On a leafy block of Jefferson Avenue near downtown Memphis, the brick walls and twin towers of Sacred Heart Church rise above one of the most quietly multicultural Catholic parishes in Tennessee. What began as a single English-speaking congregation has grown into a trilingual community in which Vietnamese is the everyday language of the pews, Spanish shapes the noon Sunday liturgy, and English still finds a home in the weekday schedule. Worshippers arriving for Sunday Mass will hear three different liturgies by early afternoon, eat at the same parish picnic, and send their children to the same set of catechism classrooms - all within a parish that traces its public history back more than a century.
Mass Times Across Three Languages
The rhythm of the week at Sacred Heart Church is built around a daily noon Mass, with Sunday adding the multilingual celebration that draws the largest crowds.
On Sundays the schedule opens with an 8:30 AM Mass in Vietnamese, followed by the principal Vietnamese Mass at 10:00 AM, and a 12:00 PM Mass celebrated in Spanish. The 10:00 AM liturgy is the gathering Mass for the Vietnamese community, and on the second Sunday of each month the parish's bilingual families gather for fellowship afterward. Weekday Mass is celebrated at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, while Saturday brings the vigil Mass at 5:00 PM. On the first Friday of each month, the Sacred Heart League gathers for a 7:00 PM hour of Eucharistic adoration following the noon liturgy, a devotion that has been kept for generations in the parish.
The parish celebrates the major feasts in their fullest form. The feast of the Sacred Heart in mid-June brings an English Mass at noon and a combined Vietnamese-Spanish Mass at 7:00 PM, and the following Sunday is the parish's titular feast day, observed with a morning procession of the Sacred Heart statue and a single multicultural Mass followed by an outdoor picnic on the parish grounds. Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family, and the Solemnity of Mary on New Year's Day are likewise celebrated as multicultural moments in which the Vietnamese, Spanish, and English congregations pray together as one.
Parish TV (TV Giáo Xứ) carries Mass online through the parish's YouTube channel, and a parish archive of recorded Masses, homily reflections, and ministry highlights is available there for those who cannot be present.
A Century on Jefferson Avenue
The cornerstone of Sacred Heart was laid in 1922, and the parish marked its centennial in late September of that year with a weekend of celebrations that brought together former pastors, religious, and generations of families. The parish history, documented in essays by longtime pastoral associate Sister Trudy Foster, in the reflections of former pastor Fr. Simon Thoi Hoang, and in the memoir of longtime parishioner Fr. Raymond Asagdems, is a story of steady immigration and gradual change. Vietnamese Catholics began arriving in significant numbers in the decades after the fall of Vietnam, transforming what had been a largely Anglo parish into a Vietnamese-American community anchored by the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD), the religious order that has supplied several of the parish's pastors. A Spanish-speaking community grew alongside the Vietnamese one, drawn to Memphis from across Latin America and supported by its own lay leaders and ministers.
The parish's mission statement, drawn up in recent revisions of the parish council's charter, names this reality plainly. Sacred Heart is described as a multicultural community determined to build up the Body of Christ together, through active participation in the liturgy and fidelity to the apostolic mission. Through Baptism, the statement continues, every member is sent as a missionary to share the love of Christ with the people around them. The parish church itself - with its broad nave, stained glass, and twin towers visible from Jefferson Avenue - remains the visual anchor of that mission, the building in which three languages are spoken, three choirs sing, and three communities gather as one.
Catechism and Sacramental Preparation
The faith formation of children and adults at Sacred Heart is led by the Ban Giáo Lý, the parish's catechetical office under the direction of David Phúc Ngô. Classes meet on Sunday mornings from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM in the parish hall and adjacent classrooms, organized so that families attending the earlier Vietnamese or Spanish Masses can bring their children directly to religion class afterward.
The program is structured around the sacraments of initiation. Children in the early grades follow a catechumen track that leads to First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion, normally received in the second grade. Older children and teenagers enter a confirmation track that prepares them to receive the sacrament of Confirmation, typically in the freshman or sophomore year of high school. A separate class is offered for adults preparing to enter the Catholic Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), with sessions scheduled around the working week.
Parents preparing for marriage attend a婚前课程 (pre-Cana) program in the weeks before their wedding, and a marriage preparation class for engaged couples meets regularly at the parish. Catechists and assistants gather each summer for workshops led by visiting priests and trainers; in 2019, Fr. Việt Hưng and a master catechist named Thầy Hy traveled to the parish for a multi-day formation that has shaped the curriculum since. Several parish catechists have attended the national Catechism Conference in Houston, Texas, bringing back materials in both English and Vietnamese.
Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể and the Youth of the Parish
The single largest youth organization in the parish is the Đoàn Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể (TNTT), the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, a Catholic action group for young people that follows four guiding mottos: Prayer, Communion, Sacrifice, and Apostolic Work. The Sacred Heart chapter celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a parish-wide observance in 2025, marking two decades of formation for the Vietnamese-American children of Memphis.
The TNTT chapter is led by Đoàn Trưởng Brian Cao and advised by Fr. Thịnh Ngô, SVD, the parochial vicar, who serves as Trợ Úy. Adult assistants help run weekly meetings and accompany the youth on retreats and camps. Members are organized into five branches by age: Chiên Con (ages 4-6), Ấu Nhi (ages 7-9), Thiếu Nhi (ages 10-12), Nghĩa Sĩ (ages 13-15), and Hiệp Sĩ (ages 16 and older). Each branch has its own Ngành Trưởng (branch leader) and a council of officers drawn from among the older youth.
The chapter gathers on Sunday mornings and on selected afternoons throughout the year. The signature events are the Lenten Retreat, the Advent Retreat, the summer Sa Mạc Niềm Tin (Desert of Faith) camp, and the annual birthday celebration of the chapter. Members receive training in leadership through the Tông Đồ Đội Trưởng program and participate in outreach activities such as the Shelby Farm Run and parish fundraisers. The TNTT has its own Facebook presence, where parents and alumni follow the group's activities.
Two Choirs, One Song
Sacred Heart is home to two parish choirs that animate the liturgy in Vietnamese. The Ca Đoàn Thánh Gia (Holy Family Choir) sings for the principal 10:00 AM Vietnamese Mass each Sunday, with rehearsals at 9:00 AM in the church before Mass. The choir is led by Ca Trưởng Dũng Nguyễn, with Ánh Tuyết as vice-leader. Its patron is the Holy Family, and the choir takes the lead in the music for the Feast of the Holy Family in late December.
The Ca Đoàn Cecilia is the children's choir of the parish. Its patroness is St. Cecilia, honored on November 22, and the choir sings at the Vietnamese First Sunday Mass each month. Led by Ca Trưởng Duy Nguyễn, the choir offers a program of formation for young singers, and a yearly graduation marks the transition of older members into the adult Thánh Gia choir. In addition to its liturgical role, the Cecilia choir organizes an annual picnic and a Christmas party for its members and their families.
Both choirs are part of the parish's broader cultural and music ministry (Ban Văn Nghệ), which coordinates performances by the parish's dance groups, organizes cultural programs for the parish feast day and the Lunar New Year, and supports the Marian procession and the May crowning each spring.
Mothers and Men: Two Apostolates
Two long-standing associations give the parish its adult lay backbone. The Hội Các Bà Mẹ Công Giáo (Mothers' Catholic Association) gathers the women of the parish around the spiritual motherhood of Mary and the patronage of St. Monica. The Hội meets on the first Sunday of each month at 8:45 AM in the rectory office, and members gather for the monthly novena and for an annual dedication ceremony at which new members make their promise.
The purpose of the Mothers' Association is described in its own bylaws: through union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Catholic mothers join in a single spirit, a single concern, and a single thought, lifting up common prayer for their children, their families, and the home. The Tổng Hội Các Bà Mẹ Công Giáo, of which the Sacred Heart chapter is a part, draws members together across continents and generations. The Sacred Heart chapter's current officers include Hội Trưởng Hương Nguyễn, with Lan Trần as vice president, Tuyết Trần as secretary, and Trầm Nguyễn as treasurer.
The Đoàn Liên Minh Thánh Tâm (Sacred Heart League) is the men's counterpart to the Mothers' Association, an apostolic Catholic action group for the men of the parish. Its motto is Nước Chúa Trị Đến (Thy Kingdom Come), and the league gathers on the first Sunday of each month at 8:45 AM in the rectory, followed by attendance at the noon First Friday Mass and a 7:00 PM hour of Eucharistic adoration. Members commit to daily offering of their day, frequent Mass and Communion of reparation, family consecration to the Sacred Heart, monthly retreats and recollections, and regular meetings. The Sacred Heart League works to bring the Christian spirit into the social, economic, cultural, and political spheres of daily life, and to support charitable works where they are needed.
Marriage Renewal at Sacred Heart
For couples seeking to renew or deepen their marriage, the parish runs the Chương Trình Thăng Tiến Hôn Nhân Gia Đình (Marriage Enrichment Program), a multi-weekend program aimed at couples in every stage of married life - newlyweds building a foundation, long-married couples seeking renewal, and those working through difficulties. The program's method is grounded in incarnational love: couples are invited to express love through concrete daily acts, to practice humility that recognizes, confesses, and forgives faults, and to develop the firm will to change what can be changed in their shared life.
The program describes its goals in four movements. Couples grow in personal holiness by experiencing the presence of Christ as King, Father, and Friend in every breath and every deed. Couples grow in mutual understanding through acts of love that make the heart new and the spirit firm. Couples grow in educational method, finding that changed parents bring out changed children without the need for harsh words. And couples grow as a couple-apostolate, learning to serve side by side as a sign of Christ's love to others. Weekends are held periodically throughout the year; recent weekends have been numbered in the 800s and 900s, and the parish regularly welcomes couples from across the diocese and beyond.
Vietnamese Language and Culture in Summer
Each June and July, Sacred Heart opens its summer Vietnamese language program (Lớp Việt Ngữ Mùa Hè), a six-week course designed for the children and grandchildren of the parish to learn Vietnamese language, Vietnamese culture, and elements of the Catholic faith. Classes meet on weekday mornings during the summer, and registration is open to all children in the parish regardless of prior language background.
The teachers for the summer program are religious sisters and seminarians from Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa. For the past several summers, these student-teachers have traveled to Memphis to lead the classes, bringing their own formation in the Vietnamese Catholic tradition and the SVD missionary charism. The program has been a particular point of pride for the parish, a way of ensuring that the second and third generation grow up familiar with the language, the stories, and the prayers of their parents and grandparents. The annual summer picnic brings the students, parents, and teachers together at the close of the program.
The Pastoral Team
Sacred Heart is served by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). The pastor is Fr. Anthony Công Nguyễn, SVD, a Divine Word Missionary who came to the parish in 2026 after more than a decade of ministry in the United States and earlier service in Mozambique and Botswana. Fr. Anthony grew up in Đông Lạc, a village near Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, and was reunited with his father and brothers in New Orleans in 1992. He studied philosophy at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa, and theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, was ordained in 2008, and served as a vocation director for the SVD before his assignment to Memphis.
The parochial vicar is Fr. Thịnh Ngô, SVD, who has served at the parish since 2023. He was born in 1987 and ordained to the priesthood in 2020. In addition to his liturgical duties, Fr. Thịnh serves as the Trợ Úy, the spiritual advisor of the TNTT youth chapter.
The parish council is led by Chủ Tịch Lê Mạnh, with Hoàng Bảo as Internal Vice President, Trần Lương as External Vice President, Nguyễn Hương as Secretary, and Nguyễn Michael as Treasurer. The parish also draws on a large number of ministry leaders, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, ushers, decorators, and musicians, whose names are listed in the parish directory and recognized each year at the parish feast.
Visiting Sacred Heart Church
Sacred Heart Church is located at 1324 Jefferson Avenue in midtown Memphis, a short drive from Overton Park and the Cooper-Young district and easily reached from anywhere in the metropolitan area. The parish office is open Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM and is closed on Mondays and weekends; visitors are encouraged to call ahead during office hours if they need to meet with a priest or arrange a sacramental record.
First-time visitors are warmly welcomed at any of the regular liturgies. The Sunday 10:00 AM Vietnamese Mass is the gathering liturgy of the parish, while the 12:00 PM Sunday Mass is the gathering liturgy of the Spanish-speaking community; both are preceded by an hour or more of gathering in the church parking lot and the parish hall. Weekday noon Mass is a quiet, smaller liturgy that gives a different sense of the parish's daily life. Eucharistic adoration is offered on the first Friday of each month at 7:00 PM, and the sacrament is celebrated in all three languages throughout the year. Reconciliation is offered by appointment and at seasonal penance services during Advent and Lent.
For couples planning a wedding, families arranging a funeral, or those seeking information about baptism, first Communion, confirmation, or adult initiation, the parish office is the place to begin. Registration forms for the parish, the catechetical program, the TNTT, the choirs, the cultural programs, and the marriage enrichment weekends are all available through the parish office and online.
Sacred Heart welcomes visitors of every background. The pastor and pastoral staff invite anyone who has been thinking about faith, about returning to the practice of faith, or simply about finding a spiritual home in Memphis, to come to a Mass, attend one of the parish's many social and cultural events, or stop by during office hours to introduce themselves. As the parish's centennial prayer puts it, the Sacred Heart of Jesus unites us under His love, that we may serve Him for a hundred more.