Days of grace: a new deacon and a new Dehonian priest
The EUF Province has seen, in recent days, two of its members become, respectively, deacon and priest. They are the confreres Vincent Mihn Nhat Nguyen, who was ordained a deacon on May 27th, and Dominique Ai Long Vu, who received priestly ordination on June 2nd.
The celebration of May 27th took place in the parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Strasbourg, where Vincent did his internship of preparation for the diaconate. The auxiliary bishop of Strasbourg, Mgr. Vincent Dollmann, who is also coadjutor bishop of Cambrai, presided over the celebration.
In his homily, Msgr. Dollmann, in addition to dwelling on the service of the diaconate, also recalled the words on the prayer card. François-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who was imprisoned by the communist regime, was an example of faith, perseverance and firmness, in a faith that deserves to be remembered.
On Saturday, June 2, in Paris, in the church of Sant’Ambrogio, our confrere Dominque Ai Long Vu, received the sacred orders from the auxiliary bishop of Paris, Mons. Denis Jachiet, and became a priest.
There was wide participation in the celebration; in attendance were relatives, confreres and friends of Dominique, Fr. Leandro Garcês, formation director, and Fr. Jean Dubray, also a member of the formation team, together with the representative of San Sulpizio Seminary – Fr. Jean-Marie – the place where Dominique spent his diaconate year before becoming a priest.
The homily of Mons. Jachiet, which you can read in full on the EUF Province website, emphasized, in addition to the beauty of creation and how everything that exists is due to God’s goodness, what it means to be a priest, what priestly service means, that it should not be seen as a privileged position, a title of merit, but as a true gift of service to others, to make known the mercy of Christ and his love for his brothers.
A pleasant evening reception with those who wanted to congratulate Dominique – relatives, friends and confreres, from different parts of the world – ended the day.
