Pope Francis has appointed Father Michael Pham, vicar general of the Diocese of San Diego, and Father Felipe Pulido, vicar for clergy and director of vocations for the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, as auxiliary bishops of San Diego.
Bishop-designate Pham, 56, who was born in Vietnam, was ordained for the Diocese of San Diego June 25, 1999. Besides his diocesan position, he also is pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in San Diego. Bishop-designate Pulido, 53, who was born in Mexico, was ordained for the Diocese of Yakima June 28, 2002. He also is pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Kennewick, Washington.
The appointments were publicized in Washington June 6 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The new auxiliaries will assist Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, San Diego's bishop. The diocese currently has one auxiliary, Bishop Ramón Bejarano, appointed in 2020. Former San Diego Auxiliary Bishop John P. Dolan was named to head the Diocese of Phoenix June 10, 2022.
Father Felipe Pulido, 53, pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Kennewick, Washington, was named an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of San Diego on June 6, 2023. (Diocese of Yakima)
Bishop-designate Pham has served as vicar general of the Diocese of San Diego since 2018. He also has been episcopal vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities since 2017. A year before that he was named pastor of Good Shepherd Parish.
After his ordination in 1999, he was parochial vicar at St. Mary, Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside, California (1999-2001); diocesan vocation director (2001-2004); pastor at Holy Family Parish in San Diego (2004-2014); and pastor at St. Therese Parish in San Diego (2014-2016).
Besides English and his native Vietnamese, he also speaks Spanish.
Born Jan. 27, 1967, in Da Nang, Vietnam, he graduated from San Diego University with a bachelor's and master's degree in aeronautical engineering. He attended St. Patrick's Seminary & University in Menlo Park, California, and in 2020 completed a licentiate in sacred theology.
Bishop-designate Pulido was appointed to serve the Diocese of Yakima as vicar for clergy and director of vocations In 2011, while continuing his service as pastor of two parishes concurrently. From 2008 until 2012, he was pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Moses Lake, Washington, and Queen of All Saints Parish in Warden, Washington.
In 2012, he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Yakima where he served until 2020, when he was named to his current pastorate, St. Joseph Parish in Kennewick.
Bishop-designate Pulido speaks English and Spanish.
Born Jan. 13, 1970, in Dos Aguas in Mexico's Michoacan state. He began his priestly formation at Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Oregon, (1994-1998) where he graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1998 and continued at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He received a baccalaureate in sacred theology with high honors at the Angelicum University, also in Rome, in 2000. He studied at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Rome from 2001 to 2002.
After his 2002 ordination, then-Father Pulido's assignments included parochial vicar at Holy Family Parish in Yakima (2002-2003) and at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Moses Lake (2003-2006); and pastor of Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Leavenworth, Washington, (2006-2008).
The San Diego Diocese covers 8,852 square miles in Southern California and has a Catholic population of 1.39 million out of a total population of 3.48 million.
