The Eucharist and the joy of the priesthood

From altar server in Vietnam to a priest of Christ in Oklahoma


The words of Psalm 110:4, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek,” have been a leading motto of Father Christopher Hai Tran’s priestly vocation since he was ordained to the priesthood 15 years ago, on the feast day of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2008. 

“Every day I pray in thanksgiving to God appreciating the magnificence and the singular honor of my priestly vocation,” said Father Tran, who was assigned by Archbishop Coakley in July this year to serve as the new pastor of Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Prague, Saint Michael Catholic Church in Meeker and the rector of the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague. 

Bringing the faithful back to the Eucharist and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has been the main mission of his priesthood, as he describes it. “We need to thank Jesus for giving us the Eucharist and the priesthood. These two sacraments ‘were born’ during the Last Supper. They are so closely related because without the priesthood we would have no Eucharist,” said Father Tran. 

Father Tran has previously served in 11 parishes as a priest, chaplain for a university, a prison and a nursing home. In all places of his priestly assignment, he gave all his energy to introducing or invigorating the Holy Hour after the daily Mass, praying jointly with parishioners the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and a consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. His life-long devotion to the Sacred Heart was inflamed even more when he was both accepted to the seminary and ordained to priesthood on the feast day of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Therefore, the observance of the First Fridays and First Saturdays of each month, in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary has been an indispensable devotion of his priestly vocation. 

The enthusiasm about the Eucharist and the joy of his priesthood are a beautiful fruit of many years of his forbearance in times of various life challenges. His path towards priesthood was neither straight nor easy, but his life journey was always filled with God’s grace and protection.

Born in South Vietnam, Father Tran was deeply influenced by the solid Catholic faith of his parents and family as they prayed the Rosary and frequently attended daily Mass together. His desire to become a priest has been in his heart since he was a ten-year-old altar boy. 

In 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the communists took over the South, took away his father who worked for many years for the United States government and imprisoned him in a “re-education camp.” All seminaries and convents were closed and religious practices were forbidden or highly restricted. The dream of becoming a priest seemed unreachable. 

“I remember so vividly the night when my mother told me, ‘You have to leave the country,’” said Father Tran. “On that night my childhood changed completely. We lost our freedom, my family lost my father, but we entrusted ourselves to God’s Providence, and relied on the words of our mother who encouraged us saying, ‘We have lost everything, but let us not lose our faith.’”

Waiting on an island full of refugees to escape the country, Father Tran found consolation by entrusting himself to Saint Joseph. “He has become my trusted friend and spiritual guide. I felt his gentle calming presence around me in these difficult moments,” said Father Tran.

God’s protective Hand led him to the US in 1980. “How can I repay the Lord for all the good he has done for me,” (Psalm 116:12) were Father Tran’s first words on the U.S. land. After many challenges as a teenage immigrant in the U.S. without his family, he attended Saint John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, and in Seton Hall. 

Upon arrival in Oklahoma City, Father Tran spoke to Archbishop Beltran and expressed his deep desire to be a missionary priest to Taiwan and China, to which the Archbishop responded, “You will be a missionary here.” God’s grace thus led Father Tran to become a missionary of the Eucharist to people in Oklahoma. 

“I want to be a happy, healthy, and holy priest. If I had a thousand new opportunities in life, I would still choose to be a priest for Christ, a priest forever, and to lay down my life with Christ on the altar each day at the Holy Eucharist,” said Father Tran, with a joyful countenance.

Jad Ziolkowska is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.