Introducing Fr. Anthony Nguyen, Our New Parochial Vicar

July 16, 2018

I want to let you know that I am very excited to return back home to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. The last time when I was here, I was a seminarian from St. Patrick's Seminary doing my pastoral year at St. Thomas Aquinas from July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998 in the Diocese of San Jose when Fr. Barry Freyne was the pastor. At the time St. Ann's Chapel was still a part of the Parish and Fr. Matt Stanley was a parochial vicar here. It is quite an experience to have most of the memories flashing back to me gradually after 20 years away, but the people here have changed. Fr. Matt Stanley has grey hair instead of blonde hair, and Fr. Barry is no longer alive.

Please, let me re-introduce myself. My name is Rev. Anthony Tuong Duy Nguyen. I came to the United States on July 31, 1980 as an immi- grant from Vietnam. I have seven brothers and three sisters, and most of them live in San Jose. I finished high school, and I then finished a B.A. in psychology at San Diego State University in 1992. I then joined St. Francis Seminary as a pre-theology student for two years studying philosophy, then I went to St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park for the- ology in 1994 and graduated with a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) and Master of Divinity in 2000. I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of San Jose in 2000 by Bishop Patrick McGrath, and my first pastor was Fr. Matt when I was assigned as a parochial vicar at the Holy Family Parish in San Jose, and my last assignment was at St. Maria Goretti Parish. I have a brother, Rev. Anthony Tan Nguyen, and he is also a priest for the Diocese of San Jose.

Having been a priest in the Diocese of San Jose for 18 years, my hope is to reconnect myself with all of you and to share my gifts and talents with everyone that God sends me. I ask you to remember me in your prayers as I remember you in mine so that I can be an effective instrument of God serving you at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. May God's Grace and Peace be with you always.

Fr. Anthony Nguyen