Saturday, September 23, 2023
Radio
Sundays 8pm to 11pm on Radio 2
New Episodes at CBC Music
Need more Strombo Show? Head over to our page on CBC Music for new episodes, playlists and video extras.
The demographics of the Catholic Church have shifted a lot over the years, and Canada is no exception. As Church membership has dropped overall, Canada's immigrant community has become a much bigger proportion of the faithful, especially in the Toronto diocese - one of the most ethnically diverse in North America. And now, it has a new leader to reflect that.
Vincent Nguyen was ordained last week - becoming Canada's youngest bishop and the first of Asian descent. And how he got there is pretty amazing.
Nguyen was born in Saigon during the Vietnam War, and was nine years old when the city fell to the communists. He says he sought solace in the Church, in the oppressive years after that, but by 1983, it was time to leave.
Nguyen and his uncle's family were among the wave of so-called Vietnamese 'boat people.' They sailed away on a fishing boat, got picked up by a Japanese freighter, and ended up in a Japanese refugee camp. A year later, Nguyen came to Toronto to join two brothers already here.
He enrolled in Catholic school, became active in the Church and ultimately joined the priesthood, after attending the University of Toronto.
Now, twenty-five years after leaving Vietnam, he's made Canadian history.
@TheStromboShow