Anthony Huy-Cuong Tran
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Bishop Larry Silva will ordain Anthony Huy-Cuong Tran a deacon at 5 p.m., Jan. 6, at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Tran will be a “transitional” deacon, a step toward his ultimate ordination as a priest.
“I want to be a priest because I have encountered God’s love in my lifetime this far and want to evangelize the love of God to all people I meet,” Tran told the Hawaii Catholic Hearld by email. “Living the life of the sacraments and growing close to Christ through the Eucharist is key for me.”
Tran, 41, was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Westminster, the youngest of two children of Minh and Anh-Tuyet Tran. His parents still live in Southern California although he now calls Ewa Beach his home.
He attended St. Michael College Preparatory High School in Silverado, California, run by the Nobertine Fathers. Tran then enrolled in the University of California at Irvine where he studied biology.
He entered the seminary in 2008 for the Diocese of Orange after attending World Youth Day that year in Cologne, Germany. He was 26.
“I believe the seed of the vocation to the priesthood was planted when I first received Holy Communion,” he said. “That year for Father’s Day in school I wrote on my card to my father telling him I wanted to be a priest when I grow up. I became an altar server and was always active around church.”
After high school, Tran “encountered God in a special way, growing ever more close to the Eucharist and wanting to evangelize.”
While attending Mass at his home parish, he heard his pastor’s call for new catechists to teach Confirmation.
“I became a catechist and loved spreading God’s love to young people,” he said. He developed a devotion to St. Don Bosco attracted by the saint’s way of “making a church a place of worship, school, playground and home.”
He decided he would seek the priesthood either as a Salesian, St. Don Bosco’s order, or for the Diocese of Orange, California. He chose the Diocese of Orange.
However, he left the seminary after five years and worked in marketing and also as the youth coordinator at Holy Spirit Church in Fountain Valley, California. During the five years there he earned a master’s in theology from the Augustine Institute.
“While working I continued to listen to God in front of the Blessed Sacrament and decided to further discernment toward the priesthood,” he said. His spiritual director introduced him to Bishop Larry Silva.
After discussion with the bishop and further discernment, he decided to join the Honolulu diocese.
He arrived in Hawaii in December of 2021 and resided at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ewa Beach with the pastor Father Edmundo Barut Jr.
In Hawaii he has a grand-aunt, who, he said, has been a “grandmother figure” to him.
He entered St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, at the third year of theology and is currently finishing his master’s of divinity degree.
Tran describes himself as someone who loves to connect with all people.
“I like to keep things lighthearted, but can also be serious when it calls for it,” he said. “I love to make people laugh.”
He loves basketball, golf, running, swimming, and working out in the gym.
He also likes to cook, “especially Vietnamese food,” he said.
Tran’s road to the priesthood is almost over. His ordination as a priest should come within a year.
“In my journey this far — going back and forth and sideways — God has never abandoned me. The love experienced is so unwavering it is too good not to share. As a child of God, I know I am loved and wanted by him to always strive for holiness and maybe one day to be a saint. All for the glory of God!”
