Pope Francis has this week appointed two new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
They are the Reverend Father Thinh Nguyen and Reverend Father Rene Ramirez RCJ.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, welcomed the appointments.
“The leadership and spiritual guidance of the two Bishops-elect will be a source of strength and inspiration for the archdiocese and the wider Church,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“We look forward to seeing the people of Melbourne grow in faith under their pastoral care and leadership.
“The appointments of Bishops-elect Thinh and Ramirez reflect the multicultural face of the Church in Australia, which is witnessing signs of growth and renewal.”
Archbishop Costelloe welcomed the bishops-elect into the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
“We are confident they will bring their unique experience and talents to the work of the Church at a national level.”
The Episcopal Ordination for the Bishops-elect is to take place in the morning of 1 February 2025 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.
The bishops-elect will join Bishop Martin Ashe and Bishop Tony Ireland in bringing together the leadership of the four regions of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
Bishop-elect Ramirez, who hails from Gapan, Philippines, has been a priest since June 1998. His first assignment as priest was as the vocation director for the Congregation of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus in the Philippines.
Having studied in the Philippines and Rome, he became the pastor of Holy Family Parish in October 2015, overseeing the Catholic communities of West Footscray, Maidstone, and Braybrook in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
His most recent ministry has been as the Supervising Priest in Rushworth, in the Diocese of Sandhurst.
Bishop-elect Thinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and came to Australia as a teenager.
He entered Corpus Christi College Regional Seminary Carlton in 1999 and was ordained for the priesthood by Archbishop Denis Hart on 16 September 2006 in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.
Having served in several Melbourne parishes and chaplaincies, he was appointed to oversee clergy formation in the Archdiocese in 2022.