Fr. Binh Nguyen, SVD
Vocation Director
Northeast Region
binhsvd@aol.com

“The discernment process at Divine Word College was a precious time that affirmed and strengthened the inner call I felt earlier in my life,” says Fr. Binh. “It was the time of both challenge and reward, a time to build the foundation for my vocation and missionary zeal.”

Fr. Binh Nguyen was born and grew up in the town of Can Tho, in Vietnam. His introduction to the SVD came in 1989, at a Vietnamese parish in Chicago, where he met a friend who was a freshman at Divine Word College. Soon Fr. Binh himself was enrolled as a seminary student at DWC.

After graduating in 1995, he went on to the novitiate, taking his first vows in 1996. His overseas training program was, in his own words, a “marvelous adventure – one that nurtured my vocation.” Fr. Binh spent two years in Ecuador during this cross-cultural experience. “Besides the culture shock and personal struggle that were unavoidable, the grace was an essential encounter – amazing and overwhelming – which helped me overcome the obstacles and move toward my goal,” he says. “It connected me to the real world of mission, where I eventually embraced other cultures as a gift, and greeted the Ecuadorians with an open heart and gratitude.”

Ordained at Techny, Illinois, in June of 2002, Fr. Binh believes that being a missionary offers a tremendous joy that the world cannot give. “Even though missionary life radically requires the denial of self and material attachment, it replaces those with inner peace, joy, fulfillment and real freedom,” he says, adding that: “This is true because Jesus said: “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew: 10:39). Taste and see. You will have it.”