From refugee to Bishop: Michael Pham’s remarkable story of migration, vocation and advocacy

About this episode

How can leaders in the church accompany migrants and refugees? Fr. James Martin, S.J., speaks with Bishop Michael Pham about how his background as a refugee has led him to accompany migrants today. Bishop Pham fled Vietnam in 1980 with his older sister and a younger brother, arriving first at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before being sponsored a year later by an American family and relocating to Minnesota. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s and started a master’s degree in aerospace engineering before shifting his course and pursuing the priesthood. Pope Francis appointed him as auxiliary bishop of San Diego in 2023. In 2025, Pope Leo XIV named him the seventh bishop of San Diego, making him the nation’s first Vietnamese-American diocesan bishop. Since then he has been a leader among U.S. bishops in advocating for migrants and refugees. Together, Bishop Pham and Fr. Martin discuss: His childhood in Vietnam and escaping conflict as a refugee How Bishop Pham supports migrants today How prayers and sacraments can sustain us while helping vulnerable communities Chapters: 0:00 A church that walks with migrants 4:24 Bishop Pham’s sto