WELCOME VINCENT TO THE MSC PRE-NOVITIATE

Vincent began his pre-Novitiate on January 24th. We asked him to write something about himself for us:

Vincent, Phong Phan

I was born on the 19th of March 1976; in Saigon, VietNam. I am the middle child with an older and a younger sister. My father was a school teacher before he entered the Dominican Religious Order but left them because of the war. After the war ended, he was imprisoned in the re-education camp for three and a half years because he was an officer with the South VietNam Army.

We escaped VietNam by boat in 1985, after six nights and seven days our boat reached Indonesia. We were placed in an UN refugee's camp for fourteen months at Galang before arriving in Hobart, Tasmania, in August 1986. Because of the cold weather, we transfered to Villawood Migrants' Centre in Sydney and lived in Parramatta from 1987 to 1995.

I was taught by the Marist Brothers at St Patrick’s Marist College, Dundas from 1988 to 1993. I studied engineering and architectural drafting at South Western Sydney Institute College, Granville from 1994 to 1996. I worked as a technician from 1995 to 2009 when the company closed because of the GFC. Then work in various jobs before joining the seminary in 2011. Because of my age I was not able to continue after the fourth year.

Continue to work as a courier and handyman before I was introduced to Fr Peter Huan of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart thanks to Fr Francis Tran at Dapto. I spent the last six months of 2019 discerning about the MSC with the help of Fr Frank Dineen and Fr Peter Huan.

In 2020, I'm beginning a new journey to Blackburn in Melbourne for the pre-novices program. So this year will be an important time for me to journey into the Heart after years of wandering. As St Mary of the Cross McKillop said: "Above all... Listen to the whisperings of God to your own Heart."