Fr Kim-Huy Hoang was born in Phuoc, Vietnam, on 16 February 1965 and emigrated to Australia as a teenager, along with his brothers and sister. Since arriving in Australia he has always been actively engaged in the life of the Melbourne Church at the Salesian-run parish in Clifton Hill/Collingwood.
He did his Salesian novitiate in the house at Lysterfield, where he also made his first profession in 1989. He was ordained deacon in Clifton Hill/Collingwood, Victoria on 24 January 1997 and ordained priest in Scoresby in September 1997.
In 35 years of Salesian life, Father Kim Huy-Hoang has held various roles and responsibilities: he has been a teacher in various Salesian schools; parish priest of Clifton Hill/Collingwood, Victoria. In recent years he has been the Rector of the communities in Engadine (2019-2022) and Sunbury (since 2022) and Chaplain of three schools in both places. In 2022 he was appointed Vice-Provincial, and has held the position of Head of Religious Discipline and the Social Communication Sector of the Province.
As successor to the current Provincial, Fr William Matthews, Fr Peter Kim-Huy Hoang is therefore preparing to lead the Australia-Pacific Province for the next six years.
The AUL Province includes 4 countries: Australia, Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand, with a total of 14 communities. The nature and mission of the Province have been multicultural from the beginning, with missionaries from Italy and Europe, and continue to be so with numerous local vocations (from Samoa and Tonga) and confreres from all over Southeast Asia.
The Province welcomed the Rector Major in April 2023, who came on a visit to celebrate the centenary of the Salesian presence in Australia (1923-2023). Fr Ángel Fernández Artime spent 8 days with confreres, Salesian Family groups, students and young people. Given his direct experience, he witnessed the vitality of the Province and the zeal of the confreres in working for the well-being of young people, despite the many challenges.
