Note: To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Northwest Catholic reconnected with some of the people whose stories have resonated with readers over the years.

On Dec. 25, 1982, Hien (Henry) Tran and his 9-year-old son Can (Eric) embarked on a dangerous sea voyage, seeking freedom from the communist regime in Vietnam.

Forty years later, in December 2022, Eric Tran returned to Vietnam with his wife Theresa and four sons, ages 7 to 13, on what he called a “roots-finding mission.”

The couple had made an earlier trip back, after they were married, but this time the family explored more of Eric's homeland.

“It is very important for us — our roots, where we come from, our faith,” said Tran, a member of Vietnamese Martyrs Parish in Tukwila.

There are many Vietnamese martyrs, he noted, and “what that tells you is that our faith is very important to us” and “our faith has been challenged a lot over the years.”

The stories of local Catholics who escaped Vietnam, including Tran and his father, were told in the September 2015 issue of Northwest Catholic to mark the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon (“Waves of Hope — Forty years ago, Vietnamese Catholics began heading to sea in search of freedom”).

Eric Tran and his father Henry in 2015. (Photo: Stephen Brashear)

Today, Henry Tran is 79, “doing fantastic,” enjoys being surrounded by his 14 grandchildren (ages 1 to 24), and remains active with Vietnamese Martyrs Parish, Eric Tran said. “My mom (Thoa) and dad are taking care of my nephew who’s 1. … There’s a lot of joy for them,” he added.

Eric is continuing his efforts to keep young people engaged in   their Catholic faith.

“At our (parish), we’re trying really hard to keep them around,” he said. Operating with the slogan, “Come for the fun and stay for the faith,” the parish’s youth group offers activities to “keep them energized, keep them excited, not just about the faith and coming to church (but) being part of the community,” he said.

In early August, Tran led a group of 50 Vietnamese Martyrs pilgrims to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, with a visit to Fatima. (He took a group of 36 to WYD in Australia in 2008, and in 2015 cochaired Vietnamese Youth Convention 5, which drew 2,500 young people here from around the country.)

His family’s recent trip to Vietnam made him think about taking youth from Vietnamese Martyrs on a mission there next year.

During their December trip, the family explored Tran’s history, visiting key sites that included Henry Tran’s birthplace in northern Vietnam, the prison where he was a guard during the war, the graves of Eric’s grandparents and younger brother, and the church Eric attended growing up (the building is bigger today). They also visited an orphanage, which was “a good opportunity for our kids to see how fortunate they are.”

Eric and Theresa are passing their Catholic faith, Vietnamese culture and the importance of family to their sons, who are enrolled in their parish’s language school, faith formation school and the Eucharistic Youth Movement, which Eric describes as the “Vietnamese Catholic version of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.”

“We’re teaching our kids to be courageous, to stand for what we believe,” he said. “We’re here in America, but our roots are in Vietnam. What makes us so rich is our Vietnamese heritage and culture.”

Read more Northwest Catholic 10th anniversary content. To read the complete August/September 2023 issue of Northwest Catholic, click here.