Newly ordained Fr. Anton Quang Dinh Van must have thought Ms. Carol Sowa of Today's Catholic just another brainless bimbo.



If so, too bad!

'Cause it just might be that he figured wrong!

At least in the article she published on him in the September 17, 2004 issue, it seems she got a hold of some basic combat intelligence.

'Way wrong...:)

Ms. Sowa appears to have managed to wade through Father Q.'s usual misleading drivel, the stuff so many of us have listened to, stuff along the lines of "¡Je! ¡Manos! Holy Brothah' the Church! She all the time be a say-a!," etc. and ruthlessly cut to the bone to unearth the bare facts -- at least as she understood them.

Including -- among many others -- this bomb shell:

"[H]e initially studied at Khiet Tam High School Seminary, but eventually had to abandon his studies in order to help his family in the rice fields."

Oh, my!

How sad and wistful!

After all, anyone familiar with the vast Asian hinterland knows what this "looks like!"

A bunch of hard working rural people "poor but proud," working from "Can see to can't see" in back - breaking "stoop labor."

Now, the following info:

From our 2007 St. Mary Magdalene's / Archdiocesan calendar:

"NOTES: [Wed.] 7/4/07. Fr. Q says he left Vietnam in 1980, at age 24!"

(Noon Mass, 7 present)

"NOTES: [Thu] 7/12/07 Says [sic.] he was in seminary in Vietnam, & grandparents sent him on trip, re: St. Benedict."

(8 @ Daily Mass)

TRANSLATION: He is claiming that his grandparents sent him to Europe, to Italy, to Monte Cassino.

Folks, trips to Europe didn't come free to Vietnamese seminarians -- high school, or otherwise -- anymore then they did to laborers in the rice fields of war torn South Vietnam.

Perhaps he was talking to us about a totally mythological Grandma & Grandpa who -- if real after all -- just might have been totally loaded to the gills with lana.

O.K.?

Or better yet, maybe the not - so - mythological priests at Khiet Tam High School Seminary may have been already disturbed by signs Junior was well on his way to being both militant and gay.

If so, maybe they just kicked him out, huh?

Hence: How much -- if anything -- does this man say -- or has ever said -- that is even remotely believable?

Too, the perennial question: given the working hypothesis above, would Fr. Q been necessarily vulnerable to blackmail while 1) here in Brackettville, 2) before he came to Brackettville, 3) after leaving Brackettville??!!

Is he even now "skimming" from Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Parish?

If this strictly hypothetical for instance is actually so, is he doing it long distance -- electronically -- and if he is, how long has the local banking community been aware of his still having the necessary pass & ID codes?

Which, if any, of the key players on the various parish committees, councils, etc. - would most likely be still collaborating with him?

If so, what would be their hypothetical percentage of the rake off??

Would their share of Fr. Q's hypothetical continued skimming be also masked by phony "technical assessments' and "car expenses," on the worthless, laugh out loud "Parish Financial Reports," published at random intervals?

Why that curious telephone call allegedly received by one of the parish secretaries in person on the morning of August 10, 2009?

The one most likely received sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. ?

Why were both names linked by the caller, that of Fr. Q. and that of Fr. Pius?

Was "somebody" late on a regularly scheduled pay - off?

Or, what?