SAN DIEGO — Auxiliary Bishop Michael Pham has been elected diocesan administrator. In that role, he will be responsible for leading the Diocese of San Diego until Pope Francis appoints its next bishop.
The College of Consultors, a diocesan body composed of the three auxiliary bishops along with eight priests, gathered March 17 to elect a diocesan administrator to succeed Cardinal Robert W. McElroy.
Cardinal McElroy had served as administrator from Jan. 6, when Pope Francis announced his appointment as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, until March 11, when he formally took possession of that post.
“Join me in congratulating Bishop Pham,” Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano urged the diocesan Pastoral Center staff, when he announced the results of the vote. “Pray for him and pray that we will receive a bishop with a shepherd’s heart to lead us with love, humility and justice.”
Bishop Pham, 58, was born in Da Nang, Vietnam. With his family, he fled his homeland to escape the Communist North Vietnamese Army and lived in a refugee camp before re-settling in the United States.
A San Diego resident since 1985, he is an alumnus of San Diego High School and San Diego State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
His studies for the priesthood began at St. Francis Center in San Diego and continued at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1999.
Bishop Pham has served as associate pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside, diocesan vocations director, and pastor of Holy Family Parish in Linda Vista, St. Therese Parish in Del Cerro, and Good Shepherd Parish in Mira Mesa.
Since 2017, Bishop Pham has served as vicar general for ethnic and intercultural communities. In that role, he worked to strengthen the diocese’s cultural Catholic communities, which have roots in the Americas and around the world. They came together to launch the Pentecost Mass for All Peoples in 2018, which has grown to be one of the diocese’s largest annual liturgical events. This year’s edition is planned for Saturday, June 7, again at Cathedral Catholic High School.
Pope Francis announced the appointments on June 6, 2023, of then Fathers Pham and Felipe Pulido as auxiliary bishops of San Diego. They were consecrated bishops on Sept. 28, 2023. Cardinal McElroy appointed Bishop Pham to serve as vicar general for clergy.
