Thinh Xuan Nguyen


Thinh Xuan Nguyen is a Vietnamese-born Australian bishop of the Catholic Church. He is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Early life

Nguyen was born in Saigon, South Vietnam. He was the third youngest of nine brothers and four sisters born to Hang Xuan Nguyen and Coi Thi Nguyen. He came to Australia at the age of 13 and attended secondary school at Redden Catholic College, Preston. He obtained a Bachelor of Building Engineering from the Victoria University and worked for an engineering firm before entering Corpus Christi College Regional Seminary, Carlton in 1999.

Presbyteral ministry

Nguyen was ordained deacon on 8 October 2005. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Melbourne on 16 September 2006 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne by Archbishop Denis Hart.
He served in the parish of Deer Park as a curate before being appointed parish priest of Fitzroy. He became a formator at Corpus Christi College Regional Seminary, Carlton in 2013 and then served as chaplain at the University of Melbourne. In 2020 he became parish priest of Bennettswood.
He holds a master's degree in Theological Studies and a Master of Arts in spirituality. In 2022, he was appointed coordinator of Clergy, Life and Ministry in the Archdiocese.

Episcopal ministry

On 8 November 2024, Pope Francis announced he had appointed Nguyen and Father Rene Ramirez RCJ as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. The pair were consecrated as bishops on 1 February 2025 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. The principal consecrator was Archbishop Peter A Comensoli while Bishop Gregory Bennet of Sale and Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst were co-consecrators.