ROCKPORT, Texas — For Father Tung Tran, rebuilding is not just something he preaches about. It has defined his life.
As a child, Tran fled Vietnam after the war, escaping by boat in a dangerous journey across the sea. Decades later, he would serve as a U.S. Navy chaplain, ministering to service members around the world. Today, he leads a Catholic parish in Rockport that itself has risen from devastation after Hurricane Harvey.
“Be strong. Be courageous. Be selfless. Be genuine. Be true,” Tran said. “We are made to be good, to do good.”
That message now echoes inside St. Peter Catholic Church in Rockport, where sunlight pours through stained glass windows that were once shattered when Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017.
The storm left the original church heavily damaged, forcing the predominantly Vietnamese Catholic community to worship wherever space could be found. Parishioners gathered under tents, inside a warehouse and even in a former gymnasium while rebuilding efforts slowly moved forward.
Now, nearly a decade later, the parish finally has a permanent home again, a rebuilt church located about a quarter mile down Farm-to-Market Road 1781. Inside, restored stained glass and images of Jesus reflect a space that community members describe as both familiar and new.
A SONG OF SURVIVAL AND FAITH
During services, hymns are sung in Vietnamese and English, reflecting the parish’s roots and its present-day identity. The bilingual worship, Tran said, is essential to serving a congregation shaped by immigration and generational change.
“If I spoke only Vietnamese, I would lose half the people,” he said. “If I spoke only English, many others wouldn’t understand.”
The parish itself is closely tied to a shared history of displacement. Many members trace their families back to Vietnam’s coastal regions and arrived in the United States as refugees after the war.
Tran himself came to the United States by boat as a child, part of the wave of “boat people” who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He described a perilous journey at sea marked by hunger, fear and loss.
“We were robbed seven times,” he said. “Women were violated. And then three people on that boat never made it.”
Despite the trauma, Tran said the experience shaped his sense of purpose.
“I belong to the sea,” he said. “I was a boat person. So I volunteered and served in the Navy as a way to repay back.”
SERVICE FAR FROM HOME
Tran went on to serve as a U.S. Navy chaplain, ministering to service members across multiple deployments and assignments. He said his role extended beyond religious services, often focusing on morale, counseling and crisis intervention.
“There’s a need to shepherd, to care for people spiritually,” he said. “In the military, that includes morale, readiness, family readiness. Everyone has spiritual needs.”
He recalled moments of intense responsibility, including responding to sailors and Marines in crisis.
“I took part in preventing a Marine who was suicidal,” he said, describing one instance in which he was called to intervene before a potential tragedy. In another case, he said, a sailor struggling with mental health concerns required urgent support before deployment.
Tran also conducted services in unconventional settings, aboard ships, in dining halls, in the field and overseas. His ministry took him across the world, including deployments in the Pacific, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.
A COMMUNITY REBUILT
Back in Rockport, Tran’s story now intersects with a parish still healing from Hurricane Harvey’s destruction.
When the storm hit in 2017, it caused widespread damage across the Texas Gulf Coast, including severe impact to St. Peter’s original church. Parishioners describe shattered stained glass, structural damage and debris scattered throughout the grounds, including boats pushed inland by storm surge.
Recovery was slow and communal. Members of the parish helped clear debris and organized outdoor Masses while temporary worship sites were arranged.
The rebuilding process stretched on for years, but today the parish has returned to a permanent space filled with restored symbols of faith. Tran said the resilience of the community mirrors the message he has carried throughout his life.
“We leave success and failure up to God,” he said. “We do our part in taking care of people.”
ROOTED IN IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE
The parish is also a reflection of Vietnamese American identity in the Coastal Bend, where many families share common origins and histories of migration. Tran said that shared background has helped bind the community together.
“We were neighbors in Vietnam,” he said of many parishioners. “People came from the same places, and they followed their spiritual leaders here.”
That connection, he said, has helped sustain the parish through both cultural transition and natural disaster.
“Be not afraid,” Tran said, echoing a message he delivered during Mass. “We are made to be good, to do good.”
FROM SURVIVAL TO PURPOSE
For Tran, the arc from refugee child to Navy chaplain to parish leader is defined by one recurring theme: rebuilding.
Whether at sea fleeing the aftermath of war, in uniform serving troops or in a small Texas town restoring a church after a hurricane, he said the mission remains the same.
“Wherever you are, that’s the best place to be,” he said. “Because that’s where you are called to do good.”
The rebuilt St. Peter Catholic Church now stands as both a spiritual home and a symbol of endurance, for a community, and for the man who leads it.
More Veterans In Focus stories are available here, along with resources for local veterans.
Contact Veterans In Focus reporter Michelle Hofmann at michelle.lorenzo@kristv.com
