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https://dedication.rcbo.org/profiles/bishop-timothy-freyer/
The life and clerical roots of Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer run deep in the California soil. He was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Huntington Beach, and has been with the Diocese of Orange since his ordination as a priest on June 10, 1989.
From his first appointment as an associate pastor at St. Hedwig’s church in Los Alamitos to his appointment and consecration as auxiliary bishop, on Jan. 17, 2017, Bishop Freyer has been a key clergy member in the Diocese of Orange.
Bishop Freyer is the first of two auxiliary bishops appointed to the growing Diocese of Orange to assist Bishop Kevin Vann with pastoral and administrative needs. He was later joined by Auxiliary Bishop Thanh Thai Nguyen.
After working as pastor at a number of churches in the diocese, Bishop Freyer has held several diocesan administrative posts. He is fluent in Spanish and the first of his ordination class to be elevated to bishop.
Bishop Freyer was named Episcopal Vicar for Priests in 2012, with responsibility for the care and ongoing formation of the priests of the diocese. He was also the first bishop’s liaison to the Jovenes para Cristo (Young Adults for Christ) movement from 1998-2004. He helped the group write and revise its statutes and plan of formation.
The bishop was a founding board member of the Orange County Family Justice Center, formerly Anaheim Family Justice Center, which assists victims of domestic violence. He served two terms as a member of the board of trustees for St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.
Bishop Freyer is also a police chaplain with the Anaheim Police Department.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo and did his graduate work in theology there as well.
Bishop Freyer is the only child of Jerry and Patricia Freyer. His father died in 1977 and his mother resides in Huntington Beach.
> Bishop Freyer is also a police chaplain with the Anaheim Police Department.
>Thanh Thai Nguyen.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Pope Francis has appointed Father Thanh Thai Nguyen, a priest of the Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida, to be an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Orange, California.
The appointment was announced in Washington Oct. 6 by Monsignor Walter Erbi, charge d’affaires at the Vatican’s nunciature in Washington.
Born in Vietnam, Nguyen, 64, fled the country in 1979 by boat with his family and spent 10 months in a refugee camp in the Philippines before arriving in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1980. After brief studies at Hartford State Technical College, he became a math and science teacher in Hartford public schools.
In 1984, he joined the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, studying at Merrimack College and the Weston School of Theology, both in Massachusetts. He was ordained to the priesthood May 11, 1991.
For the next eight years, he worked in parishes in Georgia and Florida. In 1999, he was incardinated into the Diocese of St. Augustine. He has been pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Jacksonville, Florida, since 2014.
Bishop Felipe J. Estevez of St. Augustine said he learned of Thanh’s appointment Sept. 27, the day Francis launched the two-year campaign, “Share the Journey.” The global initiative is meant to urge Catholics to understand and get to know refugees and migrants who have fled their homeland due to poverty, violence, persecution, and war.
In 1979, Thanh and his family escaped Vietnam during the war. They fled by boat, and after 18 days at sea, they landed on the shores of the Philippines. He lived in a refugee camp for 10 months before moving to the United States in 1980.
“Father Thanh knows the plight of refugees, and he understands their journey seeking a safe home and the ability to support their families,” Estevez said in a statement. “He has a genuine gift when it comes to ministering to people of diverse cultures.”
“Now that reality is beginning to set in, I need to start the process of letting go and letting God,” said Nguyen in a statement about his appointment. “Yes, letting go of familiar places, familiar faces, Bishop Estevez, the presbyterate of the diocese, parishioners, and staff of St. Joseph and Christ the King parishes who have played an important role in my priestly ministry for more than 20 years.”
While he was a Missionary of Our Lady of La Salette serving in the St. Augustine Diocese, Bishop John J. Snyder, then head of the diocese, named the priest parochial vicar at Christ the King Parish in Jacksonville.
In September 2001, Bishop Victor B. Galeone, newly named to head the diocese, appointed him pastor of the parish. Through his leadership and initiative, he brought harmony to the Vietnamese community by celebrating a Sunday Mass in Vietnamese and building a Vietnamese Center where cultural traditions among the youth and elderly are preserved.
As pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Nguyen has been instrumental in strengthening the faith community by celebrating its cultural diversity through parish events throughout the year. He has also built a social/youth hall and added a youth Mass. The parish is about to launch a $4 million capital campaign for parish improvements.
“Father Thanh has not only promoted unity in the parish, but he has fostered more vocations to the priesthood and religious life than any other parish in the diocese,” said Estevez.
The Diocese of Orange, headed by Bishop Kevin W. Vann, has a large Vietnamese Catholic community.
The Southern California diocese is the 10th largest in the country and one of the fastest growing in the nation. It has 1.3 million Catholics.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2017/10/pope-names-florida-priest-auxiliary-bishop-orange-california/
Since October 2017 when Bishop Thanh Thai Nguyen was named an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, he has been known for his service to the local Vietnamese-American community, the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.
Bishop Nguyen leads fundraising efforts to build the anxiously awaited shrine to Our Lady of La Vang and joins Bishop Timothy Freyer in assisting Bishop Kevin Vann in ministering to the 1.3 million Catholics in Orange County.
Yet Bishop Nguyen – who escaped war-torn Vietnam by boat and later was ordained to the priesthood by the La Salette Missionaries – goes out of his way to serve another, often-overlooked local population.
Without fanfare, he can be found ministering to prisoners as he visits local jails and Juvenile Hall or feeding the homeless in the Santa Ana Civic Center.
“When I come to see Jesus face-to-face, He is not going to ask me how many churches I built or Masses I’ve celebrated,” Bishop Nguyen explains. “He will want to know if I fed the hungry or provided drink to the thirsty. Having received the gift of the priesthood, I am committed to sacramentally reach out to the needy and to serve the poor.”
At the same time, Bishop Nguyen has a self-deprecating sense of humor and once allowed himself to be dressed as Elvis during a youth retreat.
He shares that he was considering retirement when he was named auxiliary bishop in Orange County. “God has a miraculous way – He brought me to Orange County and its large Vietnamese community, people who share my roots,” he says. “It’s God’s plan for my ministry to be productive, successful and rewarding.”
One of 11 children, he was born on April 7, 1953, in Nha Trang, Vietnam. He and members of his family escaped in a 28-foot boat in 1979, spending 18 days at sea before landing on the Philippines. “On the eighth day we ran out of food and water,” Bishop Nguyen recalls. “Three times it rained and each time we saved one cup of rainwater.” On the final day, the family rowed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to reach the shore. “Four days later, I entered the seminary,” having vowed while at sea to dedicate his life to the Lord.
The family lived in a refugee camp for 10 months before moving to the United States in 1980.
In the early 1990s, Bishop Nguyen held two pastoral assignments in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, first as parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Smyrna, and then at St. Ann Parish in Marietta. He came to the Diocese of St. Augustine in 1996 and he was incardinated a priest of the diocese in 1999. He served as parochial vicar and administrator at Christ the King Parish, Jacksonville, then was appointed pastor. He served as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Jacksonville, the largest parish in the diocese with 4,000 families. While there, he built a strong, faith-filled community, adding a youth Mass and building a social/youth hall and fostering more vocations to the priesthood and religious life than any other parish in the diocese.
Bishop Nguyen is excited to work with Bishop Kevin Vann on the diocese’s new strategic plan for evangelization, leadership, and stewardship. “I can’t wait to get started,” he says. “Bishop Vann has a great vision for Christ Cathedral as an ideal community with all the activities that set a good example for all parishes to emulate.” He believes the cathedral, with the Our Lady of La Vang shrine and the Tower of Hope, will serve as a landmark for Pope Francis’ new evangelization efforts.
Bishop Nguyen says his maternal grandmother was instrumental in bringing him into religious life and for his dedication to serving the poor and needy. “One time we were eating lunch and a beggar came to the door with a bag on his back,” he recalls. “My grandmother said, ‘why don’t you sit down and eat with us?’ The beggar was amazed. Before he left, she told me to give him one cup of rice and one Vietnamese dollar.
“That act stayed with me as I studied in seminary,” he concludes.
In addition, Bishop Nguyen admires the work of Fr. Richard Ho Lung, founder of the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica, a former Jesuit who keenly felt the call to respond to the desperate poverty he saw in Kingston.
When he traveled to Kingston to serve with the missionaries, Bishop Nguyen says, he noticed that the poor and the people who serve them were happy. “They have nothing, so they rely on God,” he muses. “When you serve the poor, you receive an inner joy you can’t get in any other ministry. The joy I receive from serving the poor is precious.”
When he finally retires, Bishop Nguyen says, he wants to travel to Vietnam for several months a year to help serve the poor with the Vietnamese Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who feed, clothe, and educate children whose parents can’t afford to send them to school. Right now he is content to send the sisters donations for their efforts.
>In addition, Bishop Nguyen admires the work of Fr. Richard Ho Lung, founder of the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica, a former Jesuit who keenly felt the call to respond to the desperate poverty he saw in Kingston.