Vietnam Mission
Participating priests with pledged candidates and newly incorporated members of the Vietnam Mission (in black cassocks: Br. Daryl Charron,
Dung Nguyen, An Nguyen, Diep Vu, Ky Phung, Hao Pham, Hoa Vu)
All God’s Children
by Fr. Michael Goode, c.pp.s.
When Fr. Joe Nassal asked me earlier this year if I’d
like to accompany him on his trip to Vietnam in April
to attend to community business with our members
and candidates, I thought, “I really would like to do
that.” However, I was aware that the extremely long
flights to Asia are tiring and trying, to say the least. I
don’t mind air travel, but 10 to 12 hours on a plane can
be exhausting. The travel to and from Vietnam was all
of that, but the time there was such a good experience,
all linked with people, that the travel didn’t matter.
Hao, Diep, Hoa, unidentified friend of community, Ky, Anh, Dung
8 • The New Wine Press • May 2018
The scripture readings for the [recent] Fourth
Sunday of Easter are all about relationships and God
and people. In the second reading from John, we are
called “beloved.” That includes all people! As I reflect
on all that I saw and the people I was connected to in
one way or another, and the expansive, crowded real-
ity of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), I am struck by the
constant message that all human beings are sacred.
This world, all of it, is sacred.
In Saigon, we visited with and stayed with our
Vietnamese members and candidates—along with
Br. Daryl Charron, the Director of the Vietnam
Mission. The two houses where the members and
candidates live are an hour to an hour and a half
apart, depending on traffic. That traffic is made up of
millions of motor scooters, buses, taxis, and cars.
On one hectic day, as the bus crawled along the
street, I made a decision to think of people—the
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