It’s not often that two men from a single parish are ordained as deacons in a single week. But 2025 was a lucky year for Our Lady of the Rosary parish in the outer western Sydney suburb of Fairfield.
On Wednesday, 19 November, Philip Pham, once a refugee from Vietnam, was ordained in St Mary’s Cathedral as a permanent deacon. And on Saturday, 22 November, Peter Van Khuơng Tran, a young Vietnamese seminarian, was ordained by Bishop Daniel Meagher in Fairfield.
“Here in Sydney and in Australia we owe such a debt of gratitude to the people and to the Church of Vietnam. You have contributed so much energy to our church here in Sydney,” Bishop Meagher told the congregation after the ordination Mass.
The Catholic Weekly caught up with Deacon Tran a few days before his ordination. He is a 32-year-old with a broad smile from the diocese of Vinh, in central Vietnam, about 300 kilometres from Hanoi. He comes from a family of eight children.
From the time he was a 10-year-old altar server (often at 4.30am on weekdays), he was keen to become a priest. His father discouraged him, but the idea didn’t go away.
“That is one of the signs of a genuine vocation, that it’s deep, that it persists,” said Bishop Meagher in his homily.
When he was a bit older, Deacon Tran recalls, “I experienced the mercy of God at first hand in a discernment retreat. A priest was available to hear my confession, and I said, I want to be someone like that guy, a witness of God’s love and mercy to other people, especially through the sacrament of reconciliation.”
He was planning to enter a seminary in Vietnam. But when Bishop Meagher paid a visit to the families of Vietnamese seminarians studying in Sydney, he met Deacon Tran and organised for him to come to Australia.
He arrived in Fairfield parish in September 2017 and entered Good Shepherd Seminary in the following year. At the time his English was rudimentary – “enough to say hello, goodbye, where’s it, where’s the food? What time to eat?”, he said. But he stuck at it.
None of his family was able to attend the ordination. His father passed away a couple of years ago and his mother is not well enough to travel. He has only been able to return to Vietnam every couple of years. “I’m happy to make that sacrifice in order to serve people here,” he said.
In a way, commented Deacon Tran, coming to a Western country like Australia is settling a debt.
“Our ancestors could get the faith thanks to missionaries, French missionaries. And I told myself, without them, I don’t think we would have faith nowadays. It’s sort of like returning a favour.”
He dreams of “reigniting” the faith of Australian Catholics, especially with the sacrament of reconciliation.
“It’s really important and a beautiful gift that God has given us,” he said. “Sometimes we have overlooked the sacrament of reconciliation. Maybe it’s time to revive that sacredness and the essential role of this sacrament.”
All going well, Deacon Tran will be ordained a priest next year. What are his dreams for his vocation?
“To be holy,” he told The Catholic Weekly, “so that I can be an instrument of God’s mercy, presence and love among people.”