Piano-playing priest’s first concert enthralls audience

By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger

CLINTON — In his childhood dreams, Father Khoa Le imagined playing the keyboard for his parish during Mass in their rural community in Vietnam. That dream materialized when he entered college and mustered the courage to ask permission to borrow a keyboard from his uncle, a priest serving parishes in another community.

However, Father Khoa never dreamed of performing in concert for nearly 300 people, which happened Aug. 30 at Jesus Christ Prince of Peace Parish, where the audience listened with rapt attention and gave him a standing ovation.

Father Khoa serves as the parish’s parochial vicar but only a few parishioners knew of his gift as a pianist, which they discovered after hearing him play following a daily Mass earlier this year. His performance Aug. 30, given at the request of the Family Life Commission, grew awareness of his gift exponentially.

He played Vietnamese hymns that at times have brought him to tears and influenced his vocation to the priesthood; he also played classical pieces, such as “Ave Maria” and “Passacaglia.” His fingers moved like ballet dancers across the keyboard of the grand piano. The music filled listeners with a sense of peace and community, many of them said.

“I looked around and saw the smiles he brought to people’s faces,” Prince of Peace parishioner Jim DeMong said. “We’re all given gifts for the building of the kingdom. (Father Khoa) is sharing his gift with us.”

Parishioner Jenni Banse, one of several pianists who accompany the choir, narrated Father Khoa’s story with warmth and a conversational approach, at his request, to lessen his nervousness about the concert. “I’m a shy boy,” he later told the Messenger, with a smile.

Jenni introduced each piece Father Khoa played with a brief explanation of its significance to the priest. “He enjoys playing for fun and his favorite music is Vietnamese hymns, some pop, blues and folk music,” Jenni told the audience.

One of seven children, he joined his siblings in the parish choir as a child but developed a love for the piano in the third or fourth grade when he spent the summer with his uncle the priest. His uncle had a keyboard, which he allowed his nephew to use. As Father Khoa accompanied his uncle on parish visits, the uncle jokingly told people, “‘Treat him well. He’s my parochial vicar,’” Father Khoa recalled. Even though his uncle was joking, the comment encouraged him to think about becoming a priest.

While in college, Father Khoa learned more about music from a tutor at the church in his hometown parish. Each weekend, the future priest rode his bicycle six or seven miles from college to play the keyboard during Mass in his home parish. “He told me he didn’t have to carry the keyboard on his bicycle,” Jenni assured the concert audience. Father Khoa accompanied the choir at his parish.

The first hymn for his concert, “The Seal of God’s Love,” is a vocational hymn sung in a liturgy in which women religious take their vows and for candidates to feel the touch of God’s love. Father Khoa’s second selection, “The Moment,” is especially meaningful. He first heard the hymn sung during an ordination Mass when a candidate for priesthood placed his hands in the hands of the bishop. “The choir sang that song and it touched me,” recalled Father Khoa.

Two years later, Father Khoa entered the seminary at age 24 in 2006 and brought his digital keyboard with him. He played in a band with some of the other seminarians. After nine years of formation (including 1-1/2 years for pastoral ministry), he was ordained to the priesthood in 2015 in Vietnam.

Ten months after his ordination, his bishop sent him to the United States for further education, where he earned a master’s degree in pastoral ministry at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. After completing his degree, he had a conversation with Father Joseph Phung, a fellow native of Vietnam and longtime priest of the Diocese of Davenport. Their conversation led to Father Khoa serving in the Davenport Diocese with the approval of both his bishop and then-Bishop Thomas Zinkula of the Davenport Diocese. Father Khoa served as parochial vicar of Ss. Mary & Mathias Parish in Muscatine before his appointment in 2023 as parochial vicar of Prince of Peace Parish.

Through his music, he said, “I offer my prayers to (Mary and to Jesus).” Attendance for the concert amazed him. “This a way we can bring people back to the church and to have time together,” Father Khoa said.

Kathy Birkett, who leads the parish Family Life Commission, said parishioner Gerilyn Jacobs suggested the concert idea after hearing Father Khoa play the piano one day after Mass. Organizers planned for around 75 attendees and were amazed to see 262 in the audience. “His music is very good for the soul,” Amy Ketelsen of Church of the Visitation in Camanche, said, “and very peaceful.”