SURREY, B.C. (CCN) — This year’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees felt particularly personal for Father Tien Tran, the principal celebrant at a Mass and celebration at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Surrey.
“This feast is very dear to me,” he told the international crowd, “because I myself am a refugee. I came to Canada as a boat person in 1980, escaping from Vietnam, a communist country.”
Father Tran shared the story of leaving his homeland at just 18, separated from his family of 10. After spending five days at sea, he arrived at a refugee camp in Indonesia, where he stayed for six months before being accepted by Canada along with his aunt. “For the first few years, life was very difficult as a refugee and as a teenager,” he said. He fell away from his faith.
Eventually, God led him back to the seminary. As a child, he had attended a minor seminary until the Communist government forced the school to close. After years of drifting, he found his way to the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission and later to St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ontario. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 1993 and is now archdiocesan director of liturgy.
“Truly, it is because of migrants and refugees that the Church in Vancouver is surviving, thriving, active, and strong,” Father Tran said. He encouraged those still uncertain about their future in Canada to stay connected to parish communities, trust God, and remember that “everything will fall into place.”
The event was a celebration of faith, community, and culture, creating a visible expression of the Church’s universality. Music, readings, and prayer petitions were offered in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Igbo — a major language in Nigeria — German, and Tagalog.
After Mass, the gathering moved to the gym for a multicultural buffet and performances by Polish dancers, a Filipino choir, and an Indigenous drummer, among others, performed.
The festivities were part of the international World Day of Migrants and Refugees, celebrated this year on Oct. 4 and 5. The event coincided with celebrations in Rome, where Pope Leo XIV presided over two days of Jubilee-year festivities.
In his homily, OLGC’s pastor, Father John Baptist Barnabas, SDB, emphasized that migration is not foreign to the Christian faith but central to it. From Abraham leaving his homeland to the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, Scripture reveals God’s people in motion. To walk with migrants, he said, is to walk with Christ, who himself experienced displacement.
Migrants are often viewed only as victims of war, persecution, and poverty, he said, yet the Church calls them “missionaries of hope,” he said, as the courage to leave everything behind becomes a testimony to faith and resilience.
In addition, and families who continue to pray, work, and persevere despite hardship give witness to God’s presence and remind the wider Church that the human heart longs for dignity, freedom, and peace, he said. They also enrich parishes and societies with their traditions, culture, and devotion, making churches more vibrant and alive.
Father Barnabas linked the day’s Gospel, with the Apostles pleading “Lord, increase our faith,” directly to the cry of migrants. Yet even a mustard seed of faith is enough to sustain a mother enduring loneliness, a father separated from his children, or young people rejected in a new land, he said. Their faith has the power to transform despair into hope.
He called on parish communities to welcome migrants with humility and solidarity, treating hospitality not as a charitable extra but a Gospel duty. By welcoming the stranger, Christians welcome Christ himself, and together help build a culture where no one is excluded.
