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Vietnamese Catholics pay homage to US missionary

Father Patrick Bernard Philbin spent the last two decades of his life devoted to pastoral work in Vietnam
Marianist Father Patrick Bernard Philbin visits poor children in Vietnam

Marianist Father Patrick Bernard Philbin visits poor children in Vietnam. (Photo: tgpsaigon.net)

Published: August 08, 2022 11:22 AM GMT
Updated: August 10, 2022 06:32 AM GMT

Catholics in Vietnam have paid tributes to a late American missionary who voluntarily taught English to priests and religious, and provided emotional and material support for people in need.

Marianist Father Patrick Bernard Philbin died of kidney failure on July 25 in Orange, California. He was 89 years old and had devoted most of his life to his vocation.

His funeral Mass was officially held on Aug. 6 at San Antonio de Padua Church.

Many priests, religious, seminarians and lay groups in Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese marked his passing and offered incense in front of his pictures on July 30 and Aug. 1 at local chapels and churches.

Father Joseph Hoang Ngoc Dung, a seminary professor, called the late missionary a "Vietnamese good fairy who was warm, friendly and likable although he could only speak a little Vietnamese.

"Father Patrick won the hearts of all people he met as he listened to them with a tender heart and wore a cheerful smile on his happy face," the priest said.

“Thank you for giving us good lessons about performing our pastoral work,” Father Dung said in front of the late priest's picture on July 30.

He said the missionary priest who was filled with love and compassion worked tirelessly for the last two decades of his life in Vietnam to share his life with those who came to him.

In the 1990s, Father Patrick worked as a spiritual director at the University of California, Irvine, and he met many students from Vietnam. He was told about the intense pain and suffering of boat people who left the country after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, and of those who stayed in the country in the aftermath of the war.

In late 2000, he accompanied a Vietnamese student to visit the Southeast Asian country for the first time and helped re-enter the tomb of the student’s parents at another Catholic cemetery in Dong Nai province as the old one was cleared by local authorities.

The Marianist missionary started to voluntarily teach English to local priests, religious, seminarians and laypeople at Church-run centers the following year. He also worked with local priests and religious to offer food and basic supplies to people in need regardless of their background.

He asked for donations from his home and provided clean water, food and scholarships and built houses for villagers in remote areas. He also gave generous donations to centers for lepers, orphans, the elderly without relatives and disabled people.

The American priest cooperated with local doctors to provide healthcare to poor patients and offered many of them money to pay their medical fees at hospitals.

He spent six months each year for the past two decades working in Vietnam.

Father Patrick was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2019 and returned to the US for medical treatment. He held online courses in English for students in Vietnam and raised funds for his educational projects there.

The late priest, whose parents were Irish immigrants, said “Although my body is Irish, my soul is Vietnamese.”

Born in 1933 to a family with seven children, Patrick took his first vows as a Marianist in 1952 and professed final vows four years later.

After earning master’s degrees in French, theology and counseling, he was ordained a priest in the Society of Mary in 1972. Father Patrick served also at several Marianist schools throughout the US.

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