Rev. Vincent H. Pham

Pastor

Fr. Vincent Hung Pham was born in 1968 to a traditional Catholic family of 8 children, He is the third oldest of 6 boys and 2 girls. In 1984, his parents made a very difficult decision to send him away to seek freedom. The 7-day journey across the Pacific Ocean was life-and-death, and by God’s providence, he survived. He then spent the next 8 months in various refugee camps in Indonesia to get ready for a new life in the United States. Fr. Vincent got here in 1985 at only 17 years old, broke, and had no English. He managed to graduate from Santa Ana Valley High School in 1988. From there, he went to St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo, CA, for 5 years and continued for another 4 years in theology. Fr. Vincent was ordained in 1997 by Bishop Norman McFarland.

For the past 26 years, he has served as parochial vicar at St. Polycarp, St. Barbara, and St. Norbert. In 2006, he was blessed in a special way to be appointed as pastor of the La Purisima Parish. After six years there, he then spent the next two years at the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley and three more years at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He came back and served two years at St. Timothy Parish, and the last four years at the Vietnamese Catholic Center.

Fr. Vincent has moved a lot, and he says it is always his way of serving, “Not asking to go and not asking to stay.” He likes to leave it entirely up to the Bishop, and this time, the Bishop sent me to this wonderful community. Fr. Vincent says "As I begin my ministry here, I pray that I will be received as one of your members, and I will receive you as my family members. That is how we all respond to Jesus’ message in today’s Gospel, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.""

For the past 26 years as a parish priest, Fr. Vincent has always enjoyed celebrating the sacraments, giving short homilies, meeting parishioners, visiting the school, and helping out different ministries in the parish. One of his ministerial strengths is to promote the stewardship way of life. In addition to all of these “churchy” ministries, Fr. Vincent also enjoys going to the gym daily. If you see him at Crunch Fitness, do not hesitate to come by and say “Hi.” He is looking forward to serving the spiritual needs at St. Bonaventure Parish under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. May God bless you all.