Two immigrants had been ordained auxiliary bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Thursday.
Michael Pham initially from Vietnam and Felipe Pulido of Yakima, Washington, who be part of Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano, had been consecrated by San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy and Phoenix Bishop John Dolan. Dolan is a former San Diego auxiliary bishop.
This was the primary time two auxiliary bishops in San Diego had been ordained on the similar time and can be the primary time the diocese has been served by three auxiliary bishops.
Greater than 20 bishops from across the nation and about 1,200 attendees had been current at St, Thérèse of Carmel Catholic Church in Del Mar Heights. The ceremony was livestreamed on YouTube .
The ceremony started with a procession of clergy from the diocese and leaders of church organizations together with the Knights of Columbus, Cursillo and Knights of Malta. Parts of the Mass had been spoken in Spanish and Vietnamese.
Pham, 56, who was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, had been vicar normal of the diocese and pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Mira Mesa. Earlier than that he was affiliate pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside, diocesan vocations director, and pastor of Holy Household Parish in Linda Vista, and St. Therese Parish in Del Cerro.
Pham fled Vietnam as a 13-year-old refugee in 1980, accompanied by his older sister and a youthful brother, arriving first at a refugee camp in Malaysia, earlier than being sponsored a yr later in 1981 by an American household and relocating to Blue Earth, Minnesota.
The brand new Vietnamese bishop completed highschool at San Diego Excessive and entered San Diego State as an engineering main earlier than convincing his household that the decision he felt to enter the priesthood was too robust to disregard, transferring to St. Francis Seminary on the College of San Diego.
He accomplished his seminary coaching at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and was ordained a priest of the San Diego diocese in 1999.
Pulido, 53, who was pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Yakima, was born and raised in a small city west of Mexico Metropolis.
Pulido attended minor seminary in Uruapan, Michoacán. There, he attended center college and commenced highschool. However in 1988, he and his household left Mexico and moved to the Yakima Valley the place he completed highschool.
As a young person, he labored within the fields, selecting fruit and greens. Later, he labored as a educating assistant on the Epic Migrant Head Begin program in Yakima.
Pulido was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Yakima in 2002 and earlier than this ordination served as Vicar for Clergy at that diocese and as pastor of St. Joseph Church in Kennewick.
“I couldn’t be extra happy nor extra grateful that His Holiness has seen match to bless our diocese with these two devoted and dedicated servants of the Lord,” stated Cardinal McElroy after the announcement of the bishop choices.
The Diocese of San Diego runs the size of California’s border with Mexico and serves greater than 1.5 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties.
It consists of 98 parishes, 49 elementary and secondary colleges, and thru Catholic Charities of the Diocese of San Diego, numerous social service and household help organizations all through the area.
