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.
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
Operations Manager / Facilities Manager of Parish and School Buildings
Reyers Brusoe
Music Director
Reyers Brusoe, MM PhD (in progress), was born to the beat of a drum. His love for piano began at age five when he started lessons with Alice Kurkjian at the Music Studio in Albany, NY. Over the past 20 years Reyers has deepened his love for music by studying many different instruments and styles including piano, saxophone, jazz, and organ.
He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, NY) in 2019. While at Roberts, Reyers honed his skills as a pianist, organist, saxophonist, composer and collaborative pianist, and developed his passion for music history and pedagogy. His main teachers included Dr. Michael Landrum & Joseph Werner (piano), Mike Van Allen (jazz), Myles Boothroyd (saxophone) and Drs. Diane Maynard and Bruce Frank (organ).
In 2021, Reyers completed his master’s degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Southern Maine, where he studied with Dr. Laura Kargul (piano) and Christine Kissack (pedagogy). His master’s studies culminated in a thesis lecture recital of all-Armenian piano music to raise awareness about the War in Artsakh and commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
During the summer of 2021, Reyers worked as an intern and fieldworker for the New York Folklore Society (NYFL). Under the supervision of NYFL director Dr. Ellen McHale, Reyers identified and worked with various tradition bearers throughout the Upstate Region. As a part of his internship, Reyers contributed two publications to NYFL including an article on iconography for the journal Voices, published in the summer of 2022.
Reyers is currently a second year PhD student in the ethnomusicology/musicology program at the University of Kentucky, where he teaches introduction to music and jazz history courses. His research interests include jazz, pedagogy, the music of Armenia, film music, and the music & hymnography of the Christian East. Reyers’ dissertation will be on the Catholic jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams. In addition to his studies, Reyers also performs in the UK Gamelan Angklung Langen Kerti (Follow Your Bliss) and the Korean percussion ensemble under the direction of his advisor, Dr. Donna Kwon.
Outside of his academic activities, Reyers has served as a church organist, pianist, choir director and chanter for various churches in Upstate NY, Southern Maine, and Kentucky. From 2017-2019 he served as choir director and organist for the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Gates, NY. In Lexington, Reyers volunteers as a singer and chanter for St. Andrew Orthodox Church. While home in NY, Reyers serves as a singer and altar server for St. Basil’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Utica, NY.
In his spare time, Reyers enjoys volunteering as an adult leader with the local Boy Scout Troop in Esperance, NY, as well as blacksmithing, hiking, swimming, and reading. Reyers is also an Eagle Scout (2013), and a Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow.