By Mary Frances McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 6/10/04)

After eight years of seminary training, Augustine Minh Hai Tran will be ordained to the priesthood June 12 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.

Tran said he looks forward to serving God and the Church of Arlington and being a good servant. He has looked forward to becoming a priest since age 11.

"I ask the people to be patient with me, generous, give me a chance to serve them," he said.

Tran was born in Vietnam in 1974, the second of 10 children. He and his family left Vietnam 13 years ago and settled in Springfield. Tran attended Robert E. Lee High School for a year before moving to the Bronx, N.Y. He graduated with honors from Roosevelt High School in New York in 1994.

Tran furthered his education at Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y., earning a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a minor in philosophy in 1998. During his junior year he joined the Neumann Residence at Manhattan College for candidates pursuing the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New York, beginning his priestly formation. After graduating from college, Tran was enrolled in pre-theology at the Neumann Residence until the summer of 1999, when he graduated as chaplain candidate for the Army Reserve from the chaplaincy school in Fort Jackson, S.C. In the fall of 1999 he entered the spirituality program for the Archdiocese of New York. When his family moved to Annandale in 2000, he enrolled in Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., as a first-year theology student.

Tran’s parents, Phuc Q. Tran and Hien T. Nguyen, parishioners at Holy Martyrs of Vietnam Parish in Arlington, are excited about their son’s ordination. Among the family coming to the ordination from out of town are Tran’s uncle, Bishop Peter Tran Dinh Tu of the Phu Cuong Diocese of Vietnam, his grandparents and uncles from Norway, and family members from New York, Canada and California. He will be the first Vietnamese priest ordained in the diocese.

After spending a year as a deacon at Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale, Tran said, "I can see much more the needs of the people. Father Frank Ready is a very good mentor. People at Holy Spirit are very helpful. They really keep me on my toes. There (are) many more needs than I thought."

While Tran will always welcome the opportunity to serve Vietnamese parishioners, he wishes most to serve all the people of the diocese. "Whatever parish I am (assigned to), whatever task I’m given by the bishop is (where) I will focus." As St. Paul said, Tran will strive to be with all the people. Tran will find out what his first assignment will be on the day of his ordination.

Being the only priest ordained this year, Tran said, "I feel the pressure. Every eye will focus on me. They will be expecting so much from me. That’s why I ask for their patience and their prayers."

Tran is the only priest being ordained this year because of a change in the requirements for seminary training made five years ago under Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde when he came to the diocese. Previously, only one year of pre-theology was required, but that was changed to two years in 1999. This year the diocese catches up, and Tran is the only man being ordained, because his formation began in a different diocese.

"Augustine is a disciplined young man," said Father Brian Bashista, diocesan director of vocations. "He’s a good listener — reflective and prayerful — and a wonderful addition to the presbyterate of Arlington."