By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial
Faithful immigrants shape our lives as Catholic Americans
Their journeys to the United States of America and to the Diocese of Davenport contrast, but many Catholic immigrants share much in common as they shape our faith, community and the well-being of society. They serve as faithful citizens, setting an example for living our Catholic faith in the country we love, practicing the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and charity.
Before we share some examples as we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, we remember another faithful Christian leader, former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray (1928-2018), who welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.
“When confronted by scenes of human suffering, Robert Ray responded, not as a political candidate doing an electoral calculation, but as a Christian following a moral imperative from the parable of the Good Samaritan,” Kenneth Quinn said in a eulogy delivered at Ray’s funeral service July 13, 2018, at First Christian Church in Des Moines (https://tinyurl.com/42z3h562). Quinn is president emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation and served many years as American Ambassador to Cambodia.
Examples of faithful citizens in the Davenport Diocese who immigrated to the U.S. include:
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Ngo Trien Martin Ngo, who leads the Vietnamese Catholic Community at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, immigrated to the United States as a teenager with his parents, about 35 years ago. His father had been a South Vietnamese soldier whom the Communists imprisoned after the war. Trien, a U.S. citizen, college graduate, husband, father and employee at the Rock Island Arsenal, says, “I like to serve people, whatever the Church and the community need of me.”
Trien’s sense of service flows from gratitude for both faith and country. “The U.S. government gave us a chance … We are blessed to be part of the U.S. We are Americans, Vietnamese Americans.”
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To Francesca To of Divine Mercy Parish, Burlington-West Burlington and a Filipino American, said she and her family chose the United States as their permanent home in 2011 after a long period of prayer and discernment. She and her husband, Richard To, an interventional cardiologist, chose a place where they could raise their children as active Catholics and participants in the community.
Francesca, who previously worked as a pediatrician and neonatologist, serves on the Diocesan Review Board and formerly served on the Diocesan Pastoral Council and the Vision 20/20 Steering Committee. “For me, Church is where home is,” Francesca says. “That’s why I feel the Church has to be a welcoming place.” From that welcoming environment flows a desire to serve the community. “If there’s something I can do for my community, which is what God is asking me to do, I will do it if it is within my ability.”
The responsibilities of faith and of citizenship are intertwined. “I have the full rights of an American. I have the protection of the Constitution. You have to protect that freedom, even after 250 years,” she said. “That’s the promise of America. I can do whatever I want here, guided by the principles of my faith.”
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Hernandez Deacon Angel Hernandez, who serves at St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City, was 4 when his family immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1989 and he became a U.S. citizen at 18. He and his wife, Lourdes, are active in their parish.
“My commitment to the Church is rooted in gratitude for what God has done in my own life. Having been formed well through the diaconate process of our diocese, I feel called to give back by serving my parish community and supporting the mission of the Church,” Deacon Hernandez says. “Beyond parish life, my faith challenges me to recognize the dignity of every person, build bridges between cultures and communities, and be a witness to Christ’s love wherever I am called to serve.”
“This country has allowed me to serve the Church, my parish, and the community in ways I never imagined. As we celebrate 250 years as a nation, I think it’s important not only to be thankful for our freedoms and opportunities, but also to remember that we all have a responsibility to help make our communities stronger, more welcoming, and centered on the common good,” Deacon Hernandez says.
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Fr. Phung Father Joseph Phung escaped from Vietnam where he endured hardship and had to take his seminary studies underground. He arrived in the United States as a refugee in 1993. Later, he moved to the Diocese of Davenport where he had friends and the late Bishop Gerald O’Keefe accepted him as a seminarian. He became a U.S. citizen the year before his priesthood ordination.
Father Joseph, pastor of St. Mary parishes in Oskaloosa and Pella, thanks God for the clergy, women religious and lay people who supported and encouraged him along the journey. He remembers especially the sisters and priests who worked with refugees like him in Hong Kong. “They gave me a sense of Church,” he says.
“I look at my life and say, ‘Yes, God blessed me.’ I can do a lot of things with the grace of God because nothing can stop us if God blesses us. I truly believe that everything that happens in our lives is for a purpose. The invitation is to open your eyes and learn from it,” Father Joseph says. Even in a country divided by polarization on its 250th birthday, he holds fast to the cardinal virtue of hope. “Progress happens when you talk, even among disagreements, to find a better solution. We always have hope that we are going to do better.”
“The United States has always been a place of hope for immigrants, especially those looking for a chance to live in the freedoms we espouse in life, liberty, and happiness,” says Father Jason Crossen, pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral and the diocese’s vicar general.
Immigrants bring “a greater richness and depth not only in culture, but also in the unique ways they approach the life of the Church. Forms of prayer, devotion, and liturgy add a dynamic that allows us to see the wideness of the Church and how Jesus touches every culture from every part of the world,” Father Jason says.
Let us celebrate our 250th anniversary as a nation by putting into practice the examples of faith, hope and charity demonstrated by our fellow Americans, who immigrated to this country more recently than our ancestors.
Barb Arland-Fye
Editor Emeritus, The Catholic Messenger
barlandfye@gmail.com
