WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed Father John-Nhan Tran, a priest in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and pastor of Mary Queen of Peace in Mandeville, Louisiana, as auxiliary bishop of Atlanta.
Bishop-designate Tran, 56, was born in Vietnam and escaped with his family to the United States after the Vietnam War as a refugee when he was 9. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1992.
His appointment was announced Oct. 25 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States. The ordination will take place Jan. 23, 2023.
The bishop-designate attended Don Bosco College in Newton, New Jersey, and St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana. He earned a master of divinity in theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.
He has served at eight parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans as both a parochial vicar and pastor. He has been pastor of Mary, Queen of Peace since 2014. He has also served on a number of archdiocesan councils and committees. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and has been active in ministry supporting the Louisiana Vietnamese Community.
A description about him on his parish website said: “He is grateful for our generous parishioners and seeks always to bring each of us closer to the Lord. As he would say: ‘When someone encounters you, does he/she encounter Christ?'”
The bishop-designate said the phone call he received about this appointment from the apostolic nuncio left him “speechless and with trepidation.”
“After several days of prayer and trusting that God will provide, I was able to embrace the appointment by Pope Francis. I am indeed humbled to serve as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Atlanta,” he said.
The Archdiocese of Atlanta has a total population of 7.7 million, which includes 1.2 million Catholics.
Atlanta Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer said in a statement that he is “overjoyed to welcome Bishop-designate John Tran to Atlanta. Our archdiocese is blessed with a diverse community of Catholics from around the world. Bishop-designate Tran reflects and celebrates this diversity.”
He also thanked the bishop-designate “for saying yes to God’s call and to the invitation from Pope Francis to join us here.”
Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans said: “Bishop-designate Tran has ministered faithfully to the people of the Archdiocese of New Orleans throughout his priestly ministry.”
“He is greatly respected by the clergy, religious, and laity of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He is a leader among our priests. We congratulate him and assure him of our prayers as he assumes his new ministry. It is bittersweet as he will be greatly missed,” he added.
Standing in front of a group of Atlanta archdiocesan employees Oct. 25, the bishop-designate said he saw himself as a priest with “very little to offer” to serve as a bishop.
“There’s nothing on my credential” to stand out, he said, but he added: “I know that as long as we respond to the invitation of the Lord, the Lord will take care of the rest for us.”
Archbishop Hartmayer, in welcoming the bishop-designate, who will be the archdiocese’s first Vietnamese bishop, said he hopes to diversify the leadership of the church.
“We want more people in the archdiocese to see their faces in the bishops,” the archbishop said.
Atlanta is among the top 10 U.S. cities with large groups of Vietnamese residents, and Vietnamese is the third largest language group among the Catholic community.
Two parishes in the archdiocese predominately serve the Vietnamese community: Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Norcross, and Our Lady of Vietnam Church in Riverdale.
Kim Huong Vu, who worships at Holy Vietnamese Martyrs Church said, “My heart is filled with joy,” about the new appointment, noting that the bishop-designate shares the life story of so many Vietnamese that will draw them to him.
In telling his story of coming to the United States as a boy, Bishop-designate Tran said: “We left empty-handed so that we would be able to practice our faith and of course, we were one of the fortunate ones who were able to not only be rescued at sea, but also to be given the opportunities to come to this country.
“This country has been a blessing for the Vietnamese people who were able to resettle here,” he added.
The bishop-designate missed three calls on his cellphone around Oct. 16 that he thought were spam because he did not recognize the number. It wasn’t until the third call with a voicemail that he connected with Archbishop Pierre.
After what the bishop-designate said was initial disbelief, he asked the papal nuncio if he could pray about the decision to serve as a bishop.
He later told Archbishop Pierre that he was “humbled by the appointment and will do my best.”
In a letter to the parish he is leaving behind, the bishop-designate said the parishioners will remain close to his heart.
“I have served as your pastor for more than eight years, and it is hard for me to say goodbye. We have journeyed together through a pandemic, hurricanes and much more. Through it all, I have witnessed the workings of a faith community filled with generosity and love, serving with the heart of Christ.”
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Contributing to this report was Andrew Nelson, staff writer for The Georgia Bulletin, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
