Reverend Peter Tran

Reverend Peter Tran

December 28, 1941– July 20, 2026

Ordained May 29, 1973

Father Peter Tran, a priest of the Diocese of Richmond for more than fifty years and a beloved priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish family in Newport News for 30 years, died on July 20, 2026 after a Parkinson’s diagnosis several years ago.

Father Peter was born in Vietnam and, following a strong Catholic family tradition that included two priest uncles, two priest cousins, and two women religious among his relatives. Entering the seminary at age 7, immediately after his First Communion and Confirmation, he spent nineteen years in seminary formation and theological study before his ordination to the priesthood on May 29, 1973, by Archbishop Philippe Nguyen Kim of Hue, who was later placed under house arrest by the Communist government for his defense of the Catholic Church.

Ordained only a short time before the fall of Vietnam, Father Peter was among the priests instructed to accompany fleeing Vietnamese Catholics lest they be deprived of the Sacraments on their way. He escaped by American ship to Guam and made his first home in the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he began the difficult work of learning a new language and culture while holding fast to his Vietnamese heritage and his priesthood.

In 1985, Father Peter came to the Diocese of Richmond. He served at Holy Cross Parish in Lynchburg from 1989 to 1992 and at Saint Andrew Parish in Roanoke from 1992 to 1996. In 1996 he was assigned to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News, where he ministered as parochial vicar until 2011 and continued to reside and serve in retirement — more than half of his priesthood spent among the people of OLMC. He was one of the earliest priests to minister to the Vietnamese Catholic community of Hampton Roads.

Parishioners and staff remembered Father Peter as a man of constant, quiet prayer, one who remembered the names of their children and grandchildren and prayed for them by name. He was known throughout the diocese for his gentle counsel and for a simple blessing he repeated to all who knew him: be healthy, happy, and holy.

Father Peter often said that whatever time remained to him mattered less than remaining close to Christ: one year or two, it did not matter, for God could call him home at any time, so long as he stayed with Jesus. He lived that conviction to the end, and the Church he served for over five decades now commends him to the God he loved.

A time of vigil and prayer will be held in the presence of Father Peter’s body at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church on Monday, 27 July 2026, from 12-5pm for private prayer of the faithful. His Funeral Mass will be on Monday, 27 July 2026, at 6pm with His Excellency Barry C. Knestout presiding. He will be interred in Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s columbarium at a later date in private.

The parish requests please, no flowers. Memorial gifts may be made to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, labeled “Father Peter Memorial Fund”. Memorial gifts may be made online at olmc.org/give.

Arrangements are by Berceuse Funeral and Cremation Traditions in Hampton, 757-825-8070.