A Perth priest was with his father until the end. And both men experienced the dignity of one another’s vocation.
When Nishan De Saram told his father Damian he wanted to be a priest, his loving father was initially unsupportive.
But in the last four years of Damien de Saram’s life (13 Sep 1943 – 1 Feb 2011), he got an upfront look at the meaning and dignity of his son’s ministry, accompanying Fr Nishan at daily Masses during his postings to Southern Cross and Bullsbrook.
Fr Nishan reminisced about his father to The Record as he prepared to celebrate Mass marking the one year anniversary of his death. The Mass took place on 1 February at the Holy Trinity Church in Embleton. Fr Nishan arrived in Australia about 14 years ago and has been working as an ordained priest for the past 10 and a half years.
Back in Sri Lanka, Fr Nishan had studied to be a chartered accountant and was working for Ernst and Young when he told his family he felt called to be a priest.
With an uncle who was the Archbishop of Colombo, and many priests and nuns in the extended family, his parents were sure he was simply trying to conform to an unspoken expectation.
Damien de Saram embraced his own vocation as husband and father, working as an automobile engineer to support his wife and four children – two boys and two girls. Mr de Saram came out to Australia when he fell ill with a respiratory ailment, eventually succumbing to emphysema.
Fr Nishan and sisters Shayanika and Deduni summed up their feelings for their late father in a poem they composed for his anniversary, part of which reads:
“We little knew that morning
That God would call your name.
In life we loved you dearly;
In death we do the same”.