Three women religious dressed in simple black habits and light brown veils are an integral part of the Vietnamese community at St. John Vianney Church in South Louisville. They pray, teach religious education, lead music during liturgies and accompany elderly parishioners and mothers.
This year, the sisters — members of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus, the High Priest — are celebrating their 10th anniversary serving in the archdiocese.
“We try to make a connection with every member at the parish,” said Sister Maria Hoang Ngoc Tuong Vi during a recent interview at their convent, a former Baptist church.
She and Sister Maria Nguyen Thi Thao Trinh were among the four sisters who initially moved from Vietnam to serve at St. John Vianney in 2016. The two sisters continue to serve here alongside Mother Phuong Nguyen Ngoc, who moved from Florida to Louisville in 2024.
The two other sisters who founded the ministry here are the late Sister Teresa Ha Thi Thuy Trang, who returned to the motherhouse in Vietnam in 2024 and died later that year, and Sister Raphael Vu Thi Tiet Minh, who retired to the congregation’s convent in Santa Ana, Calif., in 2024.
The sisters said they follow a daily schedule, which includes several opportunities for prayer. They rise at 5 a.m., beginning their day with an hour and a half of prayer before daily Mass. In the evenings, they pray the rosary and spend another 45 minutes in prayer in their chapel.
Their congregation has a special mission to pray for the sanctification of priests, they said.
“We offer all the sacrifices of our day to ask God to sanctify priests, to support them in their mission,” said Sister Vi Hoang, adding that the sisters spend an hour in adoration every day praying for priests. “We have a simple prayer; we can say this prayer every moment in our day — Jesus, the High Priest, pray for us and sanctify our priests.”
In addition to that mission, Sister Vi Hoang serves as director of religious education at St. John Vianney. She organizes sacramental preparation and the parish’s Sunday school program, which serves about 90 children ages seven to 18. The bilingual programming — English and Vietnamese — includes a study of the Gospel, an activity and catechesis, she said.
On the first Sunday of the month, the children participate in Eucharistic adoration and serve at the 11 a.m. bilingual Mass as altar servers, lectors, gift bearers and members of the choir.
Sister Trinh Nguyen serves the parish’s music ministry by leading its two adult choirs and playing the piano for all daily Masses. She also gives some of the parish children piano lessons and serves some of the parish elderly.
Mother Phuong Nguyen Ngoc, who was visiting Vietnam when the interview occurred, also serves the parish elderly and works closely with the St. John Vianney’s Mothers Guild.
The sisters are also active participants in the life of the parish. They attend Mass daily and aim to lend a listening ear to the parishioners.
“I like to visit, witness, every day,” said Sister Trinh Nguyen, noting that the parishioners depend on the religious to “listen to their story” and “witness the pain in their soul.”
“It is not our choice, just God’s choice, God’s will. Right now we stay here, but we don’t know tomorrow where we are. Mission – that is mission. Just obey it and go.”
— Sister Maria Hoang Ngoc Tuong Vi
In the last decade, the sisters said, they’ve seen some changes.
For the first six years, they lived in a renovated home on East Francis Avenue. They moved into the former Baptist church in 2022 after parishioners helped renovate the space.
When they arrived in 2016, daily Mass was in the evenings and usually about 10 parishioners were in attendance. Now, daily Masses are celebrated in the mornings and more than 40 parishioners attend. In recent years, the parish began having adoration every day after Mass.
The children of the parish speak more English than they did a decade ago, said Sister Vi Hoang. While working with the children has improved her English, the change has encouraged her to pursue higher education at a community college, she said.
Reflecting on the past decade, the sisters said they never expected they would serve in the United States.
“We had no clue about this. Just one day our superior said, ‘Just go,’ ” Sister Vi Hoang said.
And after a decade in Kentucky, they don’t know where their mission might take them, they said.
“It is not our choice, just God’s choice, God’s will. Right now we stay here, but we don’t know tomorrow where we are. Mission — that is mission. Just obey it and go,” Sister Vi Hoang said.
There are about 300 sisters in their congregation, which is based in Dong Nai, a province in southeastern Vietnam. They serve in Vietnam and the U.S.
The congregation has two other U.S. convents — one in Santa Ana, Calif., in the Diocese of Orange, and another in Key Largo, Fla., in the St. Petersburg Diocese.
