My Vocation with Fr Quang Van Nguyen
I found my vocation by chance. I was in Year 11 and after studying I needed a break. I went out into the backyard.
The moon was full and it was a beautiful night. I thought of all the people out there – loved ones, friends and people I didn’t know.
I wondered if they paid attention to God and the beauty of his creation. I felt I needed to praise God on their behalf and to atone for their wrongdoing.
So I decided to become a priest to do that more specifically.
For the sake of others and myself I wanted to be a diocesan priest.
That way it would be easier for me to interact with other people.
If I were a religious I would spend my time praying within my community and not in the parish. The longing to be a priest grew daily.
In my country (Vietnam) it was very difficult for me to become a priest because there was no seminary at the time.
In spite of that, many wanted to be priests and nuns. We were eager with our ideals.
If people have an easy life they easily attach themselves to material things rather than religious things.
My road to priesthood has been a long and difficult journey, but it has enriched me and enabled me to find God through the difficulties.
After finishing high school in 1990 I was accepted as a seminarian. Usually, to become a priest takes six years but for me it took 17, together with one year as an apprentice before I was ordained at the age of 36.
There were still ways for us to follow our vocations though only a few were accepted and it took longer as it had to be arranged discreetly by our bishop. My parents knew what I would face but they said, “It’s up to you.”
Nowadays people find it easier to follow their vocations in Vietnam. Thanks to the influence of other countries’ economies the door is open a little wider and we have more seminaries.
I came to Australia in February 2010 and was allocated to All Saints Parish, Greenwood. I think of those parishioners as my first love as a resident priest.
Although I was able to be a priest in Australia after 17 years of secret seminary studies in Communist Vietnam, my Bachelor of Arts degree was not recognised here.
I started doing my BA and after 18 months I graduated from the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle.
I then went to Sydney and commenced doing my Masters of Theology majoring in Christology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
When I first arrived I was based at the Cathedral Parish of Hornsby, Broken Bay diocese, taking up assistant priest duties there, and now I am appointed as priest of the parish at Holy Name Catholic Church, Wahroonga.
In Vietnamese culture the priest is like a member of the family.
I have tried to apply the experience of the Church in Vietnam as a family in Wahroonga and in return I have received positive responses; for example, there are more participants in the Church.
Parishioners here can easily recognise that I deal with them sincerely and work for them wholeheartedly and it is my hope that this approach continues to work.
The situation in Vietnam is now much better. Priestly vocations in my home diocese of Xuan Loc are flourishing.
The diocese has 350 seminarians, and thus we need more lecturers. It is for this task that I was selected by the bishop to come to Australia and complete higher studies.
I am inspired by Father Joseph Hoang Minh Duong whom I met as a seminarian. He is in his 70’s now. In Vietnam we would say he is “a very old tree.”
This saying means that he is someone important and influential. I could take refuge under Father Joseph’s foliage.
He is a very humble, intelligent, wonderful and holy man. Many parishioners in the region call him a saint and love him so much. Hopefully, through my priestly ministry I will emulate him little by little.
In Vietnam the way people practice their faith is different. It can be easily noticed that the Church in Vietnam is a family of God in its literal sense.
During my long journey of formation, I was based at Doc Mo Parish for ten years where the Mother Parish looked after me so well.
In Doc Mo Parish, there are two Masses and an hour of adoration daily.
Parishioners pray Night Prayers together every night. Many people come.
On Sundays about 10,000 people attend Mass, so priests are desperately needed.
In a secular world many people don’t want priests, but it is worth helping even just one person, isn’t it?