Fr Joseph Pham Tuan Nghia SJ has been appointed Provincial Superior of the Vietnamese Province of the Society of Jesus. He succeeds Fr Vincent Pham Van Mam SJ who has served in the role since 2016. Fr Nghia will begin his term as provincial on 21 November.

Born in Saigon in 1973, Fr Nghia entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Thu Duc in 1996, and pronounced his First Vows two years later. After philosophy studies at St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate (SJSS) and Regency at the Candidates House in Vietnam, he was sent to the Philippines to study theology at the Loyola School of Theology, and to pursue a master’s degree in spirituality and retreat directing at the Ateneo de Manila University. After his ordination to the priesthood in 2006, he was sent to Rome where he received a License in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 2010. He went on to obtain a doctoral degree in theology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Fr Nghia returned to Vietnam to serve as the dean of the theological programme at SJJS from 2014 to 2016. A year later, he undertook his Tertianship in Sri Lanka and pronounced his Final Vows the same year. Since 2017, he has served as the rector of SJJS, while also teaching biblical theology at various theological institutions in Vietnam. He is a province consultor and a member of the province’s intellectual ministry, as well as a member of the Episcopal Committee on Biblical Studies of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam.

In his letter announcing the appointment on 18 October, Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ thanked Fr Nghia for his availability in serving the universal Society, his Jesuit brothers, and all partners in mission in the Vietnamese province. He also thanked Fr Mam for his nearly six years of generous and dedicated leadership.

Conference President Fr Tony Moreno SJ welcomed Fr Nghia to the “collaborative leadership of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific”. [Vietnamese Province]