Born: August 18, 1984
Entered Society: August 18, 2007
As a Jesuit: Fr. Vu has served as an associate pastoral intern at Saint Thomas More Catholic Community in Saint Paul, Minn., and has completed medical immersion trips to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and India.
Assignment Following Ordination: Loyola University Chicago to complete a pre-med, post-baccalaureate program.
“There was a time when I first came to the United States when everything was new to me, and I did not know English that well. When I was in first grade at recess, standing alone, watching the others play, one of the kids came up to me, put out his hand, took mine, and brought me into the game. I felt so much acceptance and gratitude, and for the first time, I recognized that gratitude had no boundaries or limits. It was a very similar feeling I had when standing at the novitiate door eleven years ago when a hand reached out to shake mine, and the novice director greeted me with such warmth and love.
I believe that all of us share in God’s unique gifts and in the Lord’s care as God continues to bless us. I can never be grateful enough for all the Lord has done for me. Being ordained a Jesuit priest is the most wonderful and also humbling gift that I could have been given. When I looked around the church during my ordination, I saw family, relatives, brother Jesuits, friends, all those who share in my faith. If it weren’t for them, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to answer and fulfill this call. There are so many people who ‘have ignited the flame’ of faith, hope, and love within my own heart, over so many years leading up to my ordination. I can only offer my thanks to them in my prayer and my priestly, sacramental, pastoral service to God’s people.”
Fr. Tho Vu, SJ, was born in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. At the age of 6, he and his family immigrated to Omaha, Neb., where they were members of Holy Name Parish, and Fr. Tho later enrolled at Creighton University. While earning a bachelor’s degree in emergency medicine as a paramedic, he worked in the medical school library and was a lab technician at Creighton University Medical Center. He entered the novitiate in Saint Paul, Minn., in 2007 and was sent to the Dominican Republic, where the Institute for Latin American Concern reignited his passion for health care and medicine. In 2009, Fr. Tho completed studies in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University. He then taught Scripture at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School-Twin Cities in Minneapolis while coaching soccer and working with the school nurse and with campus ministry. In 2014, Fr. Tho became an associate pastoral intern at Saint Thomas More Catholic Community in Saint Paul, where he worked in marriage prep, served as the RCIA director and helped create a young adults group at the parish. In the summers, Fr. Tho has completed medical immersion trips to Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. He accompanied a medical student group to Guatemala as a chaplain and spent three months in a rural village in northeast India ministering in a dispensary.
Return to the Jesuits Magazine Summer 2018 Magazine Index
