byFather Robert M. O'Grady Pilot Staff
Father Joseph Diem Van Nguyen Courtesy photo
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Father Nguyen, of Father Joe as he prefers, was born in Ha Bac, Vietnam, on March 27, 1952, a son of Van Joseph and Mieu Thi Mary (Vu) Ngyuen. Dai, Dang, Diem, brothers; and Dam Thi and Dieu Thi sisters, round out the family roster.
Renato Raffaele Martino, then the titular archbishop of Sergemes and the apostolic delegate to Thailand, ordained him a deacon on Sept. 1, 1985, in Bangkok, and three weeks later, on Sept. 22, 1985, a priest. He was incardinated in the Long Xuyen Diocese of his native Vietnam; that See is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon at the time in South Vietnam.
His homeland was in turmoil and war was the operating environment.
In June 1986, he was welcomed to the archdiocese by Bernard Cardinal Law, who was especially attentive to the needs of the growing population of Vietnamese Catholics in the archdiocese. Most of them were exiles as was Father Joe.
Since his 1986 arrival in the archdiocese, he has served in many parishes, and in all the assignments, he has been a parochial vicar.
On arriving in Boston, he was assigned to St. Peter, Dorchester (1986-1994), during that assignment he was incardinated into the archdiocese on June 23, 1995. Since then, his assignments have been St. John the Evangelist, Hopkinton (1996-2004); St. Ambrose, Dorchester (2004-2005); St. John the Evangelist, Winthrop (2006-2007); St. Joseph, Medford (2007-2014); Our Lady of Sorrows, Sharon (2014-2015); Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary, both in Walpole (2014-2016); and St. Charles Borromeo (2017-2018) and St. Mary (2017-2024), both in Waltham.
In addition to his own native Vietnamese, he is fluent in English and has basic facility in both French and Spanish.
Father Nguyen is now living in retirement at Regina Cleri, having been granted senior priest retirement status by Cardinal O'Malley on May 1, 2024.