Vietnamese community soars in 50 Years - The Southern Cross

Vietnamese community soars in 50 Years - The Southern Cross

SAN DIEGO — When he’s installed, Bishop Michael Pham will become the first Vietnamese bishop to lead a diocese in the United States. He arrived with his family in San Diego in 1985, the last leg of a journey that had started a decade before, when they had fled from the advancing Communist army in Vietnam. In fact, Vietnamese Catholics began arriving in the region in 1975. Giai Do was one of the first ones. He was 17 years old at the time. He, hi…