A SFGate article on Divine Word College in Iowa – a college whose purpose is formation of young men for missionary work with the Divine Word Missionaries.

The article’s focus is the students of Vietnamese origens, who make up 2/3 of the student body:

Although only 10 percent of Vietnamese in Vietnam are Christians, in America the figure is 30 percent, and much of that population are Roman Catholics. That’s not surprising. Vietnamese Catholics were prosecuted by the communists and many fled from North Vietnam to the south in 1954 when the country split in half. When South Vietnam fell in 1975, those who were most ready to flee were Vietnamese who experienced communism firsthand in the north.

Richard Vu, 24, says he came to Divine Word because he felt it was his calling. His father, he says, was surprised.

"I was living in Atlanta. I had a girlfriend," Vu said, and it hasn’t been easy to leave his old life behind. "I cried for many weeks when I first came here. I never felt so lonely. But I knew what I wanted and I told my girlfriend not to wait. We’re now good friends."

Uhal and Nguyen acknowledge that far fewer U.S.-born Vietnamese would consider going to seminary school.

"We rely more and more on immigrants," Uhal says. "For example, the second-largest group here are 10 Sudanese students, followed by Indonesians."

It is no wonder that on immigration debate, the church knows where it stands. Without these "new Irish," their supply would further dwindle.