Welcome to San Antonio
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October 17, 2023We received a true “warm” welcome to San Antonio. It is easy to find a double-digit number during the summer in Kansas City, but it still is much cooler than it is in San Antonio. Kansas City is much more humid, but maybe that is what makes the Chiefs stronger.
We celebrated the beginning of our new community on September 15 with Mass to welcome everyone and install Fr. Luong Uong as rector. Fr. Alton Carr read a letter from Provincial Superior Kevin Zubel, who re-appointed Fr. Luong as pastor at Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church and rector of of the Redemptorist Apostolic Center.
Fr. Luong humbly said he will serve our new community with brotherly love as the servant of God. In his reflection, he thanked Fr. Kevin for entrusting him with the responsibilities of rector, and asked the community to pray for him during this term.
Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church recently hosted the annual health fair, which included flu shots and diabetes, blood sugar and cholesterol checkups for parishioners and other community members. Walgreens Drug Store and the University of Texas at San Antonio co-sponsor the event.
The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement (VEYM) at Vietnamese Martyrs Parish began the new school year with an official opening ceremony. Fr. Luong. pastor, Fr. Johnson Lê, chaplain for the VEYM, and Br. Paul Trinh also participated.
We are blessed to have the theology house of formation next door with 13 students – Diego Navarro Lema, Luis Alberto Callahuara Mendoza and Felix Escobar Ovando of Bolivia; Antonio Montoya, Steven Urban and Scott Partin of Denver; Noel Oco, Benedict Nicholas, Mark Russel Suezo and Andrew Phillips of Canada; Thanh Vu and Tan Nguyen of the Extra Patriam Vice Province; and McQuain Clovis of Baltimore. Fr. Binh Ta and Fr. Remi Hebert of Canada are co-directors of formation. It’s wonderful to see all the Redemptorist students from different Provinces in one theologate community.
May St. Alphonsus and all the Redemptorist saints and Blesseds intercede for our theologate formation community as they live and learn and follow our founder, St. Alphonsus, as witnesses to the world serving the poor and most abandoned.