ASIA/VIETNAM - Appointment of Coadjutor Bishop of Phú Cuong

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on 14 March 2011, appointed as Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Phú Cuong (Vietnam), Fr Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc, Director of the Formation Centre for candidates to the priesthood in the same diocese.
Fr Joseph Nguyen Tan Tuoc was born on 22 September 1958, in Chanh Hiep, My Hao parish, Bình Duong province, Diocese of Phu Cuong. He studied at the Minor Seminary in Phu Cuong (1971-1978), and in the Major Seminary in Phu Cuong (1980-1988). He was ordained a priest on 4 April 1991 and appointed to the Diocese of Phu Cuong. After his priestly ordination he held the following ministries: Assistant parish priest and then parish priest of Tha La (1991-2000); student at the Catholic Institute in Paris (2000-2006), where he received his License in Canon Law and a specialisation in biblical and systematic theology. Since 2006 he has been Director of the Formation Centre for candidates to the priesthood, and at the same time responsible for priestly vocations in the diocese.
The Diocese of Phu Cuong, created on 14 October 1965, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hochiminhville (Saigon), extends over 9,543 sq. km and has 2,580,000 inhabitants, of whom 125,274 are Catholic (4,85%). There are 78 parishes, 140 priests (102 diocesan, 38 religious) and 405 religious sisters. There are 34 major seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 14/03/2011)