ASIA/VIETNAM - Bishop of Bac Ninh appointed

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on August 4, 2008, appointed Father Cosme Hoang Van Dat, SJ, Spiritual Director of the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Hanoi, as Bishop of the Diocese of Bac Ninh (Vietnam).
Father Cosme Hoang Van Dat, SJ was born in Xuan Lai, in the Diocese of Bac Ninh, on July 20, 1947. He studied Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical College of Saint Pius X in Dalat, from 1970 to 1976. He entered the Jesuit Order on April 16, 1968 and was ordained a priest in Saigon on June 5, 1976. He took his final vows as a religious in Thu Duc, Archdiocese of Hochiminh-Ville, on January 1, 1982. Following his ordination, he served as: Director of Jesuit Candidates in Thu Duc (1974-1975); Master of Novices amidst years of turbulence (1978-1988), when many Jesuits – including the Regional Superior – were imprisoned; pastor of a small parish in Hochiminh-Ville; chaplain of a leper colony; Assistant Teacher for Third Year students at Thu Doc (2001-2002). Since 1997, he has served in the area of permanent formation for priests and consecrated laity in the Diocese of Bac Ninh. Since 2005, he has served as spiritual director of the Major Seminary in Hanoi.
The Diocese of Bac Ninh (Vietnam), suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hanoi, was established in 1960. It covers an area of 24,600 km sq., with a population of 7,181,000 inhabitants, 131,000 of whom are Catholic. There are 46 parishes, 28 diocesan priests, 306 religious, and 39 seminarians. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/9/2008)