John-Nhan Tran, a priest from Vietnam, has been appointed an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia, by Pope Francis.
In April 1975, Bishop-elect Tran and his family left South Vietnam on a barge in the port of Ben Bach Dang in Saigon, according to a 2015 interview published on Nola.com.
After departing Vietnam, Tran and his family were accepted as refugees in Louisiana, where he grew up. In 1992, he was ordained as a priest by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
On January 23, 2023, Tran will be ordained as an auxiliary bishop for Atlanta.
In 1968, when the bishop-elect was two years old, his mother was killed by friendly fire in Vietnam, according to an interview with Nola.com. Additionally, his father was shot but survived. A landmine claimed the life of an older brother.
After running out of water in the South China Sea, Tran’s aunts, uncles, and cousins were rescued.
Tran told Nola.com, “I believe we would have perished fairly quickly if we hadn’t been saved by an American ship.” “I was so young that my only questions were, ‘Where’s the water?’ and ‘Are we there yet?’” “Later, I experienced the suffering of my parents’ generation. I’ll never know what they were thinking or how terrified they must have been.”
Bishop-elect Tran has served as parochial vicar and pastor of many Catholic parishes since his ordination in 1992.
Since 2015, he has served as the pastor of Mary, Queen of Heaven Church in Mandeville.
Tran gave his left kidney to Father Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese priest serving the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, in August 2015. While attending St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana, Tran and Nguyen developed a friendship.
Tran will serve alongside auxiliary bishops Joel M. Konzen and Bernard E. Schlesinger III in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Gregory J. Hartmayer, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, is the archbishop of Atlanta.
Hartmayer stated on October 25 that he is “delighted to welcome John Tran to Atlanta”
Our archdiocese is blessed with an international community of Catholics. He stated that Bishop-designate Tran reflects and appreciates this variety.
Tran stated that he was rendered dumbfounded by the request to become an auxiliary bishop. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, contacted him. He responded with “trepidation.”
“After several days of prayer and trust in God’s provision, I was able to accept Pope Francis’s nomination,” he added. “I am truly honored to serve as Auxiliary Bishop of the Atlanta Archdiocese.”
Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans stated that Tran “has faithfully ministered to the people of the Archdiocese of New Orleans during his priestly profession.”
The archbishop explained, “He is a leader among our priests.” “We congratulate him on his new ministry and assure him of our prayers. He will be sorely missed.”