The nation’s first Vietnamese American bishop formally takes over San Diego’s diocese

Michael Pham has already made his mark by defending local immigrants who are facing deportation

At Therese of Carmel Church in Carmel Valley, Bishop Michael Pham, 58, leaves at the end of Mass, where he was installed as the new bishop who will lead Catholics in San Diego and Imperial Counties. Pham becomes the first Vietnamese American bishop to head a U.S. diocese. PHOTOS BY NELVIN C. Cepeda — The San Diego Union-Tribune

Along with guests and family, about 20 bishops attended the service, including Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, archbishop of Washington.

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By Blake Nelson

san diego Union-Tribune

A representative from the Vatican stood at the front of the church with a proclamation from the pope.

“Are you willing to accept this seat?” he asked the man facing him.

Michael Pham responded immediately. “I do accept the pastoral care of the people of God in the diocese of San Diego.”

And with that, a one-time refugee officially became San Diego County’s newest bishop and the first Vietnamese American to lead a diocese in the United States. Hundreds of people applauded as Pham, 58, walked the aisles of St. Thérèse of Carmel Church, near Del Mar, during a Thursday Mass that formally made him the leader of the region’s 1.3 million Catholics. The decision to promote him was one of the first made by Pope Leo XIV, who in turn is the world’s first North American pontiff.

The ceremony gave Pham additional power, such as the ability to appoint priests, but even before this week he had been using his newfound prominence to advocate for vulnerable residents. In June, he was one of several faith leaders who escorted immigrants to court hearings in downtown San Diego. While federal officers have been arresting people at courthouses since President Donald Trump promised mass deportations around the country, nobody was seized while clergy was on-site.

We must “serve all people without discrimination,” Pham told the crowd Thursday, “especially the poor, the homeless, the immigrants, the migrants, the refugees and the voiceless.”

Pham was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1967, when American troops were still fighting the Viet Cong, and his family tried repeatedly to flee. He made it out as a teenager, but it took longer for other relatives to leave. One of his sisters, Suong Nguyen, 56, was separated from him for years and can still recall the shock she felt when the siblings were finally reunited in Minnesota, where the family initially landed.

On Thursday, Nguyen was feeling a different kind of shock. “It’s overwhelming,” she said in an interview about her brother’s new role.

All eight of Pham’s siblings were present for the ceremony, as well as his parents, Kim Vu, 78, and My Pham, 83. The siblings plan to help Pham where they can. Nguyen recently retired from the San Diego County Office of Education and wants to dedicate some of her free time to keeping her brother organized.

When Pham’s predecessor, Cardinal Robert McElroy, stepped up to the pulpit during the afternoon Mass, he praised the family’s “heritage of faith.” Their journeys “symbolize the history of immigration that is still our central identity as a nation,” he said. McElroy had been San Diego’s first-ever cardinal before taking over the Archdiocese of Washington, and he told the crowd that Pham was the right man for the job. “I am so proud of the leadership you have shown in proclaiming the Gospel in its entirety,” McElroy told his successor.

Parts of the ceremony were in Mandarin, Igbo, Korean and Hindi. Pham often cycled between English and Vietnamese. At one point, when he began speaking Spanish, a woman in a back pew turned silently to a companion, an enormous smile on her face. Other traditions were also represented: The opening processional included religious officials wearing a yarmulke (Judaism), a kufi (Islam) and a long black robe (Eastern Orthodox Christianity).

Pham thanked other leaders and staffers in the diocese, including the two auxiliary bishops, Ramón Bejarano and Felipe Pulido. “Ever since Cardinal McElroy left for Washington, we three amigos” — the crowd loved that — “have been running the show,” Pham said. Then he added, “We haven’t broken anything yet.”

The new bishop additionally acknowledged a fact that everyone in the audience had already noticed. “You may be used to seeing tall bishops,” Pham noted. “I am Yoda.”

Pham asked those listening to pray for him. At one point, he brought up a story in the Bible where Jesus’ disciples suddenly gain the ability to speak different languages. “And yet, they understood each other,” Pham said. “The reason they understood each other was because they listened to each other.”

“Only by listening to the Word of God, and to each other, can we be guided by the Holy Spirit to right injustices,” he added.