Former Vietnamese boat refugee to lead Australian diocese

Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen

A bishop who was one of the Vietnamese 'boat people' as a child, has become a bishop. Mgr Vincent Long Van Nguyen, who fled Vietnam on a makeshift boat in 1975, and was granted asylum in Australia, went on to became a priest, and has now become the fourth Bishop of Parramatta, near Sydney.

"I have made many leaps of faith in my life" said His Exc Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen, said as he took office during a special inauguration Mass yesterday. He chose 'Duc in altum', 'Put out into the deep' as his episcopal motto, which recalls the sea crossing: a motto that "has to do - he said - with my personal experience as a refugee", but "also adapts to the challenges that the Church in Parramatta today faces."

Mgr Loang Van Nguyen said: "I consider the critical time in which we are similar to the biblical exile with which, as an expatriate, I have a personal affinity. As a former refugee, I have special attention for those who are marginalized, people who live in the peripheries of society".

Bishop Van Nguyen was ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and was consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne in 2011. He stood out, thanks to his service as a supporter of multiculturalism in Australian society, working also as president of the Australian Bishops' Conference Commission for Migrants and Refugees.

Source: Fides