Father Nguyen’s parents and their eight children were an aristocratic family in Vietnam. In 1975, his Father and Mother were sent to prison as prisoners of war. All material goods they had, including their home, were taken by the communist government. The eight children, the oldest being 13 while Father Linh was 6, learned to live off the land for months at a time. Once his parents were released, the family attempted to escape from Vietnam. Father Linh, his sisters and father made it to a refugee camp in Malaysia and then came to the United States. The entire family was reunited in 1987 in the United States.
Father Linh graduated from Holmes High School in Covington, Kentucky and then University of Kentucky. In 1993, Father Linh entered the seminary and studied in Indiana and Chicago with a degree in Music, Theology, Philosophy and Communications.
Father Linh presided over Sts. Peter and Paul in Danville, Ky from 2002 to 2007. He began his
tenure at Sts. Francis and John in August 2007.
Rev. Mr. John Calandrella
Deacon
Being life-long Catholics and married for 29 years, Deacon John and his wife, Claudia Calandrella, have put the Church first in their life.
“Our family responsibilities have been such that we can put the Church first. This is not the norm for Deacon families, but it has worked for us,” said Claudia. And with their Church involvement list bordering on incredible, they speak the truth of putting Church responsibilities first.
Deacon John, ordained in 1995, has his B.A. and M.A. from Boston University and an M.A. in Pastoral Sciences from Lexington Theological Seminary. He speaks French, Spanish and Italian. He serves as Ex-officio Committee member of every committee in the Parish. He can be seen all around the church most nights of the week. He has also been involved with the Diocesan Deacon Council and Diocesan Stewardship Committee.
“From a Deacon’s point of view, the real fruit of being a Deacon is seeing and enjoying the love shown to each other.”
Claudia, a retired middle school math teacher of 36 years, has been involved in almost every ministry including RCIA, CCD, CWSO, Baptism prep, Marriage prep, Marriage Tribunal, Summer Vacation Bible School, the Spanish community and all liturgical positions.
“Except server, I guess I have never been server at this parish,” she laughs. “But, I’ve done it all, in English and in Spanish.”
They work side by side in many ministries but their favorite is the Eucharistic Ministry to the homebound and sick.
“You learn so much from the people,” said Claudia. “They are so appreciative of you. We become very attached to them.”
With all the high hopes and plans for the future of our parish, Deacon John has a hope of his own.
“My hope for the last 12 years of serving as this parish’s Deacon,” says Deacon John, “has been that someone from the parish steps up and becomes the Deacon of the future at Saints Francis and John.”
I'm an only child and I was born to Paul & Marihelen ("Mike") Olson in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1953 and attended St. Paul Cathedral Grade School until dad's engineering division was transferred to Lexington in 1964. The following year, our family was moved to Hannover, Germany for a year to acclimate my father to a new position as Director of Engineering Worldwide for Westinghouse Air Brake. While there, I attended a private German middle school and toured most of Western Europe every chance we got. During this period, I started sketching the places we visited, which formed the basis of my career in illustration and graphic arts.
I'm a graduate of Lexington Catholic and the University of Kentucky with a degree in Journalism/Advertising. Since music was a huge part of my childhood and adult life (my dad was a jazz pianist), I've played both drums and piano most of my life in a variety of bands and pick-up bands. I was pianist/organist for St. Peter Claver's mass choir, men's choir and youth choir (all of which were full-on gospel) for 12 years. And it was there that I met my wife of 12 years, Cindy, the 8th of 15 children. After we married, I entered diaconal formation and was ordained along with 21 other men on June 7, 2008.
Cindy and I do things in threes, it seems, because we have 3 children, 3 grandchildren and 3 dogs.
Most of my career has been spent in ad agencies, art departments or publishing. I currently incorporate all three of those disciplines (there we go with 3's again) in my current position in the Communications Dept. at the Diocese of Lexington Catholic Center. Cindy is a licensed electrician who is the top-selling account exec at Kentucky Lighting & Supply in Lexington.
With great enthusiasm, I would like introduce myself to you, my name is Katharine Coleman. I have been teaching at St. John school for the last three years and recently felt called to serve the young people of Ss. Francis and John and Good Shepherd. While attending Catholic Heart Workcamp last summer, I experienced the enthusiasm and excitement of our youth. I hope to help guide them to continue to serve and discover their faith.
My hope, as I take on the role of Coordinator of Youth Ministry, is that we can come together as a community. With your support and participation we can continue to grow our youth programs and in turn our church community. I look forward to getting to know you and working with you on this very important venture. To make youth ministry a success, I will need your help and ideas, please contact me via e-mail and let me know how you can help. Please pray for our youth and encourage them to get involved!
Jennifer Noffsinger
School Administrative Assistant
Jennifer and her family moved to Georgetown and joined Ss. Francis and John Parish in 2006. "We moved here due to my husband’s job. I have been married to my husband Jason for over 12 years and we have two wonderful children, Jacob -10 and Olivia- 6. Both kids started attending St. Johns when they were in preschool. I have been very active in our school and parish over the years. I have worked with the after school program for a little over 2 years and am very excited to move into this new position. I feel blessed to be given this opportunity to work with so many wonderful families at St. John school."
Teri Ward
Parish Administrative Assistant