My name is Father Joseph-Thi Pham, SCJ.  I was born in Saigon, Vietnam on May 14, 1975.  Pham Ngoc Thanh and Vu Thi Tho are my parents name and they’re both living in San Antonio, Texas.  Both of my parents were born in North Vietnam but they moved to South Vietnam in 1954 when Vietnam divided into two governments.  The North belonged to the communist and the South belonged to the democratic government.  I came from a big family with two brothers and six sisters.  Two of my older sisters have already died.  My first older sister died on the trip when she escaped from Vietnam to the U.S.  The second older sister died from brain damage when she was seven years old.  My family is a very traditional religious family with an ethic for hard work.  They suffered greatly from the war in Vietnam.

            A couple of years later, after the Vietnam war ended in 1975 my parents decided to let Tim who is the oldest brother, escape from Vietnam, hoping that he would find a place where he could have a better life, education and future.  After Tim escaped safely to Thailand, we received a telegram from him telling us that he was well.  This led to the next escape attempt.

            Tram, the oldest sister, and Tri, the second oldest brother, left.  Their journey to freedom was painful.  While they were on their way, pirates boarded their boat, stole money, sexually abused some of the passengers and sank the boat.  My sister, who could not swim, grabbed a life jacket and gave it to my nine-year-old brother.  He swam to shore to find help but tragically, my sister died before she could be rescued.  She had sacrificed her life for her younger brother.  The death of my sister was a big impact in my life because she always took care of me while my mother was out at work.

            Tim and Tri were eventually united in Thailand. They arrived in America in 1980, where they built a new life and worked hard to bring the family together.  On the other side of the world, my family had a difficult time living.  The communists gave us a hard time because my father had served in the war and the fact that two of my brothers had escaped.  Our family reunited in the United States in 1991.  Of course, moving into another country was a big step for our family and especially my parents.  Since I am living in the United States, I am closer with my younger sister because we both grew up in American schools and the way we think are different from the rest of the family.  I have been living in the United States for 16 years and, of course, I love it.

            Soon after I arrived in America, my family settled in San Antonio, Texas.  I attended Holmes High School where I spent most of my freshmen and sophomore year studying English.  Learning another language and living in another culture was a very difficult experience for me because I was mistreated verbally and physically by American students in my first year of high school because I did not know a lot of English.  The only person who supported me was my English teacher.  She always showed her care and concern in helping me to learn the language.

            After two years of learning English, I was able to communicate with people around me and picked up schoolwork more easily.  I graduated from High School in May of 1995.  Soon after I graduated, I spent about one-and-a-half years studying some general topics in San Antonio College.  I transferred to the University of the Incarnate Word, where I continued school and earned a B.A. degree in Philosophy.  While I was at the University of the Incarnate Word, I enjoyed working as a Peer Minister, running a food drive to help the homeless, singing in a Vietnamese choir and arranging flowers.

            My Family had a strong Roman Catholic faith.  We are always trying to follow the teachings of the Church.  Most of my early childhood was spent with a lot of time in Church involvement as an altar server and many other activities offered by my parish.  I believe that from my family I learned about practicing and living my faith so strongly that it is a privilege for me to reassure it and continue to promote that faith.

            The call to become a priest has been on my mind since I was about six or seven years old.  As soon as I grew up, the ideas got more concrete and deep in my mind.  When I came to the United States, I thought the culture really had changed the direction of priesthood to something else.  I was not interested any more.  One of the reasons I can recall is because in the first couple of years; I was so busy with work, school, and supporting the family in order to earn a living.   I did not have time to think about the future.  After a year, things got settled; I started to think about the future.  It was not an easy way to determine what I wanted to do with my life because I am a very hardheaded person.

            I recall two significant events which made my life completely turn around.  One was the accident on an icy interstate and the other was a ruptured appendix that tuned out to be serious.  From these incidents, I came to find God talking to me and directing me in the right path.

            This coming August will be 10 years since I joined religious life with the Priests of the Sacred Heart (S.C.J.).  I was just ordained a priest on February 17, 2007 and recently assigned to working at Christ the King parish in Southaven, Mississippi.  One of the things which attracted me to religious life, especially with the Priests of the Sacred Heart, is that we all have different personalities, come from different backgrounds and bring different talents to our vocation.  Yet, together we work as a team to support the Church and to bring God’s love to His people.  Another thing which I like about religious life is our call to live together and to support one another in times of joy as well as times of hardship.