Uncle modeled the priesthood

Cuong Minh Tran

Age: 24

Home parish: St. Agnes Le Thi Thanh, Marrero

Diaconate internship: St. Catherine of Siena, Metairie

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By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Cuong Tran was fairly certain he wanted to be a priest from age 7, drawn in by the at-home Masses celebrated by his visiting uncle-priest, Mother of the Redeemer Father John Tran.

“It was a very powerful feeling,” said Tran, 24, recalling the intimate liturgies held at his paternal grandparents’ West Bank home. “My uncle would come hang out with us, and then you’d see him at the house Masses with the chasuble on and having the respect of everyone. It was Jesus, right there in the living room!

“My uncles and aunts would always tease me and my cousins about who would join the priesthood. I was always the one who said, ‘I’m not joking! I’d like to be a priest!’”

Parish priest mentored him

Other than one post-Katrina year split between South Dakota – the home of his maternal grandparents – and Texas, Tran grew up in Marrero, graduating from Visitation of Our Lady Elementary School and Archbishop Shaw High School.

Although he was an altar server at St. Agnes Le Thi Thanh Church beginning in third grade and helped out at the parish’s school of religion as an older teen, Tran said six years of tutelage from his late pastor, Father Joseph Van Pham Tue, had the biggest impact on his vocation. Father Tue would patiently explain salient points of the faith to young Tran during quiet moments such as when the two were driving to the cemetery to assist at funerals.

“He wouldn’t water things down; he would say everything is about unity in the Catholic faith,” Tran said, recalling one of those unifying threads of faith taught to him by Father Tue.

“The priest always brings holy water with him, because even the burial place is blessed,” Tran said. “He was a good teacher. He had a lot of heart, too. He would hear confessions before Mass, and Mass would sometimes be about five or 10 minutes late because he wouldn’t allow the (confession) line to be stopped.”

At Shaw’s freshman orientation, when a teacher asked Tran what he wanted to do with his life, he wasn’t afraid to respond “Become a priest!” in front of his peers. Leadership roles in the band (as a saxophonist), Quiz Bowl, Mu Alpha Theta, chess club and peer ministry helped him overcome his shyness, and he explored his vocation at the residence of Shaw’s Salesian brothers and priests.

“I began attending their 5 a.m. (daily) Mass, but that only lasted two weeks,” Tran said, smiling. “But it exposed me to morning prayer.”

The 2013 Funeral Mass of Father Tue, his priestly mentor, brought him some vocational clarity.

“Archbishop Aymond held up (Father Tue’s) chalice and he said, ‘Who will follow in his footsteps?’ That was a very powerful thing for me,” Tran said. “In that moment, I realized this is what it means to be a priest – to give over your life.”

Still, as Tran neared his 2016 graduation from Shaw and applied to St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington (“St. Ben’s”), “it was a scary feeling,” he admitted.

“There was so much uncertainty because I had good grades, I had a 33 on the ACT,” he said. “So, should I try to get a full ride (to a traditional four-year college) and then join seminary after that as a backup plan, in case it doesn’t work out?”

Requesting “a sign from God,” Tran spent a “Come and See” weekend at St. Ben’s and dated for six months. His “sign” finally came when his mother gave him a plane ticket to Amarillo, Texas, to spend two weeks with his Uncle John, the priest.

“That was very fruitful, because I was actually living with my uncle, whereas before, I would only see him (in Louisiana) when he was on vacation. I could see him on the job, in the intense life of prayer,” he said.

Tran joined his uncle for eucharistic adoration, the Liturgy of the Hours and daily Mass, and accompanied him on home and hospital visits to the sick, waiting in another room while confessions were being heard.

“There were 20 people waiting for confession in the hallway of the hospital and he left me with them! I would stand there awkwardly, and I didn’t know what to say,” he recalled. “Seeing him interact so easily with people really came from prayer – his ability to relate to people in those emergency situations.”

Jesus lends a hand

Four happy years at St. Ben’s led Tran to enter Notre Dame Seminary, where wearing a clerical collar meant he was expected to assist in the day-to-day life of the wider archdiocese. Tran’s seminary years also introduced him to the closely-knit fraternity of local Vietnamese-American seminarians and priests, who gather at a layperson’s home on Friday nights to enjoy open house-style food, conversation and pastoral support.

During his upcoming internship as a transitional deacon at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Tran is looking forward to putting his seven years of seminary academics into action, especially his new opportunities to preach homilies and lead Scripture and sacramental seminars.

Bolstering him through it all is the moment when St. Peter is asked by Jesus to take a “leap of faith” – to walk on water. When Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus, he begins to sink.

“There’s that beautiful image at St. Patrick’s Church on Camp Street where you see Jesus’ hand grasping for Peter,” Tran said. “Seminary, lots of times, feels like that. ‘Where am I going? I’m going down (in the water).’ Then, there’s that moment in prayer where God says, ‘I got you!’”

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