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Name: Thi Van Hoang
Date of Birth: January 02, 1977
Hobbies and interests: reading, watching movies, soccer and ping pong, making jokes
Favorite saint: St. John Vianney
I was born in Hai Duong, North Vietnam. I have two brothers and three sisters. My parents and siblings are farmers. They are all Catholics and very active in the local parish.
I started my primary school at the age of six. I went to school six hours a day and the rest of the daytime I helped my parents on the farm. My main work was to feed a water buffalo. I would also go to church and took part in parish activities such as being an altar sever, the children’s choir and CCD in the summer. I lived with my parents until the age of 16 when I decided to leave my home and stay in the rectory with the pastor. I went to high school half a day and the rest of the day I helped the pastor minister in the parish.
After high school graduation in 1996, I felt that God was calling me to study for the priesthood. I applied to my diocese of Hai Phong and was accepted into a preparatory group. Some months later, the bishop sent me to Saigon (South Vietnam) to continue my university studies. I lived there from 1996 to 2003, staying in a formation house. I attended two universities. One was the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, majoring in French linguistics and literature; and the other was the Ho Chi Minh Open University, majoring in English.
After graduation in 2001, I found a job at the Vietnam News Agency. I was working there as a reporter for a French newspaper called “Le Courrier du Vietnam.” In 2003, in response to the bishop’s gathering, I left my job and returned to the diocese. I was assigned to work in my home parish for about one year before moving to work in the chancery in 2004. My job at the chancery was as secretary assistant, Eucharist minister, and English teacher. I was working there until August 2006 when I was sent to Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon to study for the Diocese of Oakland. I was there for two years to study philosophy and then in September 2008 I transferred to St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park to continue my theology formation to become a priest.