About Saints Augustine and Gabriel · Columbus, Ohio
Saints Augustine and Gabriel is a Roman Catholic parish in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, located at 1550 E. Hudson Street on the city's east side in ZIP code 43211. The parish serves roughly 270 families and is notable for being both a long-established neighborhood parish and the spiritual home of Columbus's Vietnamese Catholic community for more than four decades. Sunday Masses are offered in both English (10:00 am) and Vietnamese (12:00 pm), with daily Mass Tuesday through Friday and a Saturday vigil, plus a Saturday confession time at 4 pm. Father Joseph Bay, a Vietnamese-born priest who himself escaped Vietnam as a 'boat person' before being ordained in 1994, has served the parish since shortly after ordination and has been pastor since July 2008.
- Patron
- St. Augustine and St. Gabriel the Archangel
- Rector
- Rev. Joseph Bay
- Diocese
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus
Why belong here
Sts. Augustine and Gabriel offers a genuinely bilingual Catholic home — English and Vietnamese — in Columbus's east side, with the kind of small, tightly-knit parish life where, as visitors report, 'everyone knows each other.' The parish combines traditional devotions (the monthly Society of the Rosary in the prayer room, daily weekday Mass, Saturday confession at 4 pm) with vibrant Vietnamese cultural life: the Vietnamese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Feast of the Vietnamese Martyrs, a May crowning, and quarterly parish potlucks. Its ministries — Parish Religious Education for Children (PREP), St. Vincent de Paul outreach to the poor, and an altar server program — give families concrete ways to live the faith and serve neighbors.
Mass times at Saints Augustine and Gabriel
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 4:00 pm
- By appointment
Welcome and Parish Identity
Sts. Augustine and Gabriel is a Roman Catholic parish of the Diocese of Columbus serving the Hudson Street neighborhood on Columbus's east side. The parish welcomes both English-speaking and Vietnamese-speaking Catholics and provides Mass in both languages every Sunday. The pastor invites anyone who has been attending the parish for a while but has not yet registered to become a member of the parish family.
- Two-language parish community (English and Vietnamese)
- About 270 families
- Part of the Diocese of Columbus
History
Sts. Augustine and Gabriel was formed from two earlier east-side Columbus parishes — St. Augustine and St. Gabriel — that each previously ran their own parish school. The parish took on its second defining chapter in the late 1970s when Vietnamese Catholic refugees began settling in central Ohio and made the church their spiritual home. That Vietnamese community has now been at the parish for more than 47 years, making Sts. Augustine and Gabriel the cultural and devotional center of Columbus's Vietnamese Catholics. The full succession of pastors from the founding era to today is not comprehensively published online; Father Joseph Bay has been the parish's current pastor since July 2008.
- Successor parish to St. Augustine and St. Gabriel parishes on Columbus's east side
- Vietnamese Catholic community present at the parish for 47+ years (as of 2024)
- Father Joseph Bay became pastor in July 2008
Father Joseph Bay — Pastor
Father Joseph Bay is the current pastor of Sts. Augustine and Gabriel. Born in Vietnam, he escaped in 1987 in a small boat of 31 people crossing the Gulf of Thailand as one of approximately 800,000 'boat people' who fled Vietnam between 1975 and 1995. He spent about 18 months in a Thai refugee camp of roughly 5,000 people, where he supervised religious education for about 170 unaccompanied children, then six months in the Philippines before being resettled in the United States. The U.S. State Department placed him in Columbus specifically to accelerate his English, and Bishop James Griffin invited him to study at the Pontifical College Josephinum beginning in fall 1989. He earned a Master of Arts in 1993 and a Master of Divinity in 1994, was ordained by Bishop Griffin at St. Joseph Cathedral on June 11, 1994, and served two years as associate pastor at the cathedral alongside his ministry to the Vietnamese community at Sts. Augustine and Gabriel. After two years of study in Rome, he returned to the parish and became its pastor in July 2008. He became a U.S. citizen in 1995 and sponsored six of his seven siblings to immigrate to Columbus.
- Ordained June 11, 1994 at St. Joseph Cathedral by Bishop James Griffin
- M.A. and M.Div. from Pontifical College Josephinum (1993, 1994)
- U.S. citizen since 1995
- Pastor since July 2008
- Vietnamese-born; escaped as a 'boat person' in 1987
Ministries
The parish runs a handful of core ministries designed to form children in the faith, serve the poor, foster Marian devotion, and support the liturgy. St. Vincent de Paul has its own conference website at sdvpaugustinegabriel.org.
Parish Religious Education for Children (PREP)
PREP is the parish's religious education program for children in Kindergarten through Grade 7 who attend public school. Its goal is to assist parents in the religious education of their children and to prepare them to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist in Grade 2 and Confirmation in Grade 7. PREP used to be known as CCD (Catechism Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, or simply 'Catechism').
- K–Grade 7 religious education
- First Reconciliation and First Eucharist in Grade 2
- Confirmation in Grade 7
- Formerly known as CCD / Catechism
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a lay Catholic organization whose mission is: 'To live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice and joy.' Vincentians see Christ in anyone who suffers, come together as a family, and maintain personal contact with the poor, often through weekly visitations at homes or community facilities. The parish's conference maintains its own website at sdvpaugustinegabriel.org.
- Lay Catholic outreach to the poor
- Home and facility visitations
- Conference website: https://sdvpaugustinegabriel.org/
Society of the Rosary
The Society of the Rosary is devoted to the veneration and promotion of the Holy Rosary. The society gathers for prayer on the first Sunday of each month at 11:00 am in the parish prayer room, offering a warm community of fellow Catholics seeking to deepen their faith and grow closer to God.
- First Sunday of each month, 11:00 am, prayer room
Altar Serving
Altar Servers assist the priest in a reverent and respectful manner during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Their responsibilities include preparation before Mass, assistance during Mass, and closure after Mass. Altar servers are selected and trained by the pastor.
- Selected and trained by the pastor
- Includes preparation, assistance during, and closure after Mass
Devotions and Vietnamese Catholic Life
In addition to the Society of the Rosary, the parish hosts a number of Vietnamese Catholic devotions and cultural celebrations throughout the year. These include a May crowning, a Vietnamese New Year (Tết) celebration each March, a Mid-Autumn Festival, and a commemoration of the Feast of the Vietnamese Martyrs on the Sunday closest to November 24 (the actual feast day). The parish also hosts quarterly potlucks for everyone currently or previously affiliated with the former St. Augustine and St. Gabriel churches and schools — a way of keeping the merged east-side Columbus communities connected across generations.
- May crowning
- Tết (Vietnamese New Year) — March
- Mid-Autumn Festival
- Feast of the Vietnamese Martyrs — Sunday closest to Nov. 24
- Quarterly parish potlucks for alumni of St. Augustine and St. Gabriel parishes and schools
Sacraments
The parish celebrates all seven sacraments. First Reconciliation and First Eucharist are normally received in Grade 2, and Confirmation in Grade 7, through the PREP program. Couples preparing for marriage, families arranging baptisms, and those seeking Anointing of the Sick are encouraged to contact the parish office at 614-268-3123.
- Reconciliation — Saturday 4:00 pm or by appointment
- First Eucharist and First Reconciliation — Grade 2 (via PREP)
- Confirmation — Grade 7 (via PREP)
- Baptism, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick — contact parish office
Contact and Visit
Parishioners and visitors can reach Sts. Augustine and Gabriel at the church (1550 E. Hudson Street, Columbus, OH 43211) or by mail at 1567 Loretta Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211. The parish phone is 614-268-3123 and the office email is [email protected]. Pastor Father Joseph Bay can also be reached directly through the parish office or via the appointment-booking feature on the parish website.
- Address: 1550 E. Hudson Street, Columbus, OH 43211
- Mailing address: 1567 Loretta Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211
- Phone: 614-268-3123
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://augustinegabriel.org
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Joseph BayAssociate pastor / pastoral minister of Vietnamese community from c. 1994; pastor since July 2008 to present
Vietnamese-born priest; escaped Vietnam in 1987 as a 'boat person'; spent time in Thai refugee camp and Philippines; M.A. and M.Div. from Pontifical College Josephinum; ordained by Bishop James Griffin at St. Joseph Cathedral on June 11, 1994; U.S. citizen since 1995; also spent two years studying in Rome.