Huy Tran

Huy Tran will soon surpass yet another milestone in his personal faith-life journey. In August, he will celebrate a year of deep, personal discernment at the novitiate in Techny, Illinois when he professes his first vows to become an SVD.  On the horizon, the eyes of the Divine Word College graduate remain fixed on missionary work in a land far from his birthplace.

 

“Since the day I stepped into Divine Word College, I feel that my call is to do my ministry somewhere in Africa,” he said. “I have tremendous respect for those who went there—Fr. Anthony, Fr. Dick, Fr. Michael—and all those who went to places like Mozambique and Togo.”

 

Born into a traditional Catholic family 26 years ago in Vietnam and the oldest of four children, Huy was encouraged from an early age to consider the priesthood. He was 19 when he moved with his family to Portland, Oregon. One summer, an SVD priest visited his parish, which led to a visit to DWC. The warm and friendly reception he received at the Epworth, Iowa campus left an impression and he enrolled.  Five years later, after receiving his degree in May, 2009, Huy entered the novitiate.

 

 “Throughout my college years, I got to know a lot of SVDs who were returning from their ministries overseas, some of them came from Ghana, some from South America, Togo, a lot of different countries,” he said. “They were really interesting. They had a lot of stories and good experiences to share with me.”

 

 During his novitiate year, other SVDs offered him their experiences. Such valuable personal insights helped him to examine his own mind and heart to discern if the life of an SVD missionary is indeed the life for him. 

 

Such is the purpose of the year-long, novitiate experience.

 

“To be honest I like it a lot. I like the schedule, the routine every day,” he said. “I like the retired members of the SVDs here who I learn from every day, from their experience and their stories and from their attitude, from their personalities.”

 

 Earlier this year, Huy was on a 30-day retreat to the SVD residence in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where he was inspired by the story of Fr. Matthew Christman, SVD, who was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of a seminary there for the training of African-American priests in the early 1930s.  

 

“He felt a conviction. He stayed and persevered,” Huy said. “In a sense, a lot of times in my college years, I felt that I needed to go home. But then, there was something burning inside me, kept me going. I learned to trust that now.” 

 

As the days pass as he nears his August milestone, Huy continues to contemplate his call. Silence is an important component. Every day, there are two to three hours of silence. During his 30-day retreat, talking was only allowed twice. The rest of the time was spent in prayer, contemplation and discernment. After all, that is the purpose of the novitiate year. The novice is called upon to learn about himself, trust his conviction, and learn about his relationship with Jesus.

 

“Right now, I take every day, one day at a time. In the morning, I give my day to God. At night, before I go to Mass, I do my examination of conscience to review my day—what I did, what joy did I bring to people, what wrongs that I did,” Huy said. “I am able to reveal myself in detail and see how I’m responding to God’s call and therefore to be able to develop and fix myself here and there in a better way.”

 

And then there is that deep-seated desire that Huy has to someday serve as a missionary in Africa, a call that continues to gather strength during this time of discernment.

 

“My feelings still are the same in me,” he said. “I don’t know why. I’ll let you know when I find out.”