Holy Vietnamese Martyrs

History of Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Parish

The community's roots reach back to Vietnamese-language Masses first celebrated around 1996 at Holy Cross Church in northeast Atlanta; by 2003 the Archdiocese of Atlanta formally recognized it as the Mission of Holy Vietnamese Martyrs. The growing congregation moved in June 2006 to a former car dealership on Timmers Way in Norcross, where a repair garage became the sanctuary. After 17 years as a mission, on October 16, 2013, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory signed the decree raising the mission to parish status, and Father Francis Tuan Tran was installed as the first pastor on December 1, 2013. Years of fundraising — capped by the annual fall cultural festival — financed a new $14 million worship building, dedicated on November 28, 2019 before an estimated 4,000 people, with Bishop Joel M. Konzen (diocesan administrator) presiding.

The Vietnamese Martyrs — Patron and Namesake

The parish takes its name from the 117 Vietnamese Catholic and European missionary martyrs — 96 native Vietnamese, 11 Spanish Dominicans, and 10 French members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society — who gave their lives for the faith between the 17th and 19th centuries. The group, canonized by Pope St. John Paul II on June 19, 1988, stands for a much larger 'great cloud of witnesses' the Vatican estimates at between 100,000 and 300,000. Their joint memorial in the General Roman Calendar is November 24, the feast of St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc and Companions — which the parish also observes as its own feast day. The new church's altar measures 117 inches long and 117 centimeters wide in their honor.

• Feast day: November 24
• Patronage: Vietnam
• Canonization: June 19, 1988, by Pope John Paul II
• Major shrine: Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (Sở Kiện), Hà Nam, Vietnam

The New Church Building (2019)

The current worship building, dedicated November 28, 2019, is a soaring $14 million structure with sweeping, overhanging eaves inspired by Vietnamese architectural tradition, seating about 1,500 people. Among its distinctive features: an extra-long altar (117 in × 117 cm), a dark-red floor and wall motif recalling the bamboo mats on which the martyrs died, marble circles representing the seven sacraments leading from the baptismal pool toward the altar, and palm-branch imagery for Vietnam.

Religious Education & Youth — Đoàn Tôma Thiện (TNTT)

Holy Vietnamese Martyrs runs a substantial catechetical program serving more than 1,000 young people each year, paired with the parish's own Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement chapter, Đoàn Tôma Thiện, which has served Vietnamese Catholic youth in north-metro Atlanta since 1996. Tôma Thiện belongs to the Joan of Arc League (Liên Đoàn Joan of Arc) of the VEYM/TNTT international movement. The chapter's two-fold mission is to form young people in Christian virtue and to lead them in spreading the Gospel through service. The Sunday 12:45 PM Mass is reserved specifically for TNTT children.

• Religious education / catechism (1,000+ youth)
• Đoàn Tôma Thiện (TNTT) — VEYM chapter in the Joan of Arc League
• Sunday 12:45 PM Mass reserved for TNTT children

Outreach — The Daily Meal Ministry

Perhaps the parish's most visible ministry is its daily meal program. Six days a week, masked volunteers begin cooking in the parish kitchen after the 7:30 AM Mass and then load a 2004 grey Honda Odyssey minivan (rosary on the mirror, St. Joseph prayer card on the dash) and a truck with nearly 300 meals — sometimes up to 640, depending on food available — for delivery to people living under bridges, in burned-out churches, in abandoned buildings, cemeteries, in the woods, and in cars. Coordinators (such as volunteer 'Lam' and delivery partner Chuong 'Joseph' Nguyen) report knowing most of the recipients by name; the work continued through the pandemic and goes beyond food to include help finding jobs (landscaping, unloading trucks) and clothing.

• Up to ~640 meals prepared and delivered six days a week
• Volunteers cook after the 7:30 AM daily Mass
• Delivery to people experiencing homelessness around metro Atlanta
• Assistance with job placement and clothing in addition to meals

Vietnamese Cultural Life & Annual Festival

Holy Vietnamese Martyrs works to honor the first generation who fled Vietnam after the war while also valuing the generations who grew up in America. The parish's annual fall cultural festival attracts thousands of attendees and has been a major engine of fundraising for the new church building, alongside ongoing food sales and donations. The community also gathers for retreats on the adjacent parcel (the land the parish bought after defeating the 2009–2010 proposed trash transfer station).

Clergy & Pastoral Leadership

Rev. Francis Tuan Tran — who fled Vietnam in 1987 by land to Cambodia and then by boat to Thailand after his seminary was repressed by the communist government — has been the community's spiritual leader since his installation as the parish's first pastor on December 1, 2013. He previously served as mission administrator of the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Mission and led the parish through its 2013 elevation to parish status and the 2019 dedication of the new church. The parish is supported by a Pastoral Council and a Parish Finance Council.

• Rev. Francis Tuan Tran — first pastor (installed Dec 1, 2013)
• Pastoral Council, chaired in 2013 by An Dinh
• Parish Finance Council

Visit, Contact & Office Hours

The parish campus is at 4545-A Timmers Way, Norcross, GA 30093, near Beaver Ruin Road and Interstate 85. Phone (770) 921-0077; email [email protected]. The Parish Office is open Monday–Saturday, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM; the Finance Office is open Monday–Saturday, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM and Sunday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. The site includes the new church, the original converted-dealership sanctuary, a social hall, and the adjacent parish recreation/retreat land.