Father Vien Nguyen, pastor, Mary Queen of Vietnam Church

Photo by Tracie Morris Schaefer

Father Vien Nguyen has taken on opponents as formidable as the biblical Goliath in leading his eastern New Orleans parishioners' fight to keep their neighborhood environmentally sound. Those opponents included Mayor Ray Nagin, FEMA, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Waste Management Inc. -- all proponents of a large landfill near the Vietnamese-American community that Nguyen serves.

Instead of a slingshot, Nguyen used the press and lawyers to battle the landfill.

While he has become a media star, Nguyen says the past year has been one of simply tending to his flock -- helping people with life's basic necessities. "If we are able to help and we don't do it, then we have failed," Nguyen says.

When FEMA reneged on a deal that Nguyen negotiated to provide trailers for his parishioners on church property, the pastor told his story in Gambit Weekly. Within days, FEMA found a trailer in the church lot for an elderly parishioner.

These experiences taught Nguyen that tending his flock sometimes means speaking out. "My people want to return, and sometimes their individual voices aren't heard, so we have to create this collective voice."

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