor, so I asked to be a priest chaplain in the hospitals of St. Joseph and St. Francis hospitals until Bishop Jackels made me a pastor of four churches in Marion County. I served seven years in Marion County and I loved it there for I was so close to my fishing holes at the Marion Reservoir and the County Lake. Also, I was only a mile away from my hunting spots. I loved the people of Marion County and still go back there to fish and hunt in my favorite spots. I am hoping that I will be able to continue doing what I love to do for fun -- fishing and hunting….. (to be continued due to limited space...) Love you all, Fr. Hien My Dear Parishioners of All Saints,
Blessings from our Lord, our Blessed Mother and all the saints be with you and your loved ones. I’m Fr. Hien Paul Nguyen and I am looking forward to meeting you and also loving and worshiping our God with you at Holy Mass. You and I, we must love God with all our hearts and always be willing to serve Him in one another. I promise that I will do all that I can to put God first in my life and to love you as my parishioners. I pray that all of us will be among the angels and saints in heaven for eternal life. The day our Bishop appointed me to All Saints, I started praying for you and for me. I prayed that you and I will get along, that we’ll always accept each other no matter what, and that you would trust me as your pastor. Please know that I care deeply for our church and school and the salvation of us all. I have done some studies about our parish and consulted with some priest friends. After much thought and prayer, I have made the following changes: Starting Saturday, June 23rd, there will be no Saturday 8am Mass to allow for funerals, weddings and baptisms. Weekend Masses will be Saturday at 4pm, and Sunday at 8am, 9:30am and 11am. Confessions will be heard 20 minutes before every weekend Mass. My goal here is to invite more people, especially those who have not been going to church, to the sacraments. There are about 1,600 people in our parish, but statistics show that only about 1,000 people attend Masses at All Saints. I am hoping that these new changes will lead a few more souls to Jesus. I trust that they’ll join us if you would help me by inviting and encouraging them - your family members, neighbors and friends - to join us. Tell them that I’ll keep Mass short just for them … ☺ Also, I am sorry if these new changes cause any inconvenience to anyone. Please don’t let it take the best of you for you’ll love God no matter what and you’ll be in church to worship Him with your church family. Finally, please know that I have moved into the old rectory/church office to keep my eyes on our church, school and property, except when I am gone for fishing, hunting or visiting my parents. God bless you always and please, please join me for Holy Mass for that would be the joy of my life, by having God and you. I love God and I love you too, Fr. Hien P.S. Because I love you, I’ll share with you everything about our church and school at Mass and also in the bulletin. Please read our bulletin for my weekly personal message to you. |
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