Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2012 Issue | Page 19

CHURCH STATUS FOR A DIVERSE COMMUNITY
AUSTIN BARTENSTEIN
It’s official: one of the most distinctive
churches in our diocese is now just that –
a church. At Annual Council, in front of a
standing ovation of hundreds of jubilant
Episcopalians, St. Patrick’s, Falls Church
celebrated its return to full-church
status.

It has been a long time coming
for the lively congregation. Founded
in 1953, St. Patrick’s struggled in the
1980s and 1990s and eventually began
receiving diocesan aid as a mission
church. When the Rev. James Papile,
vicar, hired the newly ordained Tinh
Huynh as his assistant in 1994, the
church took a turn down a different
road – a road that has led them to
become one of the most diverse
congregations in the Diocese of
Virginia. Along the way, St. Patrick’s
received guidance from the Rev. Edward
Morgan, now a retired priest; the Rt.
Rev. David Jones; and the Rt. Rev. Clay
Matthews, then serving as canon to the
ordinary in Virginia.

Matthews saw in St. Patrick’s –
and Huynh, a native of Vietnam – an

Photo: The Rev. Ed Miller

The Rev. Tinh Huynh, rector of St. Patrick’s,
Falls Church, is joined by parishioners and
supporters as he addresses a celebratory
Council following St. Patrick’s return to
church status.

opportunity to develop the Diocese’s
first Anglo-Vietnamese congregation,
serving not only the population who
had traditionally attended the church,
but also the significant number of
Vietnamese people in the area. What no
one anticipated was that not only would
the Anglo-Vietnamese model give new
life to the congregation, but it would
expand even further to include many
nationalities, including people from
Liberia and Sierra Leone, a Japanese
organist and a Hmong seminarian.

“St. Patrick’s was an Anglo
congregation whose members were
aging and there were few, if any,
newcomers,” according to Richard
Shirey, chair of the Committee on
Congregational Missions (CCM). “Tinh
arrived there as a new priest, an
assistant, and being Vietnamese, he
naturally drew others of Vietnamese
origin. Their music program began to
grow and somehow, people from other
cultures came.” Shirey calls Huynh
“the catalyst,” and characterizes him
as a “quiet, spiritually mature, caring

person who taught by the example of
welcoming everyone and allowing all
to be a part of their family.”

It isn’t just Huynh’s personality
that has made people feel welcome. He
works hard to make church accessible to
everyone, incorporating many bilingual
practices, including celebrating the Holy
Eucharist in English and Vietnamese and
providing bilingual prayer books and
printing service bulletins with Scripture
and announcements in both languages.
And while Huynh generally preaches in
English, the main ideas of his sermons are
presented in the bulletin in Vietnamese.

This welcoming, caring atmosphere is what has helped the church
grow so that St. Patrick’s could apply
for parish status.

“The Rev. Tinh Huynh’s steadfast
love and devotion really shaped the
church to be a welcoming environment
for all,” said Elizabeth Kim, St. Patrick’s
liaison with CCM. They were ready to
stand on their own.

“Achieving church status was
important to St. Patrick’s not only
because of their past,” she said, “but
it was clear to people that they didn’t
want to receive support but give aid
to others.”

“We are a community of care,”
says Huynh. “We try to live through
that belief. Normally people like to
belong to a church where they have the
same cultural background, but we are
different. We share the same love of
Christ. Once people come to appreciate
that, they will stay.”

The people of St. Patrick’s have
expressed great thankfulness and
pride in their return to church status.
Members joined in a procession through
the Council hall on January 28, jubilant
with waving banners, smiles and song.

“They all know that this is a
blessing from the above,” says Kim,
“and their work does not end here but
it is a new start.” t

Spring 2012 / VIRGINIA EPISCOPALIAN

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