| Welcome, Fr. Dinh, Fr. Sia! By Barb Arland-Fye |
 |
| Deacons Joseph Sia, left, and Hai Dinh bow their heads in prayer as Bishop Martin Amos performs the ritual called Laying On of Hands and Prayer of Ordination. |
DAVENPORT — On a spring day bursting with new life, Hai Duc Dinh and Joseph Sia were ordained to the priesthood at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Bishop Martin Amos ordained them May 10, just two weeks before the 40th anniversary of his own ordination to the priesthood.
“Live your humanness, and your sacredness, and you will know joy,” he advised the candidates to the priesthood during his homily.
Other priests, deacons, relatives, friends and strangers attended the ordination Mass, lifting up the candidates in song and prayer. All applauded and said, “Thanks be to God!” when the candidates were called forward during the Rite of Ordination. The consent of the people of God is needed before a member of the Catholic Church can be ordained for the service of the church.
Father Sia’s mother, Lourdes Sia, flew in from the Philippines to witness the highlight of her son’s life. “I don’t have words to express my feelings,” she said after the Mass. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Amy Floresca, a family friend now living in Texas, said of Fr. Sia, “You can see from his eyes … he’s so happy.”
Father Dinh’s father, Thuong Dinh of Davenport, expressed happiness at his son’s ordination, with his daughter, Hang Dinh, serving as interpreter.
“My father is very proud of him,” added Hang Dinh, who served as a reader and gift bearer during the ordination Mass. “It’s a blessing and we’re grateful for God’s grace in this.”
Hoi Dinh, Fr. Dinh’s brother, said he prays for his brother “to be a good priest and to do a good job for the community and the parishes.”
The brother’s prayer buttresses words of wisdom that Bishop Amos imparted about what makes a good priest.
Qualities of a priest
When he was a parish priest serving on the Clergy Personnel Board in the Cleveland Diocese in Ohio he visited parishes to see what parishioners were looking for in their next pastor. “They wanted someone young with a lot of experience, a good administrator who doesn’t ask for money. There were times when I wondered if Jesus himself could do all they wanted,” Bishop Amos quipped during his homily. “But what I consistently heard was: ‘We want a holy man, a man of prayer, a good liturgist and preacher, a kind person, a servant leader.’”
He reflected on each of those qualities. Prayer is a vital part of a priest’s life, as is the liturgy, the bishop said. His own practice as a priest, and now as a bishop, is to be in church at least half an hour early to set up and then to quiet down.
“The prayers and readings over which you preside are also for your nourishment,” he said. “The way you treat the sacred can make you a sacrament for your people as well.”
Bishop Amos reminded the candidates to “prepare your homilies in prayer, don’t tell them everything you know every time, ask for feedback from the people who must listen to them, nourish them in Word as well as sacrament.”
Show genuine care and affection for parishioners, love them, serve them, pray for them and be kind to them — and they will reciprocate, the bishop said.
Conflict is inevitable, but not always a bad thing; show patience to everyone, especially when that may be difficult, he continued.
“My prayer is that you will experience some of the same joy I have experienced, especially in the people you will serve.”
Journey to the priesthood
Following Bishop Amos’ homily were the rituals of the Promise of the Elect; the Litany of Supplication; the Laying On of Hands and Prayer of Ordination; Investiture with Stole and Chasuble; Anointing of the Hands with Chrism; Handing over of Bread and Wine and the Kiss of Peace.
Fr. Sia’s mother and Fr. Dinh’s sister were gift bearers. During Communion, both priests distributed the Body of Christ.
After Mass, the new priests expressed gratitude to God, their families and the people of the diocese who encouraged them. Their journeys began years ago, while each was still in high school in different countries and under different circumstances.
Fr. Dinh, 45, a native of Saigon, Vietnam, spent a year in a labor camp because of a thwarted escape from his homeland. At night, he secretly prayed the rosary. Getting caught could have resulted in harsh punishment.
“I asked God for his mercy and the strength to overcome my situation, my terrible situation,” Fr. Dinh said. “God heard my prayer.”
Fr. Dinh arrived in America in 1996, on a family sponsorship, and was deeply touched by the generosity of the American people toward him.
“I needed to do something to express my gratitude to God and to God’s people.”
That led him to the seminary and to the priesthood.
Fr. Sia sensed his call to the priesthood while attending Jesuit high school in the Philippines, especially after making a retreat in his junior year. “Since then, I felt a special calling to serve God in a special way.”
Actually, his mother told The Catholic Messenger, her son had been thinking about becoming a priest since the age of 6 or 7.
“One day he came back from Mass and said, ‘I’ll grow up to become a priest, but I’ll come back home to you every day at 5 o’clock,’” said Lourdes Sia.
But it would be some years before he had the courage to respond to God’s call.
First he graduated from medical school and worked as a research associate in the Philippines before moving to Iowa to pursue a doctorate. Then he decided to become a priest.
“I remember it was Pentecost Day 2003. I was so excited to go to Mass that day at St. Mary’s in Iowa City. That night it came to me that I had the courage to accept the calling,” Fr. Sia said. “Now it’s Pentecost and we’re (each) doing our first Mass on Pentecost,” he noted. “That brings it to completion, this journey.”
First assignments
Fr. Sia presided at his first Mass on May 11 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Davenport. Fr. Dinh presided at his first Masses at Our Lady of Victory and Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Beginning July 1, Fr. Dinh will serve as parochial vicar of Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Paul the Apostle parish, and vicar for Vietnamese with residence at St. Paul the Apostle.
Fr. Sia will serve as parochial vicar of Ss. Mary & Mathias parish, Muscatine, and St. Joseph parish, Columbus Junction.