Fr. John Tran named auxiliary bishop of Atlanta

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Father John Nhan Tran, the pastor of Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Mandeville, isn’t unlike many other people who don’t like to answer a cell phone call from an unexpected number, especially during a volatile national election cycle.

But at the official announcement in Atlanta Oct. 25 that Pope Francis had appointed him auxiliary bishop of Atlanta, Bishop-elect Tran explained his game of ecclesiastical phone tag.

Father Tran said when he received not one but three cell phone calls recently from the same number with a Washington, D.C., area code, he decided to text back to see if he would get a response.

“I simply (texted), ‘If I can be of any help to you, please text me,’” Father Tran said.

He did not get an answer from the anonymous caller but then received a fourth phone call the next day from the same number. Again, he didn’t answer, but this time, the caller left a voicemail.

It was Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal delegate whose job it is to contact those being asked by Pope Francis to consider an episcopal appointment.

“So, of course, I called him back, and he said, ‘Do you know who I am?’” Father Tran said, laughing.

Archbishop Pierre informed Father Tran that Pope Francis wanted to appoint him auxiliary bishop of Atlanta. 

“I said, ‘No way,’” Father Tran said, who then asked for a few days to pray before giving the papal nuncio his response.

“So, I did that for several days, and then I called him back and said to him, ‘After much prayer and reflection, I am humbled by the appointment, and I will do my best. Bless the archbishop and the Archdiocese of Atlanta – pray for them.’ He assured me he will do so.”

Bishop-elect Tran, a native of Vietnam who came to New Orleans with his family in 1975 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1992, will be ordained to the episcopacy on Jan. 23 in Atlanta by Atlanta Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer. 

Bishop-elect Tran, 56, will join Atlanta’s two other auxiliaries – Bishop Joel Konzen and Bishop Bernard Shlesinger.

“Bishop-elect Tran brings 30 years of pastoral ministry and experience to his new assignment as auxiliary bishop here in the Archdiocese of Atlanta,” Archbishop Hartmayer said. “I could not be happier.”

“I always saw myself as a simple priest serving in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” Bishop-elect Tran said.

“He has not only served very well as pastor but has been very involved in many aspects of our archdiocese,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond said in an Oct. 25 letter to priests, deacons and the archdiocesan staff. “We have benefited greatly from his gifts and dedication.”

Bishop-elect Tran has served as pastor of Mary Queen of Peace since 2014 and has distinguished himself beyond his pastoral ministry. 

In 2015, he donated a kidney to an Oklahoma City priest – Father Thanh Van Nguyen – whom he had known as a seminarian at St. Joseph Seminary College and Notre Dame Seminary in the 1980s.

The two priests had kept in occasional contact over the years, but when Father Tran found out in 2013 that his former seminary classmate needed a kidney, he offered to get tested to see if he might be a donor.

“It seemed like every time I called to check on him I had to remind him of the offer, because I couldn’t do anything unless I got the donor coordinator’s information to contact,” Father Tran told the Clarion Herald in 2015. “Earlier this year, when I finally insisted, he finally gave it to me.”

Father Tran canceled plans to lead a pilgrimage to Spain because there was a requirement for extensive medical testing in Oklahoma City to see if he was a suitable kidney donor. He had never been to the hospital before. 

“When I make a decision, it’s like second nature to me,” Father Tran said. “That’s the way God wired me, I know from visiting people in the hospital that you only need one kidney. I’ve never given it a thought. If it’s God’s will, it will work out.”

When Hurricane Harvey heavily flooded Houston and Beaumont, Texas, in 2017, Father Tran recruited parishioners to travel to the Diocese of Beaumont on successive weekends to deliver supplies and gut the homes of parishioners from Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Beaumont and St. Francis of Assisi Church in Orange.

Covering both weekends, 17 parishioners made the mercy trips. The parish also delivered a 24-foot truckload of supplies collected by parishioners to Port Arthur and presented the Diocese of Beaumont and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston with $84,000 in donations.

“It really made me proud to be a member of Mary Queen of Peace and to be able to represent our parish in this important work,” parishioner Herb Leedy told the Clarion Herald. “We truly were part of a wonderful community, and we have a special pastor guiding us.”

Bishop-elect Tran said he felt Mary Queen of Peace’s efforts “brought those we helped a sense of hope.”

When the Vietnam War broke out, Bishop-elect Tran said his father was sentenced to 18 years in a communist concentration camp but was able to escape. In 1975, he and his family were able to flee the country.

“One of the things that was important to my father was the fact that under communism, we would not be able to practice our Catholic faith,” Bishop-elect Tran said. “My dad owned a lot of property back in Vietnam, but we left empty-handed so that we would be able to practice our faith. We were one of the fortunate ones who were able not only to be rescued at sea but also to be given the opportunity to come to this country. This country has been a blessing for all the Vietnamese who were able to resettle here.”

Bishop-elect Tran joked that he did not not have any advanced theological degrees that one might associate with a bishop.

“There’s nothing on my credentials that I have anything other than what was required of me in school,” he said. “Although I made decent grades – thanks to the professor who was compassionate to me. But, I know as long as we respond to the invitation of the Lord, the Lord will take care of the rest for us.”

He said he did not realize priests usually don’t ascribe to themselves a spiritual “motto” – as bishops do – but he was always struck by the Gospel passage in which Jesus told his disciples, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

“That’s why I stand where I am, because I truly believe that God called me, not because I’m better than anybody else, but because I’m a sinner, and perhaps more sinful than others,” Bishop-elect Tran said. “But, yet, I believe that God has called us.”

Bishop-elect Tran’s mother died when he was 2. His older brother was killed in the Vietnam War after stepping on a landmine, and a younger brother died of cancer. An older brother lives in Hoover, Alabama, and a sister lives in Slidell.

His father remarried, and Bishop-elect Tran has a half-brother and a half-sister who live in New Orleans. 

Archbishop Hartmayer said the Atlanta Diocese is “the fastest-growing diocese in the U.S.” It is home to 1.2 million Catholics, has added 15 parishes and five schools in the last 20 years, and has 38 men studying for the priesthood.

Bishop-elect Tran graduated from Edna Karr Junior High School before going to New York to finish high school. He studied briefly at the Salesians’ Don Bosco College seminary in New Jersey before returning to New Orleans to attend St. Joseph Seminary College and Notre Dame Seminary.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Francis Schulte on May 30, 1992.

He served as pastor of St. Louise de Marillac in Arabi, St. Bonaventure in Avondale, St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace and Mary Queen of Peace.

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