The diocese of Bùi Chu () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

diocese of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It encompasses 4/5 of

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in terms of area, including the six districts of Xuân Trường, Giao Thủy, Hải Hậu, Nghĩa Hưng, Trực Ninh, and Nam Trực and part of

Nam Định city Nam, Nam, or The Nam are shortened terms for: * Vietnam, which is also spelled ''Viet Nam'' * The Vietnam War Nam, The Nam or NAM may also refer to: Arts and media * Nam, a fictional character in anime series ''Dragon Ball'' * ''NAM'' (video ...

. The current bishop of the diocese since August 2013 is

Thomas Aquinas Vũ Đình Hiệu Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

Overview

Bùi Chu Diocese covers an area of 1,350 km², and is a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

of the

Archdiocese of Hanoi The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hanoi (, , ) is a Catholic Church, Catholic metropolitan archdiocese of Vietnam. It is one of the earliest in the history of the Catholic Church in Vietnam. The creation of the diocese in present form was declare ...

. From the late 17th century until 1930s, this was a center of the Spanish Dominican mission in Vietnam. The covering area of Bùi Chu is the same as at present as it has been from 1936, when it still was an

apostolic vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

. It was declared a diocese on November 24, 1960. By 2018, the Diocese of Bùi Chu had about 409,000 believers (32.8% of the population) in 176

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es. The diocese is divided into 13

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

: Báo Đáp, Bùi Chu, Đại Đồng, Kiên Chính, Lạc Đạo, Liễu Đề, Ninh Cường, Phú Nhai, Quần Phương, Quỹ Nhất, Thức Hóa, Tứ Trùng, and Tương Nam.

Ordinaries

Vicar Apostolic of Central Tonking (1847-1924)

Vicar Apostolic of Bùi Chu (1924-1960)

Bishop of Bùi Chu (1960-present)

;Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Central Tonking (1848-1884) ;Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Bùi Chu (1935-1936) ;Coadjutor Bishops of Bùi Chu (1979-2013) ;Auxiliary Bishops of Bùi Chu (2005-2009)

Sites

The Queen of the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Xuân Ngọc Commune, Xuân Trường District, which has been assigned as the see (the location of the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

and its Bishop's chair, and thus the headquarters) of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

. There are 12 Shrines in the diocese. The

Basilica of Immaculate Conception, Phu Nhai The Basilica of Immaculate Conception () is a neo-Gothic Roman Catholic basilica in Phú Nhai, Xuân Trường District, Xuân Trường, Nam Định, Vietnam. History Phú Nhai, now in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bùi Chu, was one of major Ca ...

is one of them. There is a traditional charity centre called Nhà Dục Anh (Orphanage House) in the northwest side of the Bùi Chu Cathedral.The Bui Chu Orphanage - Saint An's Family
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese of Bui Chu Bui Chu Christian organizations established in 1960 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Bui Chu, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1960 establishments in North Vietnam