Pope Francis names 2 priests San Diego auxiliary bishops

Two new auxiliary bishops for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego were appointed by Pope Francis on Tuesday, including a priest at a Mira Mesa church.

The Rev. Michael Pham, 56, vicar general of the San Diego diocese and pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in Mira Mesa, and the Rev. Felipe Pulido, 53, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Yakima, Wash., will be consecrated as bishops in a Sept. 28 Mass.

They will join Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano in serving alongside Cardinal Robert McElroy — who became San Diego's first cardinal last year — to support the Catholic community in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Pham has been serving the San Diego community since he was ordained in 1999.

Religion

McElroy took time to speak with the Union-Tribune early Saturday before the St. Peter's Basilica ceremony

A Vietnam native, Pham was 13 when he fled as a refugee with his older sister and a younger brother in 1980.

They were sent to a refugee camp in Malaysia before relocating to Blue Earth, Minn., a year later when they were sponsored by an American family.

Another sister joined them a few months later. The family was reunited in 1983 when the remainder — four more siblings and his parents — arrived in Minnesota.

In 1985, they all moved to San Diego, where Pham graduated from San Diego High School.

He first enrolled in San Diego State University as an engineering major before transferring to St. Francis Seminary at the University of San Diego. He completed his seminary training at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park.

Since being ordained, Pham has strengthened the cultural communities in the San Diego diocese, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the country, the diocese said.

Pham served as episcopal vicar of the Office of Ethnic and Intercultural Communities and also launched the diocese's first-ever Pentecost Mass for All Peoples, which has come to attract more than 2,000 faithful annually since it began in 2018.

Religion

One prayer during Saturday's mass at Good Shepard Catholic Church in Mira Mesa was divided into 10 parts with different people reciting a few lines each, all in different languages.

"His efforts at Good Shepherd have made a good parish great, and his tireless ministry highlighting the rich cultural diversity of our diocese and our church is powerful and moving," said McElroy, who said he has known Pham since he came to San Diego eight years ago.

Pulido was born and raised in a small town west of Mexico City and attended high school seminary in Uruapan, Michoacán. In 1988, his family left Mexico and moved to the Yakima Valley in Washington, where he finished high school.

Pulido worked in the fields, picking fruit and vegetables as a teen, then as a teaching assistant at the Epic Migrant Head Start program in Yakima.

It was his time caring for an elderly priest that inspired Pulido to enter Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon. He traveled to Rome to attend the Pontifical North American College and did additional coursework at the John Paul II Institute.

He was ordained a priest in 2002 for the Diocese of Yakima, where he currently serves as vicar for clergy. He is also pastor of St. Joseph Church in Kennewick.

Although Pulido is new to the San Diego area, McElroy says his background will be a benefit to the Catholic community, particularly as he joins the current auxiliary bishop.

"More than half the parishioners in our diocese are Latino, and having two men as gifted as Bishop Bejarano and Father Felipe can only improve our ability to minister to all Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties," McElroy added.

Running the length of California's border with Mexico, the San Diego diocese represents more than 1.5 million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties.

The diocese includes 98 parishes, 49 elementary and secondary schools, the local nonprofit Catholic Charities branch and various social service and family support organizations throughout the region.