Orange, Calif., Oct 6, 2017 / 09:25 am
Father Thanh Thai Nguyen, a priest of the Diocese of St. Augustine and a native of Vietnam, was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange on Friday.
"I thank God for giving me the gift of life, protecting me in my faith journey especially from Vietnam to the Philippines to the United States, gracing me with the gift of priesthood and leading me to you, your new auxiliary bishop," Nguyen said Oct. 6 in Orange, Calif.
Nguyen was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1953, the second eldest of a family of 11 children. At the age of 13, he entered the St. Joseph Congregation in Nha Trang, and took his first vows in 1974. He studied at St. Joseph Seminary and Da Lat University.
When the communist North Vietnamese consolidated control of South Vietnam in 1975, they abolished the St. Joseph Congregation.