On Sunday, August 18, at the 10:00 a.m. Mass, The Most Reverend David E. Fellhauer will officially install Fr. Tommy Chen as pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf and Her Missions of St. Ann, St. Joseph and St. Patrick.

Fr. Tommy was born in Taiwan in 1978. He and his family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old because of his father’s job at Formosa Plastics in Point Comfort. The Chen family became members of St. Ann’s Church in Point Comfort.

Fr. Tommy graduated from Calhoun High School in 1994 and then obtained a degree in Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in 2000. Fr. Tommy entered the seminary for the Diocese of Victoria in the Fall of 2001. For two years, he studied philosophy at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas and then transferred to St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston to complete his graduate theology degree. During his seminary formation, Fr. Tommy spent one year in internship at St. Philip Church in El Campo. After being ordained a deacon in 2007, he served his diaconal ministry at Holy Family Church and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Wharton.

Fr. Tommy was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Victoria on June 21, 2008 in Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. His first assignment as parochial vicar was to Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Shiner where he served for two years. He was then transferred to Sacred Heart Chruch in Hallettsville and its three missions where he served for three years before coming to be pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf and Her three missions.

As a hobby, Fr. Tommy enjoys raising chickens, birds, and guinea pigs!