CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In the 1970s, a teenager boarded a boat to escape the cruelty of war in his homeland of Vietnam. He landed as a refugee in a foreign land.<\/p>\nNow, he has been installed as the fourth Catholic bishop of Australia\u2019s Parramatta diocese.<\/p>\n
On June 16, Vietnamese native Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen, O.F.M. Con. became the new shepherd of the Parramatta diocese.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have taken many leaps of faith before, including the one that launched me literally onto the Pacific Ocean,\u201d Bishop Nguyen said at his installation Mass at Parramatta\u2019s St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n
The bishop explained his episcopal motto \u201cDuc in Altum,\u201d which means \u201cGo into the deep.\u201d He connected it to his own struggle as a refugee.<\/p>\n
Born in 1961 in Dong Nai, Vietnam, Nguyen entered St Paul\u2019s Minor Seminary in the Diocese of Xuan Loc, located about 37 miles north of Saigon.<\/p>\n
With the fall of Saigon in 1975, the communist authorities forcefully evicted all the seminarians from the seminary building, which they converted into army barracks. Tumult and persecution caused a major refugee crisis. People abandoned their homes and sought to escape the country on boats \u2013 becoming known as \u201cboat people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future bishop, at the age of 18, became separated from most of his family. He boarded a 55-foot-long boat with a few family members and 146 other refugees.<\/p>\n
The journey was perilous and the destination was unknown. After time at sea, the closely-packed boat ran out of food, water and fuel.<\/p>\n
But the passengers were saved when their boat drifted near an oil rig. The refugees were housed in a refugee camp off the coast of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
After a year, Nguyen was moved to Australia. There, he faced language differences, cultural shocks, and even a few incidents of bullying.<\/p>\n
He later entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, a Franciscan order, and was ordained a priest in December 1989. He went on to secure a licentiate in Christology and Spirituality from the Pontifical University of St. Bonaventure. He was elected as the Australian superior of the Friar Conventuals in 2005. He served as the order\u2019s assistant general in Rome from 2008-2011, overseeing the Asia-Oceania region.<\/p>\n
Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop of Melbourne in May 2011.\u00a0 Bishop Nguyen serves as the Australian bishops\u2019 delegate for Migrants and Refugees and also chairs the bishops\u2019 Catholic Social Justice Council.<\/p>\n
At his installation Mass, Bishop Nguyen stressed his commitment to being \u201ca bridge builder.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must foster pathways across the political and religious divide to build not only a rich and strong Australia but also an inclusive and humane society and a responsible world citizen,\u201d he said. He urged the faithful to take heed to Pope Francis\u2019 counsel to be a Church \u201cwhere everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live according to the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He voiced his commitment to Church renewal patterned on Christ: \u201cthe Church that dies to worldly power, privilege, clericalism and rises to humility, simplicity, equality and servanthood \u2013 the Church that might be smaller, poorer and humbler but hopefully more of a light and a sacrament of God\u2019s love to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bishop lamented \u201cthe flood of secularization that has washed away much of the Church we\u2019ve known and loved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been battered and bruised. We\u2019ve been reduced in numbers and status,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is more, we have to admit with the greatest humility that we have not lived up to that fundamental ethos of justice, mercy and care for those who have been hurt by our own actions and inactions.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bishop Nguyen noted the sexual abuse crisis, voicing hope it will be \u201ca catalyst for transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also encouraged everyone to be part of the Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no future for the living Church without there being space for those who have been hurt, damaged or alienated, be they abuse victims, survivors, divorcees, gays, lesbians or disaffected members,\u201d he said. \u201cI am committed to make the Church in Parramatta the house for all peoples, a Church where there is less an experience of exclusion but more an encounter of radical love, inclusiveness and solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bishop\u2019s mother, godmother and four siblings were present at the installation.<\/p>\n
Bishop Nguyen succeeds Archbishop Anthony Fisher O.P., who was appointed Archbishop of Sydney.<\/p>\n
The Parramatta diocese is about 14 miles west of Sydney. It is predominantly Catholic, with about 330,000 faithful in 47 parishes and 120 active and retired priests.<\/p>\n
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Sydney, Australia, Jun 28, 2016 \/ 03:44 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In the 1970s, a teenager boarded a boat to escape the cruelty of war in his homeland of Vietnam. He landed as a refugee in a foreign land.<\/p>\n
Now, he has been installed as the fourth Catholic b…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"yoast_head":"\n
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