Featured Stories | August 16, 2026
“Stay close to Christ, close to the people, close to your religious community, and close to the Spirit. If you do, your priesthood will become a real sign of the love of the Sacred Heart and a faithful witness to our Dehonian vocation.”
-Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, to Frs. Long Nguyen and Hung Pham during his homily at their Ordination Mass
Click here to view photos from the Ordination Mass.
Click here to view a recording of the livestream.
Click here to view photos from the August 16 Masses of Thanksgiving
On August 15 two members of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) were ordained to the priesthood at Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Houston: Fr. Hung Pham, SCJ (above, right), and Fr. Long Nguyen, SCJ. Bishop Joseph Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson, MS, was the ordaining bishop.
For Fr. Hung, 39, it was a homecoming: Vietnamese Martyrs has been his parish since arriving in the United States from Vietnam in 2008. “I was an usher and catechist for four years here before entering formation,” he said. “My parents have been members of the parish since their arrival in the United States in 2024.”
Before entering SCJ candidacy, Fr. Hung earned a degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston and worked at the ALS Oil and Gas Company as a Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) analyst.
He professed his first vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 2020 and his final vows in 2025. Last December, he graduated from Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Hales Corners, WI, and was ordained to the diaconate. For the past seven months he has been serving with the Dehonians’ pastoral team in northern Mississippi, within the Diocese of Jackson.
“My vocation to the priesthood is not simply about what I do but about what God wants me to be,” said Fr. Hung. “It is a call rooted in and oriented toward fulfilling the will of God in my life. As St. John Vianney said: ‘The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus,’ a profound sign of God’s mercy. The more I journey in this vocation, the more I realize that I am not deserving or worthy, but God loves, initiates, calls, and entrusts me…
“And as a Dehonian, I am called to live the spirituality of the Sacred Heart by becoming a prophet of love and a servant of reconciliation, which invites me to unite my life to offer myself with Him for the salvation of souls and the renewal of humanity in God’s love.
“I give thanks to God for the many blessings and graces that I have received throughout my life and in my vocation. God has guided, protected and strengthened me, and I know that without Him I cannot make it. With a grateful heart, I thank God and pray that I may continue to serve Him generously and joyfully for the rest of my life.”
Dedicated to religious life
A year from now, when Fr. Long, 47, celebrates his first anniversary as a priest he will also celebrate 20 years a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. For many of those years, he served as a religious brother, primarily in pastoral ministry in South Dakota, Mississippi and Wisconsin. He also assisted with the English and Culture Studies Program at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology
Fr. Long, originally from Thibodaux, LA, did his theological studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and also completed a year-long CPE program (Clinical Pastoral Education) through Aurora Healthcare in Milwaukee, preparing him for his current ministry as a hospital chaplain with Saint Camillus, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, and Froedtert Hospital (all based in the Milwaukee area).
It was in his ministry as a chaplain that his call to ordained ministry grew. “I enjoy sharing prayer space with others,” he said. “Chaplaincy is one way of sharing that space, a space that can take many forms. I remind people that tears, anguish and frustrations are prayers too.”
Now as a Dehonian priest, Fr. Long said that “my ministry is to help the faithful welcome the flowing and creative Spirit in their mind, body and heart. The task is to introduce a deeper spirituality that might fill one’s interior life with elements that support hope, healing, peace and calm.
“I see my role as a priest to be someone who can offer a calming and compassionate presence, empathetic listening, an encouraging and supportive conversation, to be affirming, and sometimes give a voice to the voiceless.
“My vocational call as a Dehonian priest is to help bring holiness to the faithful by helping them to overcome the barriers we erect that can sometimes make us blind to God’ s love.”
Advice to the new priests
In his homily during the Ordination Mass, Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, provincial superior of the US Province, shared words of advice that he had collected from SCJs, associates and family members:
“Fr. Tony Russo says be available to people and ministry even when it is not easy. That is the spirit of Ecce Venio, a heart ready to say yes to God…
“Fr. Floribert Bulo Dhelo echoes Fr. Tony, saying that you need to welcome the movement of the Holy Spirit…
“Hung’s parents urge you to serve the Lord with humility, perseverance and love…”
“Monica Misey [director of Dehonian Associates] reminds you to remember that God loves you…”
“Fr. Carlos Luis Suarez Codorniú, superior general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, says to cherish ministry with gratitude and wonder. Enter it as humble explorers discovering each day the richness of serving God’s people. Above all, he adds, place yourselves trustfully in God’s hands just as God places his in yours.”
Fr. Vien closed by sharing his own advice: “Stay close to Christ, close to the people, close to your religious community, and close to the Spirit. If you do, your priesthood will become a real sign of the love of the Sacred Heart and a faithful witness to our Dehonian vocation.”