THAI BINH (UCAN): Retired Bishop Peter Nguyen Van De of Thai Binh, Vietnam, ordained his successor, Bishop Dominic Dang Van Cau, at the square of Thai Binh Bishop’s House in Thai Binh City, on 31 December 2022. Some 30 archbishops and bishops from across the country, together with hundreds of priests, concelebrated the open-air ceremony.
Meanwhile Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Nang of Ho Chi Minh City ordained Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Bui Cong Trac at the archdiocese’s Pastoral Centre on January 3.
Thousands of people attended both episcopal ordinations.
Archbishop Joseph Vu Van Thien of Hanoi said that local people were highly delighted to attend the first episcopal ordination since 1979 when the late Bishop Joseph Dinh Binh was ordained at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Thai Binh.
Bishop Dang is the first from the local Church to be ordained and is the seventh bishop of the 86-year-old diocese. Among his successors, two were from Spain and four were from other dioceses in Vietnam.
“It is really wonderful that the diocese with most of its members who are farmers and fishermen produces the first native bishop. This historic event shows that the local Church has grown up,” Father Thomas Doan Xuan Thoa, pastor of Trung Dong Parish, said.
Father Doan, head of Nam Tien Hai deanery, said Bishop Dang has experienced hard times and understood local people’s lifestyles so he is expected to set up practical pastoral initiatives for people in the two rural provinces of Thai Binh and Hung Yen.
“We are terribly proud of our new native bishop. We pray for him to be in good health and take great care of poor people in remote areas,” Anne Tran Thi Ngat said. She and her son had travelled 50 kilometres in cold weather from their house in Tien Hai district to attend the ceremony.
During his thanksgiving Mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral the following day, Bishop Dang, whose episcopal motto was Ecce Venio [Behold, I come], admitted that serving the diocese will be a challenge. The 60-year-old bishop asked everyone to pray for him, cooperate with him, and support him in serving the diocese.
The Church in Vietnam still has four vacant dioceses of Ban Me Thuot, Ha Tinh, Nha Trang and Phat Diem.
