HO CHI MINH CITY (UCAN): On October 29, Pope Francis named Father Dominic Dang Van Cau, rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, bishop of the Diocese of Thai Binh diocese, in northern Vietnam. He will succeed Bishop Peter Nguyen Van De, who has served the diocese since 2009 and reaches the age of 77 on 15 January 2023.
Father John Chu Van Yen, head of the Office of Thai Binh Bishop’s House, called on people to express their sincere thanks to the Holy See and pray for the 60-year-old Bishop-elect Dang to fulfill his new ministry and that his episcopal ordination would be announced soon.
Born in 1962 in Luong Dong parish, Father Dang entered My Duc Minor Seminary in 1971 and worked at the Office of the Bishop’s House from 1982 to 1989, when he started to study philosophy and theology at St. Joseph Major Seminary in Hanoi.
After graduating in 1995, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Thai Binh the following year and served as head of the Office of the Bishop’s House until he was sent to further his studies at the Institut Catholique de Paris in France.
He returned in 2005 and served the Office of the Bishop’s House and two parishes until 2017, when he became rector of the Sacred Heart Major Seminary. He is the first bishop to be appointed for Vietnam by the Holy See this year.
