Archbishop Miller praises his former vicar general, calling him ‘truly humble and a great man’

The B.C. Catholic
KAMLOOPS



Wine, pasta, and personal anecdotes about Bishop Joseph Phuong Nguyen were on the menu at a banquet in his honour Aug. 25.

“We’re going to miss Bishop Joseph,” said Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, of Vancouver, at the Kamloops Italian Cultural Centre after the ordination.

Archbishop Miller said he first met Bishop Nguyen, the man who would become his vicar general and then the bishop of Kamloops, when the priest was the pastor of St. Andrew’s Parish.

Father Nguyen had invited the archbishop to celebrate Mass on the Feast of St. Andrew, a giant parish celebration with 100 altar servers.

When it came time for the collection, Archbishop Miller noticed something. “The first person they went to was their pastor, who reached into his alb and pulled out his Sunday envelope to put in the basket.”

“Bishop Joseph is truly humble and a great man.”

Archbishop Miller said he is “very sorry” that Bishop Nguyen has left the Archdiocese of Vancouver, but “enormously proud” that he was chosen to lead the flock in Kamloops.

“He will serve the diocese of Kamloops with that zeal and love that simply characterize his life.”

Bishop Stephen Jensen, who served alongside Bishop Nguyen at Corpus Christi Parish in Vancouver years ago, revealed some of the new bishop’s personal challenges.

“More than 50 years ago, we in North America, in the comfort of our living rooms, would watch the evening news. We would see black-and-white film reports of a war on the other side of the world, in southeast Asia, that looked so far away, so foreign,” said the head of the Diocese of Prince George.

“None of us could ever imagine how our country and our church would be so enriched by the sufferings and the sacrifices and the faith of the Catholic people in Vietnam. We owe a tremendous debt to our brothers and sisters there.”

Bishop Nguyen was a young man studying philosophy and theology in Vietnam when the communist government took over all Catholic seminaries. He joined an underground seminary, but was found out, removed, and labelled a “henchman of the Vatican.”

He was thrown in prison a few times. His bishop offered to ordain him in secret, but his spiritual director advised against it, and suggested he escape Vietnam instead.

Bishop Nguyen’s first escape attempt was unsuccessful, because of a storm, and he and those on the boat with him were forced ashore, thrown in prison, and tortured. He succeeded on his second attempt, and was 30 years old when he eventually, after months in a refugee camp in the Philippines, landed in Vancouver.

“Joseph has come to a new country, a new culture, and he’s had to learn a lot,” said Bishop Jensen.

When he first arrived in Canada, Bishop Nguyen didn’t speak any English. The devout man would attend Mass regularly, but leave the church immediately after Communion, afraid that waiting until after the final blessing meant he would have to pass the priest at the door and be unable to communicate.

“He had to learn English. He had to learn the Canadian culture. He had to go to a Canadian seminary. He spent years learning to live in this new world. But, besides all of that, he has taught all of us many, many things,” Bishop Jensen said.

“I can honestly say that I learned a tremendous amount of pastoral wisdom, love, and zeal from this young Vietnamese priest. For that, Joseph, I’m very grateful.”

After speeches, appetizers, and the main course, Father Fred Weisbeck toasted the new bishop. “A word that has come to us over and over again in our time together today is: ‘gift,'” said the chancellor of the Diocese of Kamloops.

“The gift of life, given by God, received generously from his mom and dad; the gift of faith they chose to give to him through baptism; a gift of faith that was handed on and nourished and forged in a time and place that knew so well the sacrifice of receiving such a gift; the gift of a priestly vocation that was called forth in the church of the Archdiocese of Vancouver; a gift now that is given to us as shepherd in our local church in Kamloops.”