Pope names country’s first Vietnamese bishop

ORANGE, Calif. — Four months after appointing the nation’s first Chinese bishop, Pope John Paul II has named Monsignor Dominic Dinh Mai Luong as the United States’ first Vietnamese bishop.

Luong, pastor of the 18,000-member Mary Queen of Vietnam Church in New Orleans, will serve as auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Orange, Calif., home to one of the nation’s largest Vietnamese communities.

Before he was called to New Orleans in 1976, Luong taught in seminaries and preferred teaching to pastoral work. Luong was born in Nihn Cuong, a North Vietnamese village about 50 miles  southwest of Hanoi.

Vietnamese Catholics are one of the fastest-growing segments of the American church, providing a large share of new priests.

Last December, the pope appointed Monsignor Ignatius Wang, the nation’s first Asian bishop, as auxiliary bishop in San Francisco.