Session 1 - Welcome & Keynote Address

Bishop Michael Pham fled Vietnam as a 13-year old refugee in 1980, accompanied by his older sister and a younger brother, arriving first at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before being sponsored a year later in 1981 by an American family and relocating to Blue Earth, MN. A few months later, another sister came to live with them and in 1983 the remainder of his family – four more siblings and his parents – arrived in Minnesota. His family moved to San Diego in 1985.

He finished high school at San Diego High and entered San Diego State as an Engineering major before convincing his family that the call he felt to enter the priesthood was too strong to ignore, transferring to St. Francis Seminary at the University of San Diego. He completed his seminary training at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of San Diego in 1999. Bishop Pham strengthened the cultural communities found in the Diocese, which have roots from Africa to Vietnam — and shared them with the larger Catholic community. He served as Episcopal Vicar of the Office of Ethnic and Intercultural Communities. He launched the first-ever Pentecost Mass for All Peoples, which has come to attract more than 2,000 faithful annually.

Pope Francis appointed him an Auxiliary Bishop in San Diego on June 6, 2023 and he was formally consecrated on September 28, 2023. His responsibilities include service as Vicar for Clergy.