From religious refugee to community priest, pastor recounts his journey

"I have just been here (in Mt. Pleasant) for three months, so I want to use the time to see and to learn the direction I should take," Phung said.

By Mira Cash-Davis

Father Joseph Phung, a Vietnamese-American, is settling in as the new priest and pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. Father Nick Adam moved on to Grinnell July 5, according to church secretary Vicki Lohmann.

"I have just been here (in Mt. Pleasant) for three months, so I want to use the time to see and to learn the direction I should take," Phung said.

"I see a lot of good things people over here are doing," said Phung. The three months he's been at St. Alphonsus in Mt. Pleasant, he said he's noticed people's friendliness and outgoing attitudes.

"(People here) contribute a lot of time and talent to build the community," he added.

One change about this church community from the last is that at St. Alphonsus, "We have everything in place already," he said.

"When a priest moves to a place, if the house is not in a good condition he has to spend a lot of time on that," Phung said.

Phung said he's glad for the infrastructure here because of the time it frees up to concentrate on the congregation.

"My focus is on people. Not only do I come to people, but people come to me," he said.

Phung has heard some of the needs of the community. "I think people here are very much involved in the work and they long to build a strong community with a strong spiritual life and a good service to the community," he said.

"(There's interest in) trying to fulfill the mission of the church and bring the gospel of Jesus to the people living around here. Working with the other churches in the area to build a better spiritual life. (There's interest) that we focus on the liturgy to build a better worship and better prayers."

Phung hopes to create a "solemn, meaningful and prayerful liturgy (or mass)."

Phung has served as pastor or associate pastor in Iowa City and Davenport, and as priest in Iowa City. In both places, he worked with Americans of mixed ethnicity, Chinese, Korean, Mexican and Vietnamese. He still drives up to St. Mary's in Iowa City monthly after mass at St. Alphonsus in Mt. Pleasant to give an afternoon mass in Vietnamese.

For more, see our Oct. 3 print edition.