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New priests take role of ‘PR men’ for God and the Church
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| By BRIAN DAVIES
6 May, 2007 |
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| NEWLY ORDAINED: (From left) Fr Richard Abourjaily, Fr Chris Brennan, Fr Phuc Dinh Le and Fr Huy Trong Phan pictured in St Mary’s Cathedral before their ordinations last Saturday. |
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DIFFERENT journeys, different tracks finally converged on the path to the priesthood in Sydney last week … the end of the roads travelled by four Australian deacons to be ordained in St Mary's Cathedral: Fathers Richard Abourjaily, Chris Brennan, Phuc Dinh Le and Huy Trong Phan
The two priests from Vietnam have turned Vietnamese usage around by putting their family names last, so as to accommodate Australian custom, and on the eve of their ordination all four deacons talked with The Catholic Weekly about what had led them to the priesthood – their vocations, their aspirations and their expectations of ministry.
Perhaps the most curious route of the four to the priesthood was that of Chris Brennan, aged 47, now a Pauline priest, who once studied to be an Anglican minister, who travelled from an Anglican childhood, through academia and a professional practice, before retreating again to academia where his persistent sense of a vocation for the priesthood reasserted its call and brought him to Catholicism.
“Fundamentally I was wanting to tell people God is love,” Fr Chris says.
Richard Abourjaily, at All Hallows, Five Dock, now 28, was inspired to the priesthood at primary school, St Jerome’s, Punchbowl, by the school principal, Fr Joseph Fleiman, and the example of the parish priest, Fr Hugh Boland; then next at St Charbel’s College by the lives of the saints and his RE teacher Robert Haddad.
Phuc Dinh Le’s calling summons him to the young and the poor. Aged 32, Phuc says: “While energetic and young myself I want to work with young people … my priority in the parish will be its youth.
“I want to be a giving priest, giving for Our Lord,” he says. “I also feel strongly about the poor. When I was at the seminary in the Philippines the poverty there affected me much, so much I would also be very happy one day to serve the poor.”
Huy Trong Phan, at Sacred Heart, Cabramatta, when a deacon, echoed similar pastoral concerns. “I’m in Cabramatta now and one of the things that concerns me is the families in our community. There are plenty of Vietnamese people in Cabramatta, but a problem is broken families and, of course, the children are affected, as well as youth. I listen and talk the problems over and give some advice, backed up with prayer.
“But my biggest challenge in Australia is to adapt and put myself into a situation I’ve never been before. I was born in Vietnam and educated in the Philippines. I have to learn more about the customs and the culture here.”
Phuc, at St Felix de Valois, Bankstown, as a deacon, chimes in: “… a very mixed culture. At Bankstown everyone is very open-minded, easy to understand. It’s a guide to understanding.
“The way we live is open-minded and it’s easy to get to know and understand each other.”
Whether these new western Sydney priests remain in their parishes as assistant priests or go elsewhere is a decision for the future. Eventually, they can expect to be running their own parishes.
Chris Brennan will have a different congregation.
“Our primary work as Paulines is not in parishes,” he says. “Our priestly work is our editorial work for the faithful by producing books dealing with faith and morals and social issues – to spread the faith that way.
“It’s been a long journey. I was 22; I’d completed my dentistry degree and gone to work in a country town where I encountered Christian families who made me very welcome. I appreciated their personal faith and got very involved in the Church, prepared for confirmation with the help of our local Anglican minister and next found I wanted to study theology. Anyway, I eventually returned to Brisbane to teach dentistry at the
university and I used to also frequent a diocesan bookshop near St Stephen’s Cathedral.
“All the years, I know now, I’d been growing in faith through reading.”
He also enrolled as an ordinand in an ecumenical theological college to train for the Anglican priesthood.
“At the college a lot of Church documents I encountered were already familiar in the Anglican Church, but I was struck by the universality of Catholicism and the unity symbolised by the pope.
“I felt then part of one huge family worldwide, and a tradition that clearly went back to the Apostles. All Churches originate in some way from apostolic tradition, but the Catholic Church most clearly goes back to the Apostles. So I decided to leave the priesthood idea aside.”
The bookshop he frequented was later taken over by the Pauline order – leading to a contact that would eventually become binding.
For Richard Abourjaily, truth was a key determinant in his view of his calling and an expression of his faith – his biggest commitment to his parishioners.
“True joy consists in knowing, understanding, that Christ is relevant in our lives … to show as a priest the truth and beauty of our faith – truth in a world where relativism has sway, not just to youngsters, but to people of all ages.”
His two Vietnamese colleagues, sharing very similar backgrounds, reflected on their aspirations.
Huy: “I felt I had a calling to be a priest from childhood on; in such a way to get closer to God and by serving the people to get closer still, and then as my college days were ending I knew that was what I’d do.”
Phuc: “When I was about 15 I decided then. I think my vocation started because of my family.
“Our whole family background was very religious. I think I was always on my journey to become a priest.”
After graduating with bachelor degrees from university in Vietnam, both enrolled for the next six years in one of the Philippines’ major seminaries, the Pontifical Central Seminary University of Santo Tomas, run by the Dominicans.
Had they not given some thought to becoming Dominicans? A grin, and a shake of the head and an unstated aside about the unrelenting rigours of Dominican monastic life. Ten months ago they were sent to Australia to begin parish life as deacons.
So, on the eve of ordination, and soon to celebrate the Eucharist as priests, they would also be called on to deliver their first homily at Mass. Had they given any thought to it?
Chris Brennan makes it clear it will depend on the prayers and readings of the day, “but the fundamental message is to think about who God is and who we are and how do the two relate … what are we about and how do we get there. God is a community of love; God who creates us and saves us for a future with God into eternity.
“How do we live now so that we can enjoy that – and the way to that, of course, is to love others.”
Phuc Dinh Le defers: “As Chris says, the homily relates to the prayers and readings of the day, but I think for my first Mass at St Felix’s my spiritual director should speak about my vocation and about the priesthood in general.”
Richard Abourjaily says:
“Fundamentally again, the beauty and truth of our faith, to show we have been loved by Christ at a great price, but I need more time to think about it.”
Huy Trong Phan: “Perhaps not at my first Mass, but I would have an early message for young people of my own experience – to those young people who might want to be a priest, don't be afraid; make a lifelong commitment; being a priest is a priest for ever, not for one or two days but a priest
forever. It’s a long commitment, but believe me, when God is with us we survive, and God is always with us.”
Chris Brennan: “On vocations, I wish the education set-up at the moment encouraged students to study philosophy; it really does help people to think and we need people who think. Philosophy is a great education and if people were wondering if the priesthood was for them, philosophy would help them decide or be better equipped to do so. They don’t have to get an answer quickly; I’d say to those young people: take your time. While working at your trade or profession or what have you, think, go into it.”
Huy: “I think how – if – the parish and the parish priest relate well to youth and how the youth see the priest, see him leading a happy life as a priest, they won’t be separated from the people. If you relate well to the people we help them relate to the Gospels and help them learn and practise love.
Chris: “We are given the opportunity hopefully to experience something of God now – limited as we are by our bodies – so that after we die we come to live with God and all the saints in heaven. That’s where we’re headed, where we’re destined. Of course, we can choose not to co-operate but it is really more fulfilling for us to co-operate.”
So, what would they themselves be praying on the night and morning before their ordination?
Fr Phuc: “To be faithful to my vocation. To be a cheerful priest, to reach all kinds of people, to be a PR person – public relations for God and his Church. I pray to relate well not only to fellow Catholics but to all people.”
Fr Huy: “To be a good and faithful priest in the eyes of God and a humble and loving priest in the eyes of the people.”
Fr Chris: “My prayer is that God will give me the confidence to do God’s will and to encourage others to discover God’s will and to follow it.”
Fr Richard: “That God’s will will be everything I desire: to be faithful to Christ and his Church and to pray for all the people I’ll come into contact with during my life as a priest.”
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