Following the footsteps of St Dominic in the Archdiocese of Perth

16 Apr 2015

By Dr Marco Ceccarelli

Fr Peter Nguyen OP wearing the traditional Dominican white habit in Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Doubleview. PHOTO: Supplied

St Dominic de Guzmán was renowned for his zealous preaching and enthusiasm for the Gospel. He was a great supporter of communal life which, along with prayer, study and preaching, formed the basis of the Order of Preachers he founded in 1216.

Much like the founder of his order, parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary in Doubleview,
Father Peter Toan Nguyen OP, has a heart for both preaching the Gospel and walking alongside those searching for God in their lives.

As he reflects on his role as a Dominican Friar in Perth, he points out that, just as the Order of Preachers was created by St Dominic almost 800 years ago in response to a need for informed preaching, a very similar challenge is faced by our society today.

“As Dominicans, we are called the Order of Preachers. This means we devote our lives to studying and discovering the truth so that we can deliver a message of hope to the people,” Fr Nguyen said.

“St Dominic was a very ‘down to earth’ preacher who was in direct contact with people.

“As Dominicans, we follow his example by meditating on both the Gospel and what is happening in the society in order to make our preaching relevant to the lives of those whom we encounter,” he added.

A tone of urgency can be detected in Fr Nguyen’s voice when he speaks of the importance of delivering this message of hope to people today, a tone similar to the one used by Pope Francis when he called religious brothers, sisters and priests to “wake up the world” in this Year of Consecrated Life.

Furthermore, for Fr Nguyen, carrying a message which upholds the preciousness of human life is of particular significance as he experienced firsthand what it means to be in a life-threatening situation.

In 1981, Fr Nguyen undertook a very perilous journey across the sea from Vietnam to Australia. He recalls the feeling of having life and death separated by a piece of wood as a catalyst for his desire to enter religious life and be an agent for God within the country that welcomed him.

“My journey at sea is very close to my heart. Only when we are at the bottom of our life do we realise why we should be God’s agents of love and mercy.

“God’s mercy is what we need to discover in our society nowadays. Yet we tend to live as ‘masters of our lives’, especially in Australia where there is an abundance of resources and prosperity.

“Australia is a lucky country, and this is great but, at the same time, we need to realise that we are God’s creatures, and without God’s mercy and forgiveness it is hard for us to show mercy and love to the people around us,” Fr Nguyen said.

This concept of spiritual communion with others is, in Fr Nguyen’s eyes, the key to living a fulfilled life where the emptiness of solitude is cast aside for the richness of interaction and fellowship.

“Deep down in our heart there is a need to discover the relationship with the people who are around us. Only through the relationship with people can we have a relationship with God,” Fr Nguyen said.

Fr Nguyen joined the Dominicans after being in close contact with the Order of Preachers at his high school and having his Dominican great-uncle as a great role model in his life.

He commented on the scarcity of Dominicans within Perth’s parishes, something he connects to most Dominicans’ desire to work in universities and schools.

In fact, Dominicans are also known as an academic order, and are renowned for their level of education, studying at the service of the Church. While Australian Dominican priests and brothers still do parish work and run retreats, they are most prominent in Eastern States universities, with chaplains based at the University of Sydney, Monash University, and the University of Notre Dame Australia in Sydney.

Fr Nguyen himself has an impressive CV, decorated with the likes of a Bachelor of Theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, a Master of Arts with a major in theology and a Master of Social Sciences with a major in counselling from the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane.

Fr Nguyen is entering his seventh year as parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary and hopes to continue channelling the particular charisms of his Dominican order into his ministry of priesthood.