“I will spend my life serving people:” Deacon Tai Pham on his priestly ordination

This month, Deacon Tai Pham will be ordained as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Sydney. 

Deacon Pham arrived in Australia from his native Vietnam in 2018 after discerning that God wanted him to carry out his ministry overseas.  

He said the culture in his parish was one of plentiful vocations, with dozens of men entering the seminary each year, and where the parishioners respected and served their priests. 

“I thought maybe I would go somewhere where I could learn how to serve like Christ, and also to help out where they’re facing the problem of the shortage of truth,” he told The Catholic Weekly.  

“I discussed this with my spiritual director and my director, and they all encouraged me to go elsewhere.” 

Deacon Pham said his directors did not know where to send him. But about six months later, he received a call from Fr Daniel Meagher (now Bishop Meagher) who was the rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Sydney at that time.   

With the help of a translator, he spoke to Fr Meagher to see if a move to Sydney would be suitable. Eventually he was accepted by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP.  

“I came to Sydney in early 2018. I started to learn English in my first year here and then in 2019, I joined the seminary and started my priestly formation here,” he said.  

“I was ordained to the diaconate on 14 November, and now he has called me to the priesthood.”  

From a very young age, Deacon Pham wanted to be a priest, following in the footsteps of an uncle, Fr Anthony Nguyen.  

“I went to the presbytery where he served in a remote area and I stayed with him along with other young people,” he said.  

“In a basic day, we just went to school, we served in a church helping the priest to do his ministry.”  

As he got older and went to university in Hanoi, he realised that “the priestly vocation is more complex” than he originally thought, but he knew he was called to serve people.  

“One of the things that touched me was, when my spiritual life was getting cold, I reflected on that and thought more seriously about my faith journey,” he said.  

He said at this time, his spiritual life “wasn’t right,” as he did not often go to confession even though he was a catechist and was receiving the Eucharist. 

“I finally sought to see a priest and he told me that the confessional is not a court where God charts you, no, it is a place where you encounter God,” he said.  

He said this new understanding of confession changed his faith journey and led him to a deeper understanding of the church and its sacraments and strengthened his vocation.   

“Back in my home parish, I entered the seminary. I studied there for a few years but in my fifth year of vocation, I was sent to a parish for a long pastoral placement,” he said.  

“There, I realised another call, that God wanted me to go overseas.”  

In his religious life, Deacon Pham said his uncle was his “mentor and spiritual father.”  

Fr Nguyen suffered greatly when he was a seminarian. “He was arrested by the Communist party during his priestly formation; they arrested him just because he wanted to be a priest,” said Deacon Pham.  

“At that time in the 1970s, he had been through different prisons in Vietnam, and they kept him in prison for almost 18 years.”  

Deacon Pham said his uncle “always persevered in his faith journey”. He taught other prisoners to express their faith, even though he was punished for it. 

He was released after almost two decades, returned to his village and resumed his vocational studies. These still had to be undertaken secretly.  

“Even for studying at that time, they had to do it privately, but he did it, and then eventually he was ordained in 1994,” Deacon Pham said.  

“Through his life and vocation, I learned a lot and I was so blessed to have a period of time with him.” 

Looking to the future, Deacon Pham says he wishes to serve people as a priest and follow “after the heart of Christ”. 

“For me, it’s important I will spend all of my life serving people, to meet them in their needs, and be with them on their journey,” he said.  

“Not only can I help them but they can also help me so we can all journey together.” 

Deacon Pham will be ordained by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on May 31 in St Mary’s Cathedral at 10.30am. All are invited.