Of the two men recently appointed auxiliary bishops of San Diego, one — Father Felipe Pulido of the Diocese of Yakima, Wash. — is a stranger to the diocese.
But the other, Father Michael Pham, is a familiar face.
Bishop-elect Pham was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of San Diego in 1999 and, over his years of ministry, has been entrusted with positions of increasing responsibility — from pastor, to episcopal vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities, to vicar general. The latter gave him authority to act as the bishop’s representative in matters of diocesan administration.
For a priest who has acquitted himself well in each of those roles, an appointment as auxiliary bishop was a logical next step.
On June 6, Pope Francis announced the appointment of Bishops-elect Pham and Pulido. Later that day, Cardinal Robert McElroy presented the two men to the staff of the diocesan Pastoral Center, allowing each to briefly share his story.
Bishop-elect Pham, 56, expressed his joy at being named an auxiliary bishop, describing it as “a very wonderful day that the Lord has made.”
“I’m so grateful and thankful for the blessings that God has bestowed upon me,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to sharing whatever I have (with) the diocese and to serve God’s people.”
Born in 1967 in Da Nang, Vietnam, Bishop-elect Pham and his family experienced many challenges and hardships during the Vietnam War and, subsequently, as refugees.
In 1975, when he was 8 years old, his family boarded an empty rice cargo barge to flee the advancing North Vietnamese Army. They spent several days at sea, with neither food nor drinking water. He experienced terrible seasickness and saw many bodies on the floor of the barge as he left the scene.
“I thought they were sleeping,” he said, “but I came to realize that they were dead.”
Bishop-elect Pham considers it “a moment of grace” that his entire family made it safely.
The day after they docked, the family learned that the North Vietnamese Army was on the cusp of taking over the city. So, almost immediately, they headed even farther south.
They lived in a small town called Lam Son, where farming and fishing enabled them to survive with a large family. Since his father was able to fish, he helped the family to leave Vietnam.
In 1980, with his older sister and a younger brother, he fled to Malaysia aboard a small boat packed with 119 passengers. At sea for four nights and three days, he said the boat was pursued by authorities of the Communist government, pummeled by massive waves that he likened to something out of the film The Perfect Storm, and even boarded by pirates. A collision with the pirate ship damaged the refugees’ boat, splitting the bow almost in half.
Miraculously, the family survived.
He, his older sister and younger brother lived in a refugee camp in Malaysia for about seven months before they were sponsored by an American family and relocated to Blue Earth, Minn., in 1981. They were joined there a few months later by another sister. In 1983, his remaining four siblings and his parents arrived.
The family moved to San Diego in 1985, attracted by the warmer weather they had experienced during a visit to relatives there.
He graduated from San Diego High School and San Diego State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He began working on a master’s in Engineering, but did not finish before entering the seminary.
While in his junior year of college, he took a philosophy class that inspired him to think more deeply about the purpose of life and what was most important. After graduating and beginning a career as an aerospace engineer, he felt “some sort of emptiness,” like “something was missing” in his life. But he experienced joy and peace as a volunteer catechist at his parish, Good Shepherd Church in Mira Mesa.
Though he began to feel called to the priesthood, he delayed entering the seminary because his parents weren’t initially supportive of the idea. Eventually, however, he knew that he had to explore his vocation or that he would regret it.
He began his priestly formation at St. Francis Center, located on the campus of the University of San Diego, and completed his theological studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., earning a Baccalaureate degree in Systematic Theology and a Master of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1999. He completed a Master of Science in Psychology at the University of Phoenix in 2009. In 2020, he completed his Licentiate degree in Systematic Theology from the University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome through his studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
Bishop-elect Pham has served as associate pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside, diocesan vocations director, and pastor of Holy Family Parish in Linda Vista, St. Therese Parish in Del Cerro and, from 2016 through the present, Good Shepherd Parish….
From the Southern Cross
Fr. Michael Pham is a credit to his parents, and a genuine asset to the diocese of San Diego. Many good wishes to Bishop-elect Pham.
I guess something very good can come from the University of San Diego– I stand corrected. Your very special experience of Divine Grace has made your soul beautiful! With Axiom, I wish you God’s help in the good times and in the bad times, as it were, in your challenging ministry.
Hopefully he won’t have to stay in San Diego for very long. Ship him out to a diocese where as an ordinary he can do some good instead of being stuck under a cardinal who’s questionable.
The new bishop fled Communists and the old one seems to embrace them. Has Cardinal McElroy ever condemned Communism and socialism?
Cardinal McElroy said, “Now, when I quote the Pope that ‘this economy kills,’people very often say to me, ‘Oh come on, that’s just an exaggeration; it’s a form of speech.’ I want to do an experiment with you. I want you to sit back in your chair for a moment. And close your eyes, and I want you to think of someone you have known that our economy has killed: A senior who can’t afford medicine or rent; a mother or father who is dying, working two and three jobs, really dying because even then they can’t provide for their kids; young people who can’t find their way in the world in which there is no job for them, and they turn to drugs, and gangs and suicide. Think of one person you know that this economy has killed. Now mourn them. And now call out their name; let all the world know that this economy kills.” After you’ve called out the name of someone you know whose cause of death was our economy, read on.
Does he not know that capitalism has raised more people out of poverty than any other economic system and this is true around the world. It’s not perfect, no human system is because sinful humans are involved. Is he not aware of the millions killed by communism and socialism in the 20th century? Literally, physically killed by Stalin, Mao, Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Tito, and others. Maybe his history lessons at Harvard and Stanford in the 1970’s were inadequate. Maybe he should talk with an economist about this. One article which simply explains how capitalism lifts people out of poverty is linked below:
https://rlo.acton.org/archives/66467-michael-novak-capitalism-lifting-world-poverty.html
Like the new bishop, flee from socialists and their totalitarian oppression of individuals, families, churches and dissidents.
Could you source the quote?
He said the economy not capitalism.
How did you get socialism or communism out of what he wrote?
I do not know anyone who this economy has killed.
My opinion is that the Church should be lifting people up to life and showing them the path to Life.
And when did he say it?
It makes no sense to me.
Sure, here’s the actual transcript from the San Diego Union Tribune of what Cardinal McElroy said in 2017:
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/religion/sd-me-mcelroy-speech-20170221-story.html
Our economy is generally capitalist or free market. Some regulation is necessary for the common good. But, our economy has killed vastly fewer than communism and socialism, which the new bishop fled from. It seems the Cardinal lacks some understanding of economics, history and current causes of death.
Thank you for the ink.
Interesting read.
I agree with you but I don’t think he was talking about capitalism, but the current (2017-before Covid so very dated) economy with its growing gap in inequality.
That was the worst paragraph.
I don’t know that the economy is behind the deaths that he is talking about.
Although i do think some people give up when things get tough.
This is where I feel our Catholic ministers don’t do as well as the “prosperity gospel” preachers.
Have faith. God will bring you through this.
I see the Tiktok-ers that give a way cash. some refuse it, some take it after much prodding. The ones who take it immediately are people who have been praying to God for help. And they are so thankful that their prayers have been answered.
“Axios!” (Greek ἄξιος, “worthy of”, “deserving of”, “suitable”) is an acclamation adopted by the early Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches and made by the faithful at the ordination of bishops, priests and deacons. This bishop-elect seems worthy indeed.