Members of the growing Vietnamese community in Greensboro who have been worshiping at St. Mary’s recently completed the purchase of a building nearby that will be known as Holy Family Vietnamese Mission Church. Vincentian Father Michael Nguyen, who is based at St. Mary’s, celebrated the first Mass in the new church on Nov. 10. (Photos Provided)GREENSBORO — A new era has begun for Vietnamese Catholics in Greensboro.
Members of the growing Vietnamese community who have been worshiping at St. Mary’s Church recently completed the purchase of a building nearby that will be known as Holy Family Vietnamese Mission Church.
The building previously belonged to the Korean Catholic community in the area.
Vincentian Father Michael Nguyen, who is based at St. Mary’s Parish and serves the community, celebrated the first Mass in the new church on Nov. 10.
He said the new church will provide both a worship space for the community, which numbers more than 500 people, and increased space for religious education, with two available classrooms. More than 100 young 
people in the Vietnamese community are enrolled in religious education.
“It’s a very good thing that this happened for us – God has blessed us as a community,” Father Nguyen said. “The Vietnamese community started growing here about 30 years ago, and we have many people who grew up in the church as well as newcomers. On Sunday it gets crowded at our Vietnamese Masses, and this will serve as a mission church for the whole community.”
Father Nguyen said eventually three Masses will be celebrated at Holy Family each Sunday.
The community started raising funds to purchase the building in October 2022, and members worked to raise the money by selling food on weekends at the church, holding parties and other activities, and going door-to-door among members to ask for donations. They completed the purchase for $585,000 this fall.
The added space will enable the community to expand cultural activities and education for young people, including Vietnamese language classes, and also offer space for traditional Vietnamese celebrations such as the Tet lunar new year celebration in the spring and the Full Moon Festival, which falls in mid-autumn.
Father Nguyen said the next step for the community is to raise funds to purchase a house behind the new church to gain more space for continued growth. The community’s property already includes one house that holds kitchen facilities.
He currently will still live in community with his fellow Vincentians Father Jack Timlin, pastor of St. Mary’s, and Father Alexander Palacios, parochial vicar.
Father Timlin said the Vietnamese community plays “a very important and vital role” at St. Mary’s.
“They are a wonderful part of our diversity – the liturgies are beautiful and they are people of deep faith with a great sense of the joy in life,” Father Timlin said. “They have a wonderful sense of community and family and are a very important part of our life here at St. Mary’s. They will still take part in activities here at the parish, but the new building will give them more space for ministry as well as help young people learn about their faith and their culture, and the culture of their parents and ancestors.”
The Greensboro-area Vietnamese Community is one of two Vietnamese congregations in the Diocese of Charlotte. The other is based at St. Joseph Church in Charlotte.
— Christina Lee Knauss