‘I was one of the boat people who escaped from South Vietnam.’
During migration awareness month [August], the new Australian Catholic Bishops Conference delegate for migrants and refugees, Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen ofm conv, shared his journey from survival as a refugee to nurturing a longing to become a priest, before being appointed Auxilliary Bishop of Melbourne.
‘The escape happened after South Vietnam had fallen to the Vietnamese communist forces in 1975.’
‘My parents who had escaped by boat themselves from North Vietnam in 1954 encouraged me and my siblings to escape. They had experienced the cruelty and tyranny of communism.’
Read the full article here: 'From Boat Person to Bishop'