“We have one common mission. A mission of evangelization."
Jacqueline Marie | February 20 2026
Father Martin Vu was still in the seminary when he first picked up Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission. At the time, it stirred something in him. He didn’t just want to maintain a parish someday—he wanted to see people encounter Jesus personally and come alive in their faith.
As a parochial vicar (assistant priest), he began experimenting with renewal in small but intentional ways—forming leadership with Spanish-speaking parishioners, focusing on evangelization, and participating in group coaching.
When he was appointed Administrator of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Placentia in July 2024, that vision moved from theory to reality.
When Father Martin first arrived, average Sunday Mass attendance was around 2,100. (Today, it is closer to 2,500). On the surface, St. Joseph appeared stable and even strong. But the parish had just endured a season of deep disruption.
Before his arrival, the longtime pastor had gone on leave and did not return. A key staff member who had overseen much of parish life for over a decade had been let go by the diocese.
There was confusion, grief, and a sense of instability among parishioners and staff alike.
“I walked into a community that had been through a lot,” Father Martin reflects. “People were hurting. And they were asking very reasonable questions about the future.”
Then, within his first month, another unexpected challenge arose: the City of Placentia closed the church building due to a lapsed deadline related to fire sprinklers. Although earlier renovations had been approved, additional work was required to comply with updated requirements. The parish had to move all worship into the parish hall for five to six months and raise over $200,000 for necessary improvements and revitalization.
“As a brand-new administrator still learning names, I was asking people to trust me in the middle of enormous change,” he says. “It felt like a perfect storm. At times, it was overwhelming.”
“It felt like a perfect storm. At times, it was overwhelming.”
And yet, grace was unmistakably at work.
The parish responded with extraordinary generosity, raising more than what was needed. “It felt like a mini miracle,” Father Martin says. Even more providential, the renovations were completed just in time for the community to return to the church for Christmas Eve Mass 2024.
“That moment meant a lot,” he says. “Not because it proved anything about me—but because it showed that God was faithful. It gave people confidence that we could move forward together, with the Lord leading us.”
During that season, Father Martin formed a leadership team and began meeting weekly. He read Divine Renovation with staff and parish councils, opening space for honest and sometimes difficult conversations.
Those meetings surfaced frustration, grief, and lingering wounds from the earlier transitions.
There was also real resistance. The language of culture change, evangelization, and mission felt unsettling to some who had served faithfully for years under a different model.
“These were hard meetings,” he admits. “I often dreaded them. Some felt I was pushing an agenda. Others felt threatened by change. Some felt I was moving too fast. But underneath it all, there was pain—and that had to be acknowledged.”
“Alpha has brought councils, staff, leaders, volunteers—everyone—into one shared purpose.”
A staff healing retreat, focused on prayer and reconciliation, became an important step forward. There were also necessary transitions within the team.
Slowly—through time, prayer, and many difficult conversations—the culture began to shift.
“Thanks be to God, we are in a healthier place now,” he says. “There’s a gradual but real shift—more unity, more clarity, more shared mission.”
Part of that shift came through deeper formation and shared experience. At a leadership summit for staff, ministry heads, and key leaders, Father Martin dedicated an entire day to a simple but foundational question: What is Divine Renovation?
He walked through the three keys—renewal by the Holy Spirit, the best of leadership, and the primacy of evangelization—and concluded by casting vision for Alpha.
“I knew we couldn’t just adjust programs,” he says. “We needed clarity about who we are and why we exist.”
Even then, not everyone was fully convinced. But something began to move.
“The real turning point,” Father Martin reflects, “was when I invited members of our leadership team to attend the ‘Made for Mission’ event and the Alpha Conference in Tennessee. That became a moment of alignment for us.”
Seeing other parishes living missionally—and experiencing Alpha themselves—shifted the conversation. It was no longer a book study or a theory. It became concrete. “When my leadership team caught the vision, it started to flow into the staff,” he says.
Instead of launching parish-wide immediately, they began with four smaller “soft launches” of Alpha—for teen Confirmation, adult Confirmation, OCIA participants, and staff and core ministry leaders. Those early experiences were critical.
“Now it wasn’t abstract,” Father Martin explains. “People experienced what happens around a table. They saw lives opening up, and that created momentum.”
With leaders aligned and momentum building, the parish was ready to take the next step.
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That vision took concrete shape during Advent.
On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Father Martin began what he calls an “on-ramp” toward Alpha. At Mass, he cast vision and showed an Alpha video, encouraging parishioners to personally invite friends and family.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the invitation continued. Another video introduced the new Alpha series, and at the end of every Mass, the parish gifted each attendee a New Testament Bible with a QR code to register for Alpha.
On the Feast of the Holy Family, Alpha was promoted again for those who had not received a Bible at Christmas. Then, on the Feast of the Epiphany, parishioners shared testimonies at Mass about their own experiences of Alpha—making the invitation personal and real.
More than 270 people registered, and Alpha officially launched on Wednesday, January 7, 2025. On opening night, over 300 people filled the parish hall. Thirty-four tables were set up. Volunteers scrambled for chairs. Hosts, helpers, and cooks stepped forward.
“It was a five-loaves-and-two-fish situation,” Father Martin says. “We offered what we had—and the Lord multiplied it.”
What moved him most were the unfamiliar faces: young adults, families, people with little or no prior connection to the parish.
Stories began unfolding almost immediately:
• A newcomer connected with the OCIA coordinator and is now preparing to enter the Church.
• A man who had left the Catholic Church accepted a friend’s invitation and returned.
• A young man brought family members who had fallen away—and weeks later, they were still attending together.
• A young woman who first came on Christmas Eve heard the Alpha invitation, received the gifted Bible, registered herself, and invited friends. They are now all participating.
But perhaps the greatest fruit has been unity.
“For the first time since I’ve been here, it feels like we are beginning to row in the same direction,” he says. “Alpha has brought councils, staff, leaders, volunteers—everyone—into one shared purpose.”
Resources are aligned. Silos are breaking down. Conversations are more hopeful.
Now, he says, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish, “We have one common mission. A mission of evangelization.”
There is a growing conviction that St. Joseph is not simply meant to maintain what exists—but to reach those who feel far from God.
Looking back on his first year and a half—the turmoil, the temporary closure, the rebuilding, the resistance, the healing—Father Martin sees providence.
“God was already moving,” he says. “We just had to trust Him enough to follow.”
At St. Joseph in Placentia, the journey of renewal, from maintenance to mission, is only just beginning.
