[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 88 (Friday, May 23, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING REVEREND CHAU JOSEPH NGUYEN FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO CENTRAL 
    FLORIDA DURING ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 23, 2025

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, Reverend Chau Joseph Nguyen and his family 
came to the United States as refugees after the fall of Saigon, 
Vietnam, on April 30, 1975, and settled in Arlington, Texas. He earned 
his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at Divine Word College Seminary in 
Epworth, Iowa, and completed his Master of Divinity at the University 
of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.
  On December 2, 1989, he was ordained a Catholic priest for the 
Diocese of Orlando. Reverend Nguyen was first assigned to the 
Vietnamese Catholic Community at St. Charles Borromeo Church in 
Orlando, Florida In 2003, he became and remains the founding pastor of 
St. Philip Phan Van Minh Church, a national parish for Vietnamese 
American Catholics in Orlando. Being its leader, he has been organizing 
and actively involved with many faith celebrations and cultural 
activities for the Vietnamese American and Asian communities in Central 
Florida. Most notable are the parish's annual Lunar New Year festivals, 
which have been held for the last 32 years. Initially hosted at the 
church, they were later relocated to the Central Florida Fairgrounds 
due to their widespread and enthusiastic attendance. This event 
attracts over 10,000 people annually to celebrate the Lunar New Year 
and showcase Vietnamese culture and customs. The other notable 
achievement is the growth of the parish's Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth 
Movement chapter, whose national organization has been recognized by 
the USCCB in recent years.
  In October 2019, Reverend Nguyen was elected the president of the 
Federation of Vietnamese Catholics in the United States, which consists 
of more than 1,000 priests, 700 religious men and women, 175 permanent 
deacons, and over 700,000 Vietnamese American Catholics. He was elected 
to a second term in 2024 with overwhelming support and ongoing active 
endeavors.