In 150th year, SVD accepts a former ice-cream vendor as member

An ice cream vendor on the streets of Bangkok is set to take the first vows in the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) on July 26 in Tagaytay, Philippines.

Thong Phan, a Vietnamese undocumented migrant worker, came to Thailand as a 17-year-old dropout after completing only the 8th grade, says Divine Word Father Anthony Le Duc, a Vietnamese by birth and missionary in Thailand. He is the executive director at the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication, St. John's University, Thailand. The priest knew Thong from his ice-cream vending days.  

While working on the streets of Bangkok, Thong came to feel the call to missionary religious life. With not even school education, no religious congregation would accept him.

Thinh was undeterred. At 22, he went back to his home city, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, spending the next four years completing his general education certificate.

At the age of 27, he managed to get his high school diploma and was ready to join a seminary. Through a series of events, he ended up being accepted to the SVD Australia Province. The formation years started. Now, having completed his postulancy in Thailand and novitiate in the Philippines, Thong is set to profess his first vows on July 26, 2025, in Tagaytay, Philippines. What lends the story more color is the fact that taking the vows alongside him is another migrant worker of Thailand, Hung Nguyen, whom Thong had met and befriended back in Bangkok.

“Thong and Hung are examples of what I call ‘migrant missionary discipleship’—the Christian vocation to be missionary disciples no matter what state of life one is in, even as migrant workers in a foreign land,” says Father Le Duc.

“Migrant workers can evangelize in their everyday life, and sometimes, they may even contribute to the church by joining religious life. Let's pray for them as they prepare themselves for this momentous event in their lives.”

Along with eight other novices, Thong and Hung will be accepted as official members of the SVDs.

In 1875, St. Arnold Janssen founded the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men.  As of 2020, it has as many as 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, including in Asia. This year, it is celebrating 150 years of its existence.