About Our Lady of Vietnam · Riverdale, Georgia
Our Lady of Vietnam (Giáo Xứ Đức Mẹ Việt Nam) is a Vietnamese-language ethnic Catholic parish in the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Atlanta, located at 91 Valley Hill Road in Riverdale, Georgia. Founded on October 24, 1998, and rooted in a Vietnamese Catholic community that has worshipped together in the Atlanta area since 1976, it serves roughly 850 member families — about 3,000 people — and is one of two Vietnamese-language parishes in the archdiocese. The parish operates in the Roman (Latin) Rite and offers daily Masses, weekend Masses, confessions, and a wide array of Vietnamese cultural and faith activities that preserve Vietnamese Catholic heritage in the American South.
- Established
- 1998
- Patron
- Our Lady of Vietnam (Đức Mẹ Việt Nam)
- Rector
- Rev. Peter Duc N. Vu
- Diocese
- Metropolitan Archdiocese of Atlanta
Why belong here
Our Lady of Vietnam offers a rare opportunity in metro Atlanta: full sacramental and parish life celebrated in the Vietnamese language and according to Vietnamese Catholic customs. A family of roughly 850 households — about 3,000 people — worships here daily, with multiple Sunday Masses, weekday Masses in Vietnamese, Saturday confessions, and the annual Đại Hội Đức Mẹ La Vang (Our Lady of La Vang Festival), which draws clergy and faithful from neighboring states. Beyond the liturgy, the parish is a center for preserving Vietnamese language, faith formation for children, Eucharistic youth movement, and mutual support among Vietnamese Catholics in the South — an ethnic parish in the Roman Rite where newcomers, refugees, and American-born Vietnamese can all belong.
Mass times at Our Lady of Vietnam
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM
History of Our Lady of Vietnam Parish
The Vietnamese Catholic community in Atlanta traces its origins to 1976, when Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan invited Fr. Francis Phạm Văn Phương, a young priest studying in Fairfield, Connecticut, to minister to newly arrived Vietnamese refugees. The first Vietnamese Mass was celebrated on June 26, 1976, and St. John the Evangelist in Hapeville served as the community's spiritual home for 13 years. In March 1989 the community purchased a former Baptist church on about 6 acres in Forest Park, which Archbishop Eugene A. Marino blessed on September 3, 1989. After just eight years the mission outgrew Forest Park, and on November 29, 1997, Archbishop John F. Donoghue blessed the new Riverdale site. On October 24, 1998, the mission was elevated to a parish, with Msgr. Phạm Văn Phương as its first pastor. Between 2010 and 2015, parishioners raised roughly $4 million for major renovations and a new social hall and pavilion.
Parish Staff & Clergy
The current parish team includes the pastor, a parochial vicar, and two deacons, alongside the founding pastor emeritus Msgr. Francis Pham Van Phuong.
- Rev. Peter Duc N. Vu, Pastor
- Rev. Dominic Tho C. Tran, Parochial Vicar
- Rev. Msgr. Francis Pham Van Phuong (Pastor Emeritus)
- Rev. Mr. Joseph Phu Hoa Nguyen, Deacon
- Rev. Mr. Peter Hung Viet Huynh, Deacon
Annual Devotions & Festivals
The most distinctive annual celebration at Our Lady of Vietnam is the Đại Hội Đức Mẹ La Vang (Our Lady of La Vang Festival), begun in 1998 when the mission became a parish. Held each October, the gathering draws Vietnamese clergy, religious, and faithful from neighboring states such as Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and has featured visiting concelebrants including Fr. Trần Ngọc Thụ, formerly private secretary to Pope John Paul II, and Fr. Phaolô Văn Chi from Australia.
- Annual Đại Hội Đức Mẹ La Vang (Our Lady of La Vang Festival) — each October
Parish Identity & Mission
Per the parish's own published norms, Our Lady of Vietnam is an ethnic parish (Giáo Xứ Tòng Nhân) under canon law and the Archdiocese of Atlanta's guidelines. It exists not only for Vietnamese-speaking Catholics but also for anyone who freely wishes to join this community of faith. Its explicit purpose is to worship God, build up the local Church, witness to Christ, and preserve the spiritual, cultural, and social values of the Vietnamese people as a contribution to the multicultural richness of the United States and the Catholic Church in America.
Facilities & Grounds
The parish campus sits on about 17 acres at 91 Valley Hill Road in Riverdale. Between 2010 and 2015, parishioners raised approximately $4 million to renovate the existing parish buildings and to construct a new social hall and pavilion for community gatherings, festivals, and faith-formation activities.
- Main worship space (former Baptist church, converted 1997)
- Renovated parish buildings (2010–2015)
- New social hall and pavilion (completed 2015)
- Faith-formation classrooms and trailers
Visit & Contact
Parishioners and visitors are welcomed at 91 Valley Hill Road, Riverdale, GA 30274, in the southern suburbs of Atlanta south of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The parish office can be reached by phone at (770) 472-9963, and the official parish website — giaoxuducmevietnam.org — carries the Vietnamese title Giáo Xứ Đức Mẹ Việt Nam and is the primary source for current schedules, news, and announcements.
- Address: 91 Valley Hill Road, Riverdale, GA 30274
- Phone: (770) 472-9963
- Website: http://giaoxuducmevietnam.org/
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Msgr. Francis Pham Van Phuong1998–2016
Founding pastor; led Vietnamese apostolate in Atlanta from 1976; elevated to parish in 1998; retired July 1, 2016 on the golden jubilee of his ordination (ordained April 29, 1966, in Saigon); honored as monsignor in 1994; elected president of the Federation of Vietnamese Catholics in the USA in 2001.
- Rev. Peter Duc N. Vu2016–present
Succeeded Msgr. Phuong as second pastor effective July 1, 2016; appointed by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory.