This year, 2025, marking the 50 years of resettlement of the Vietnamese in Australia. Up until 1975 there were fewer than 2,000 Vietnam-born people in Australia. Following the takeover of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese communist force on 30th April 1975, Australia, being a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, agreed to resettle its share of Vietnam-born refugees under a refugee resettlement plan between 1975 and 1985. After the initial intake of refugees in the late 1970s, there was a second immigration peak in 1983–84, known as the Orderly Departure Program, which allowed relatives of Vietnamese Australians to leave Vietnam and migrate to Australia. A third immigration peak in the late 1980s seems to have been mainly due to Australia’s family reunion scheme.
The Vietnamese Catholic Community in Melbourne was a small group of refugees. They are now have become a fabric of the Catholic Community in the Diocese of Melbourne. Being of a refugee background with limited to no English, many Vietnamese Catholic in Melbourne find great comfort in being able to celebrate their fate in their mother tongue.
The Three Founding Vietnamese Catholic Communities in Melbourne
- Background of the Vietnamese Catholic Community at St Joseph’s Collingwood
On Saturday 18 August 1979, Melbourne’s first Vietnamese priests, Father Bart Huynh San, and Father Joseph Bui Duc Tien, were ordained.
In the early 1970s, Brother Bart Huynh San was sent by Bishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan[1] to Australia to study at the Melbourne Seminary. Following his priesthood ordination, Father Bart San was appointed Associate Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Parish, Collingwood. At that time the Parish Priest was Fr Bill Bainbridge, and Fr Bart San acted as chaplain to the Vietnamese Catholic Community. He actively sought out newly arrived Vietnamese refugees and invited them to join the Vietnamese Catholic community at St Joseph’s.
In September 1979, Fr. Bart initiated a Vietnamese Mass, which was warmly embraced and supported not only by the Vietnamese community but by the broader congregation. Vietnamese Catholic in Collingwood and the surrounding neighborhoods adopted the St Joseph’s church as the home for St John Hoan Community, and set up a Marian shrine (Our Lady of La Vang) in the West porch. St John Hoan Community was the first Vietnamese Catholic Community established in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The first meeting to form the Vietnamese choir was conducted on 2nd of October 1979 at the Presbytery. Later on, in 1981 the choir was named Cung Chieu and adopted St Cecilia as patron for the choir. In early 1980, Fr Bart San founded the Hope Youth Group (Đoàn Thanh Niên Hy Vọng). The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement (VEYM) was founded on 10th of February 1982. The majority member of the Hope Youth Group became leaders of the VEYM. The Vietnamese Legion of Mary was founded on 5th of May 1984. The Vietnamese Third Order of Dominican was founded on 26th of January 1992. All these groups are still in active today.
It is worth noting that, nowadays, with around 300 people attending weekend Mass, approximately, about 10% are actually residing in Collingwood, others are living in the nearby suburbs, such as in Richmond, Fitzroy, Carlton, Clifton Hill, Abbotsford, Kew and Hawthorn, however, a majority of people are living quite far away from Collingwood, for example, we have people living in Balwyn, Burwood, Chadstone, Oakleigh, Caulfield, Thomastown, Bundoora, Mill Park, Epping, Reservoir, Preston, Footscray, St Albans, and Sunshine. Although they live far away from Collingwood, but they come here for one reason, St Joseph’s church is their second home, their spiritual family.
- Background of the Vietnamese Catholic Community at St Hoan Thien (Our Lady of Lavang Centre)
Following his priesthood ordination, Father Bart San was also appointed as the chaplain for the Vietnamese Catholic community in Springvale (to be known as Saint Thomas Thien Community). As time passed, the number of Vietnamese Catholic immigrants settling in Melbourne continued to grow, and the activities and religious practices became more organised and vibrant. By the end of the 1980’s, recognising the need for ministry to develop the Vietnamese Catholic community in the South Eastern of Melbourne, Fr Bart Huynh San, along with the members of both communities, Collingwood & Springvale, had commenced the process of purchase a suitable land to build the Vietnamese Catholic Centre.
In 1988, the Archdiocese of Melbourne gave approval for the two communities (Saint John Hoan Community in Collingwood and the Saint Thomas Thien Community in Springvale)
to purchase 38,890 square metres of land in Keysborough to build the St Hoan Thien Community Centre, named after the two Vietnamese Martyrs, Saint John Doan Trinh Hoan and St Thomas Tran Van Thien.
Around mid-August 1989, the late Archbishop Frank Little was invited to celebrate the first stone-laying ceremony for the construction of the Chapel. The construction plan for the Chapel at the Hoan Thien Centre was jointly led by Fr Bart Huynh San and other leaders of the Vietnamese Catholic communities at the time, namely: Mr Vu Duy Thanh, Mr Nguyen an Thoan, and Mr Nguyen Manh Ha, worked together to build the Chapel.
Over the years, the Community Centre has been the site of many milestones for the Vietnamese Catholic community, from festivals, feast days and congresses. On 25 April 1994, Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan (who later became Cardinal and in 2017 was made Venerable by Pope Francis) presided over a Mass to celebrate the grand opening of the Centre. On this special inauguration, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan named this centre as Our Lady of La Vang Centre.
In early 2012, Fr Bart Huynh San[2] was appointed by Archbishop Denis Hart to serve as the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima in Rosebud, and the Archdiocese of Melbourne entrusted the management of the centre to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
In 2015, Archbishop Denis Hart approved the building of a church on the site, and in 2018, Bishop Long officially announced the name change to Our Lady of La Vang Shrine and blessed the foundation stone of a new church.
By early 2020, the new church was completed, and the church was consecrated by the Archbishop Peter Comensoli on 22/2/2020, with Bishop Long Nguyen delivered the homily at the Mass. The Our Lady of La Vang Centre honours the Vietnamese Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and commemorates the 18th-century Marian apparitions in La Vang, Vietnam, where Mary appeared to comfort and protect persecuted Catholics.
- Background of the Vietnamese Catholic Community at St Vinh Son Liem Centre
Fr Joseph Bui Duc Tien was borne in 1949 in Nam Dinh province, northern Vietnam. He migrated to South Vietnam in 1954. After completing secondary school, he studied Philosophy and Theology at Long Xuyen Seminary. Following the fall of Saigon on 30th April 1975, due to religious persecution in Vietnam under the brutal Communist regime, he escaped and arrived at the Songkhla refugee camp in Thailand. He settled in Melbourne on 7th February 1977. At the end of 1977, he joined Corpus Christi Seminary. He was ordained a Deacon on 16th September 1978, and was ordained a Priest on 18th August 1979. On 8th January 1980, he was appointed as the Assistant Priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Maidstone. On 20th March 1980, he was appointed as Chaplain for the Vietnamese Catholic in the Western & North Western of Melbourne. On 8th January 1981, he was appointed as Assistant Priest of St Brendan’s Flemington, and continuing his role as Chaplain for the Vietnamese Catholic community. He officially established the Vietnamese Catholic Community, taking St Vincent Liem as its patron saint. The first chairman of the St Vincent Liem Community was Mr Pham Dinh Toan.
During this time, Fr Joseph Tien saw the need to establish a centre for the Vietnamese Catholic Community in the Western & North Western of Melbourne. He purchased the Cricketer Arms Hotel at the end of 1984 to established the Vincent Liem Centre, and the centre was officially inaugurated at the end of June 1985.
Fr Joseph Tien was the Priest in Charge of the Vinh Son Liem Centre from 1985 to 1989, and from 2014, the Archdiocese of Melbourne entrusted the management of the centre to the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Most Holy Redeemer. Since 2020, the Archdiocese of Melbourne entrusted the management of the centre to the Society of Jesuit.
Vietnamese Catholic Community, Archdiocese of Melbourne
- Bishop Vincent Nguyen Van Long
In 2011 marks the highlight of the Vietnamese Catholic Community, not just in Melbourne, but indeed in Australia, in that Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen O.F.M. Conv, was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, at the age of 49. Bishop Long is Australia’s first Asian-born bishop and the first Vietnamese-born bishop to head a diocese outside of Vietnam.
Bishop Vincent Long escaped from communism in 1980 when he was 18-year-old after finding that he completely had no chance to be a priest in Vietnam. Completely trusted in Divine Providence, he left Vietnam in a small refugee boat packed with people seeking freedom.
Arriving in Australia in 1981, in 1983, Bishop Nguyen became a Conventual Franciscan friar and studied for the priesthood in Melbourne. After his priestly ordination on 30 December 1989, he was sent to Rome for further studies and was awarded a licentiate in Christology and Spirituality from the Pontifical Faculty of St Bonaventure.
He served as a Parish Priest for four years in Kellyville NSW and for seven years in Springvale. He was elected superior of the Order of Friars Minor Conventuals in Australia in 2005. Since 2008, he has been in Rome serving as Assistant General, responsible for the Asia-Oceania section of order.
After serving 5 years as an Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, on 16 June 2016, Bishop Long was appointed and installed as the fourth Bishop of Parramatta at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, NSW.
- Bishop Gioakim Nguyen Xuan Thinh
On the evening of 8 November 2024, Rev Fr Thinh Xuan Nguyen was appointed by Pope Francis as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the titular see of Madaurus.
Born in 1973 in Saigon, Vietnam, to Hang Xuan Nguyen and Coi Thi Nguyen, Fr Thinh Nguyen is the 3rd youngest of nine brothers and four sisters.
Following his early education at Ket Doan, Saigon, Fr Thinh arrived in Australia at 13 years of age, and took up secondary studies at Redden Catholic College in Preston Victoria. He later obtained a Bachelor of Building Engineering and a Diploma in Lighting Design whilst working with an engineering firm. In 1999, he entered Corpus Christi College Regional Seminary Carlton, and was ordained for the priesthood by Archbishop Denis Hart on 16 September 2006 in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.
Fr Thinh has served in the Melbourne Archdiocesan parishes of Deer Park; Fitzroy and Bennettswood, and has also served as Chaplain to Archdiocesan Office of Youth, Chaplain to the University of Melbourne, Formator at Corpus Christi College (Regional Seminary), and Assistant Vocations Director for the Archdiocese. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies, and a Master of Arts in Spirituality.
In 2022, Fr Thinh was appointed Co-ordinator of Clergy, Life and Ministry, the Archdiocesan Office that undertakes ongoing formation of Clergy in the human, intellectual, pastoral and spiritual areas of their lives. With more than 200 active Priests and Deacons, and over 100 retired Clergy, this substantial role has enabled Fr Thinh to strengthen and support the Clergy in finding their personal meaning in the midst of God’s people.
Bishop Thinh Nguyen is now Auxiliary Bishop for the Eastern Region of Melbourne.
- Vietnamese Catholic Communities in Melbourne
Apart from the first three Pioneers Vietnamese Catholic Community were established in 1979 [St John Hoan, St Thomas Thiện, Our Lady of La Vang Centre, Keysborough; and St Vincent Liêm, Flemington] currently, there are 13 Vietnamese Catholic Communities in the Archdiocese of Melbourne: St Martin (Avondale Heights), St Margaret Mary (Brunswick), St Andrew Phú Yên (Corio), Holy Child (Dallas), St Monica (Footscray), St Joseph (Lalor), Holy Family (Maidstone & Braybrook), St Peter & St Paul (Holy Name, Reservoir), St Ignatius (Richmond), St Joseph (Springvale), St Bernade Duệ (Holy Eucharist, St Albans), St Paul Bường (Sunshine) & St Emmanuel Triệu (Sunshine West).
Hung Chau
15th August 2025
[1] After the fall of Saigon on 30th of April 1975, Bishop Francis-Xavier was jailed by the Communist government, 1975-1988, spent 9 years in isolation. Each day during his years of isolation, around 3 pm when Jesus died on the Cross, he would celebrate Mass from memory, putting three drops of wine and a drop of water on the palm of his hand together with some crumbs of the hosts. His hand became an altar. His cell became a cathedral, later on he shares this with others “These were the most beautiful Masses of my life!”. After his release, he was expelled from Vietnam and St. John Paul II made him the Vice-President, then the President, of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (now part of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development). John Paul II would ask him to preach the retreat for the Roman Curia during the Great Jubilee of 2000 and would name him a Cardinal the following year. He passed away on 16th of September, 2002. The cause of his beatification was introduced on September 16, 2007. On May 4, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints to publish the decree concerning his heroic virtues. Now that Pope Francis has signed the decree recognising the heroic virtues of this extraordinary, holy man, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan is on the road to beatification and canonisation.
[2] Fr Bart Huynh San passed away on 10/10/2019
