Bishop John Tran ordains 8 new Permanent Deacons and writes about their ministry

 

The sacrifices of deacons

By BISHOP JOHN N. TRAN

On Feb. 3, I had the honor and privilege of ordaining eight permanent deacons to serve the church in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The weather outside reflected the celebration inside the Cathedral of Christ the King; it was beautiful. 

Bishop John N. Tran

The celebration was solemn and joyful thanks to the wonderful Cathedral choir and Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet, lectors, the diaconate class of 2025 and 2026 as servers, the diaconate class of 2027 and 2028 as ushers; masters of ceremonies and hospitality of the cathedral staff. The reception committee prepared the reception for everyone following the ordination. 

The celebration was solemn and joyful thanks to the wonderful Cathedral choir and Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet, lectors, the diaconate class of 2025 and 2026 as servers, the diaconate class of 2027 and 2028 as ushers; masters of ceremonies and hospitality of the cathedral staff. The reception committee prepared the reception for everyone following the ordination. 

Indeed, it was a joyful day for all of us gathered, not only for the candidates, their families and friends, but also for the church in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Our congratulations to the deacons, their wives and families: Michael (Mary) Heubel, Robert (Mary Ann) Fraundorf, Gerard (Carolyn) LaHatte, Michael (Lori) Martell, Alonso (Edilma) Rigg, William (Diane) Schubring, Phillip (Racheal) Tran and Thang (Thuy) Vu. We give thanks to God for their YES in continuing the mission of Christ. 

Currently we have 244 active permanent deacons serving in our archdiocese, including those newly ordained. We have 60 who are retired. It was in preparing for the ordination that I was reminded of the sacrifices that our permanent deacons, their wives and families make in the service of the church.  It takes six years for the men to complete the formation program; many of the wives also participated regularly in the academic portion of the formation.   

When did we first have deacons? Traditionally, the beginning of the order of deacons traces back to the story in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 6: “So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task (serving those in need).’ The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas…They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them.”   

A note: they were appointed (ordained) not for priesthood, but for service. Deacons must be like those once chosen by the Apostles for the ministry of charity, to be the servant of all.  

Although deacons have been around since the time of the apostles, about the year 1000, the permanent diaconate faded away. During the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI implemented the council’s decision to re-instate permanent deacons. In 2021, Pope Francis reminded us with these words about the role of the deacons: “Please let us remember that for the disciples of Jesus, to love is to serve and to serve is to reign. Power lies in service, not in anything else. They (deacons) are the guardians of true ‘power’ in the church, so that no one goes beyond the power of service.” (Vatican News 19, June 2021) 

In the Rite of Ordination through the laying on of hands, passed down from the Apostles and the Prayer of Ordination, the gift of the Holy Spirit for the office of the Diaconate is conferred on the candidate and configures him forever to Jesus Christ to serve as his deacon.  

During the homily, the candidate is reminded with these words: “Strengthened by the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Deacon will help the Bishop and his Priests in the ministries of the word, of the altar, and of charity, showing himself to be a servant of all. It will be his duty to exhort believers and unbelievers alike and instruct them in holy doctrine, to preside over public prayer, administer Baptism, assist at and bless Marriages, bring Viaticum to the dying, and conduct funeral rites.” (The Rite of Ordination of Deacon). 

Over the years, I have always been blessed to have at least one permanent deacon serving with me. I always have great admiration for them, their spouses and families. Besides what they do at Mass on weekends, deacons also fulfill other needs of the church parish behind the scenes without much acknowledgment from the pastor or parishioners. They are usually the first to arrive and last to leave church. More often than not, they have to arrange their family celebrations around the church schedule during major liturgical celebrations. They, together with their families, make those sacrifices in serving us.   

As we celebrate the ordination of our new deacons, may we thank all of them, their wives and families for the sacrifices they make in serving our community. Stop by after Mass next time and thank them for their service. At the same time, remind them that they promised to pray for you and the whole world daily. Also, reassure the deacons of your prayers for them that they may “be effective in action, gentle in ministry, and constant in prayer.” 

Great story about Bishop John Tran, recently pastor at MQP in Mandeville

 

Priest from Mandeville elevated to auxiliary bishop of 1.2 million Catholics

• BY KIM CHATELAIN | Contributing writer
• JAN 27, 2023 - 5:45 AM
• Comments

Amid the sacred grandeur of a soaring orchestra-backed choir in a majestic church packed with Roman Catholic hierarchy and lay people of faith, a “simple priest” from a parish in Mandeville humbly accepted the call of Pope Francis in being ordained as auxiliary bishop of Atlanta on Jan. 23.

Bishop John Nhan Tran, who most recently served as pastor of Mary, Queen of Peace Church, became the second Vietnamese bishop in the U.S. during a two-and-half hour ceremony at St. Peter Chanel Church in Roswell, Georgia, a community about 20 miles outside Atlanta.

In his new role, the 56-year-old Tran will assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of about 1.2 million Catholics who make up the Archdiocese of Atlanta, which is considered the fastest growing flock of its kind in the U.S.

His ordination culminates a spiritual odyssey for Tran, who at age 9 fled Saigon who at age 9 fled Saigon on a barge after his mother was shot and killed during the tyrannical oppression that gripped Vietnam at the time. His older brother also had been killed after stepping on a land mine.

“Father John, what you experienced in your first years of life, most people would not experience in the course of a lifetime,” Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer said in his ordination homily. “Yet, it was these experiences that formed you into the priest that you are today and the bishop you are about to become. You have the heart of the Good Shepherd. Your faith in the midst of such great suffering will bring hope to our people.”

During his 30 years as a priest in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Tran carved out a reputation as a humble, caring cleric possessed of a servant’s heart and a penchant for expressing gratitude for what his piety has offered him.

He spent the past eight years as pastor of Mary, Queen of Peace Church, a parish of about 1,800 registered parishioners who gravitated toward Tran’s unpretentious demeanor, worker bee ethic and self-deprecating quips.

At a reception following the ordination ceremony, dozens of parishioners from the church on the West Approach who made the trip to Georgia told stories of his selfless dedication to the local community and its needs.

Whether it was rolling up his sleeves to repair vehicles of those who could not afford a mechanic’s bill, climbing onto the school’s roof to patch a hole or breaking out a chain saw to help clear away storm debris, Tran operated as a behind-the-scenes goodwill ambassador to those he served, they said.

They also recounted Tran’s selfless decision in 2015 to donate a kidney to an Oklahoma City priest.

In addition to the Mary, Queen of Peace contingent, many members of Georgia's Vietnamese community and a group from St. Joan of Arc Parish in LaPlace, where Tran served before his years in Mandeville, also trekked to Atlanta for the event.

“I can remember the first time I met him that there was something special about him,” said Leslie Madere, a staff member at St. Joan of Arc who was part of the LaPlace contingent. “I’m a better person because of him.”

News that Tran was to be made an auxiliary bishop surfaced in October, eliciting bittersweet feelings from Mandeville Catholics who lamented parting with their pastor while acknowledging his worthiness to become a bishop.

Parishioner Steve Fradella, a recently retired Mary, Queen of Peace staff member, said the exhilarating ordination Mass was a fitting tribute for a pastor who has humbled himself in service to God and his followers.

“It was beyond magnificent for me to witness this,” said Fradella, a parish member since 2007. “I’ve seen other events like this, but nothing else compares.”

Co-consecrators of the ordination were New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond and Archbishop-emeritus Alfred Hughes.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States and central government diplomat of the Catholic Church, touted Tran’s track record and read a letter from Pope Francis naming him auxiliary bishop.

“Throughout his life and ministry, he (Tran) has shown remarkable patience and perseverance, and maintained his faith in God,” Pierre said. “His life experience has prepared him for this point, and the Divine Master has been shaping and forming him, even through suffering, into a masterpiece.”

During the ceremony, Tran was anointed with oils and presented with a ring, miter and crosier, often referred to as “tools” of a bishop.

Near the ceremony’s conclusion, Tran addressed the those packed into the 918-seat church with his trademark humor and humility. After thanking those who supported him during his priesthood, he noted he was not prompt when Pierre, the Vatican diplomat, first reached out to him about becoming a bishop.

“Thank you, archbishop, for your patience, especially for those first five phone calls I did not answer,” Tran said, eliciting a roar of laughter from the audience.

“To the priests, deacons, religious and the people of God here in this (Atlanta) Archdiocese, your days of penance are at hand,” he said, again to laughter. “Seriously, I will do my best to serve you … Please pray for me that what I lack, God will indeed provide. I am humbled and deeply grateful to every one of you for your prayers and support today. May God bless each of you as you have blessed me today.”

The New Orleans diocesan priest who is now the ordained Bishop for Atlanta: Bishop John Tran

 

Bishop Tran: A humble servant ordained for Atlanta

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

ATLANTA, Ga. – The spotlight created by Bishop John-Nhan Tran’s Jan. 23 ordination as the new auxiliary bishop of Atlanta had to feel somewhat strange to a priest whose ministry in the Archdiocese of New Orleans for the previous 30 years had been marked by his insistence on quietly looking beyond himself to serve others.

But the priest whom parishioners acclaimed as a humble shepherd accepted the call of Pope Francis and was ordained as an auxiliary bishop by Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer in a two-hour liturgy at St. Peter Chanel Church in Roswell, Georgia.

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond and Archbishop-emeritus Alfred Hughes were Bishop Tran’s co-consecrators. Bishop Tran is the second Vietnamese bishop in the U.S., the first being the late Bishop Dominic Luong, the former pastor of Mary Queen of Vietnam Parish in New Orleans. He joins Auxiliary Bishops Joel Konzen and Bernard Shlesinger in serving Atlanta’s burgeoning Catholic population of 1.2 million. 

“My heart is filled with profound gratitude, gratitude to God, not only for giving me life, but also for calling me to serve his church as a priest and now as a bishop,” Bishop Tran said at the conclusion of the Mass, just after being escorted throughout the 918-seat church by Archbishops Aymond and Hughes to offer his first episcopal blessing to the congregation.

Seated in the front section of the church were 60 parishioners from Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Mandeville and more than a dozen from St. Joan of Arc Parish in LaPlace, the two parishes where Bishop Tran, 56, most recently had served as pastor.

Gwen Smith, a St. Joan of Arc parishioner, said she would not have missed the ordination for the world. Smith is a grandmother, and she witnessed then-Father Tran bringing her grandson, Mason Pusey, into the church as a 5-year-old when he begged Father Tran to baptize him as a Catholic. Pusey died in a car accident two days before his 18th birthday in 2020, but not before living what his grandmother called a spirit-filled life.

“It gave me so much comfort to see how Father John had worked with Mason over the years and how much his faith meant to him,” Smith said.

Seated next to Smith was Helena Cupit, who served as director of religious education at St. Joan of Arc when Father Tran was pastor.

“He was always about the ‘other,’” Cupit said. “He would always tell me that before he went to bed, he would examine his day to see how he could have done better for others.”

Before conferring the Rite of Ordination, Archbishop Hartmayer touched on the theme of Bishop Tran living out the Gospel virtues of humility and care for others. The archbishop said on Holy Thursday – the night on which Jesus instituted the priesthood and the Eucharist – the disciples were jockeying to see who would get the most esteemed positions in the kingdom of heaven.

“They were concerned with determining who was the greatest,” Archbishop Hartmayer said. “Ambition has no place in the life of any follower of Christ, but especially in the lives of our bishops. Jesus reminds the Apostles, and others as well, that the one who is greatest is the one who serves. Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and reminds them that what he has done is the example that they must follow. Humility is at the very core of his action, and in you, John, I see that same virtue.” 

Archbishop Hartmayer compared the flight of Jesus, Mary and Joseph into Egypt to Bishop Tran’s family’s ordeal in escaping Vietnam in 1975. Bishop Tran’s mother died when he was 2; his father was shot and imprisoned by the communist government; and his older brother was killed after stepping on a landmine. Bishop Tran was just 9 when he escaped Vietnam by boat with his family.

“You escaped from a tyrannical oppressor, not knowing what would become of you and your family,” Archbishop Hartmayer said. “When you finally escaped Vietnam, while on the South China Sea, your boat ran out of water, which would have meant death had you not been rescued by an American ship. Your extended family of aunts and uncles as well as cousins would later be accepted as refugees in Louisiana.

“Father John, what you experienced in your first years of life, most people would not experience in the course of a lifetime. Yet, it was these experiences that formed you into the priest that you are today and the bishop you are about to become. You have the heart of the Good Shepherd. Your faith in the midst of such great suffering will bring hope to our people.”

Archbishop Hartmayer also related the selfless decision Bishop Tran made in 2015 to donate a kidney to an Oklahoma City priest, Father Thanh Van Nguyen, who was on dialysis and in urgent need of a transplant.

 “You have chosen as your physical motto, ‘God Will Provide,’” Archbishop Hartmayer said. “These words are a testimony to your faith in and dependence upon God's providence.”

Bishop Tran’s sister, My Tran of Slidell, said the ordination of her younger brother as a bishop was a longtime family dream.

“I wish that both of my parents were still alive so they could witness this,” she said. “This is what my parents really wanted all their life. Actually, they wanted me to become a nun, too, but, unfortunately, I'm hotheaded, so I just needed to become a regular person. Hopefully, God understands. I've tried to pray for my brother, Father John. I hope that God will give him good health so he can continue to do the job that God has called him to do.”

Bishop Tran was presented to Archbishop Hartmayer for ordination by Father Robert Cooper, pastor of Divine Mercy Church in Kenner and a member of the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council. Father Bac Hai Viet Tran, pastor of St. Agnes Church in Jefferson and a close personal friend, also accompanied Bishop Tran into the church.

“I’m just thinking of the many times, even in the small ways, when I needed advice or I needed someone to talk to, whether it was big or small, he was always there, and he was always a humble servant,” Father Cooper said. “He was never one to take the spotlight.”

Father Bac Hai said Bishop Tran’s middle name of “Nhan” means “relaxing” in Vietnamese.

“It means relax, easy, slow, slow down,” Father Bac Hai said. “But, actually, John was just the opposite. He is intense in reaching out to help people in silence. He never, never makes any noise.  Even when he donated his kidney, nobody knew. His family didn’t know either until after it happened.

“Sometimes I have to tell him, ‘Slow down, slow down.’ Even on his day off, he’s reaching out to fix people’s cars, to fix people’s houses. I said, ‘God forbid, you are not Superman. You are a man with one kidney.'”

"(Bishop) Tran is a successor of the apostles," Archbishop Aymond said. "Much is entrusted to you, my brother, and you can fulfill the ministry that will be given to you as you stay close to Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd, who calls you to be a shepherd for others as you follow him. 

"We gather together to be able to thank you, John, for being a very dedicated priest, for being a humble priest. We in the Archdiocese of New Orleans have been blessed by your ministry  for three decades, and for this we are grateful to God and grateful to you. My friends, we share him with you – a humble man, a good priest, a dedicated leader. And you can be assured that in a very loving way, he will use his gifts and be a good shepherd. John, we will miss you, but we know that your ministry here will be a blessing to many.”

At the end of the Ordination Mass, Bishop Tran thanked the parishioners of the Archdiocese of New Orleans that he said he had the privilege to serve.

 “I miss them,” he said. “To the priests, deacons, religious and the people of God here in the Archdiocese of (Atlanta), your days of penance are at hand. Seriously, I will do my best to serve you. I look forward to the opportunity to meet you. Please pray for me that what I lack, God will indeed provide. I am humbled and deeply grateful to every one of you for your prayers and support today. May God bless each of you as you have blessed me today.”