Bishop-elect Joseph Bui Cong Trac (right) and his family talk with Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Nang at St. Joseph Major Seminary of Saigon on Nov. 1. (Photo: tgpsaigon.net)
The Vatican has appointed an expert in Church social teaching as new auxiliary bishop of Vietnam's most active archdiocese.
On Nov 1, Pope Francis named Father Joseph Bui Cong Trac, rector of St. Joseph Major Seminary of Saigon, as auxiliary bishop of Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese.
Father Peter Kieu Cong Tung, chancellor of Ho Chi Minh City Archbishop’s House, made the announcement at a special meeting to pray for Bishop-designate Trac at the seminary based in the southern metropolis. The meeting was attended by hundreds of priests, seminarians and relatives of the bishop-designate.
Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Nang of the archdiocese congratulated him and gave him big thanks for "bravely obeying" the Holy See to take on the tough task. He also called on local people to pray for Bishop-designate Trac to fulfill his new mission.
Father Paul Nguyen Duc Nguyen, who presided at the Eucharist adoration, said bishops are persons of prayers, communion of the Eucharist, and serve the Good News.
Father Nguyen said how happy is the bishop who takes the “smell of the sheep,” accepts suffering with God's people, lives in poverty, and considers missions to be their service, not authority. They should always be close to the people, steer clear of ambiguous motivations, know how to build peace, and work with good-willed people for the spirit of the Gospel.
Born in 1965 in Cathedral parish in Da Lat, Trac studied philosophy and theology at St. Joseph Major Seminary of Saigon and was ordained a priest in 1999.
Father Trac was sent to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 2004 to 2010 and obtained a doctorate in Catholic Social Teaching. He served as deputy director of the Pontifical International Missionary College of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome before he became rector of St. Joseph Major Seminary in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016.
He will be the sixth bishop from the 156-year-old seminary in the past two decades.
Founded in 1844, Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese has some 900 priests and 6,000 religious serving 700,000 Catholics in 203 parishes.
