RIP, BISHOP AMBROSE KIAPSENI MSC, EMERITUS BISHOP OF KAVIENG, NEW IRELAND

News came at the end of last week of the death of Ambrose Kiapseni MSC.  He had been Bishop of Kavieng, New Ireland but resigned during 1918 and was succeeded by Bishop Rochus Tatamai, who was transferred from the diocese of Bereina, PNG.

Here is the announcement of his death.

MicroData Summary for Ambrose Kiapseni
Bishop Ambrose Kiapseni M.S.C. (born 16 Oct 1945, died 20 Dec 2019) Bishop Emeritus of Kavieng

 DARAMALAN FAREWELL

CANBERRA TIMES NEWS/ AND TOLD AGAIN IN THE CATHOLIC VOICE

End of an era as last priests and brothers leave Daramalan College/ and a visit of Archbishop Christopher Prowse.

Megan Doherty

Canberra's Daramalan College was founded in 1962 by the priests and brothers of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Fifty-seven years later, the last remaining MSC (Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis) priests and brothers are moving to a retirement home in Sydney and their residence on the site of the school is closing.

It's the end of an era.

Father Jim Littleton, 89, and Father Harold Baker, 96, at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart residence at Daramarlan College. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

While the school now has a staff of lay teachers, there was a time - in the mid-1970s - when close to 30 priests or brothers were working at the school and living in the residence.

Only three now remain.

Father Jim Littleton, 89, was the principal of Daramalan College from 1971 to 1979.

Father Harold Baker, 96, was the deputy principal, teaching maths and religion and providing pastoral care to the year 11 and year 12 student from 1975 to 2002.

Students also have fond memories of him teaching them social dancing.

Picture: Elesa Kurtz

"It's time for me to go," Father Harold said.

Brother John Walker is the third remaining person living in the residence. He was a registered nurse who worked at Calvary Hospital.

They are retiring to a Sacred Heart monastery in Sydney.

Father Harold leaves next week and Father Jim and Brother John early next year.

"I'm sad to be leaving because I've enjoyed living in Canberra," Father Jim said.

Father Jim said after stepping down as principal, his focus moved from the students to staff.

"Helping them to understand the ethos of the school," he said.

"That's is based around a spirituality; helping them to appreciate they're loved by God."

Daramalan College principal Rita Daniels said the brothers and priests had made a huge contribution to the school.

The last on staff was Brother Barry Smith, the business manager, who left in July.

"They have left an extraordinary legacy at the school over 57 years," Ms Daniels said.

"They have been significant in the field of education and supporting young people to be the best they can be."

Ms Daniels said no decisions had yet been made about the future of the residence building.

"It will eventually be handed over to the school for future development," she said.

Daramalan board chair Chris Fearon, who attended the school from 1966 to 1973, said he was sad to see the priests and brothers go but Daramalan would "always be an MSC school".

"They've been a great presence, in many ways, as guides and mentors for the students," he said.

"We recognise things do move on. In reality, I think, people joining the priesthood, the MSC, are not going to be teachers. They want to work in the missions out in the Pacific, PNG. Unfortunately, priests with education as their mission and vocation are becoming fewer.

"But we have a fantastic group of teachers being formed in the MSC ethos and we've taken up the challenge."

FAREWELL, THE CLIFFS, SHOREHAM

The MSC are moving out of The Cliffs after 75 years or so.  That is, Brian Gallagher is moving out.

The Victoria-Tasmania community recently had a farewell gathering, prayer and a meal.  Photos of us and, for those who have not been to Shoreham recently, some views.

Frank Andersen, Brian Gallagher, Des Holm, Peter Curry

Paul Castley, Khoi, Philip Malone

Michael Sims, Ahn - going into the Pre-novitiate, Peter Malone

(Absent, Ted McCormack, Terry Bowman, Mark Hanns)

There have been several eras at Shoreham.

First, from the 1940s to the early 1960s.  Holidays for the students and the staff.  Large numbers of students - and a big marquee at the side of the building to accommodate those who could not fit into the huts.

Second, from the 1960s to the 1990s, still in use, not such big numbers, others having holiday time there. Repairs and some building going on.

Third, when Brian Gallagher finished his term as Provincial, he went to Shoreham in 1999, gradually renovating the buildings, setting the place up as a haven for retreats, small numbers. He was joined for several years by Chris Chaplin.

The MSC will still own the property but will lease it – and it will remain as a retreat centre.  More news about Shoreham when the new era gets going in 2020.

MSC BURSARS’ MEETING, ROME

Report, Rene Balboa, Province Manager.

Photos from Humberto Henriques MSC, General House.

Six months ago, the Fr General, Abzalon Alvarado Tovar, sent us a letter about the proposed meeting of the Provincial Bursars/Treasurers.  This is the first time for it to be held.  While the travel to Rome seemed to be very long and there would be too many days to be away when many of us have other tasks, a congregation of 18 of the 20 MSC provinces and 3 unions were present.  The oldest was 89 years old and the youngest was 34.  Only two provinces of North Germany, South Germany-Austria were unable to share their experience with us.

The theme “something is being born, can’t you see it?” Is 43:19 and as a EEITworking theme  “THE ECONOMY AT THE SERVICE OF THE MISSION”. The meeting was a way of knowing and loving the Congregation more and of establishing personal links among more than thirty MSCs.  The whole general administration accompanied us.  This allowed us from then on to put a name, a face and heart to the brothers of all the provinces and unions of the congregation.

A climate of optimism accompanied us, knowing that the strength of the congregation is on Spirituality and Mission and that the strength will continue to live more or less in more than 50 countries.

The presence of 7 Lay people (three women and four men) was highlighted.  Presentations on Vow of Poverty, Transparency, Solidarity and Self-Sufficiency among others, were made by the different speakers from other MSC provinces and other religious organisations.

Presentations were made by each province, union and general administration on organisation, locations of provinces & communities and financial matters.  Learning the status and difficulties of the provinces, the meeting concluded with the aim to foster close communication, update the policies and guidelines at all levels: general administration, regional, provincial and communities.

Considering the enthusiasm and motivation of the attendees, a follow-up of bursars’ meeting at regional level like APIA was planned.  The meeting concluded on the 10^th of December 2019.

The congregation thanked the CJ Sisters for their hospitality in providing the attendees with the food and venue at their general house in Via Nomentana, Rome, Italy.

FROM INDIA TO KIPPAX, ACT: MICHAEL NITHAN STEPHAN MSC 

Welcome to our confrere from India, working in Kippax.

We invited him to introduce himself,

              I Michael Nithan Stephan son of Stephan and Joseph Selvi, born on 12th August 1990 in India. I have an older brother called Sengol Cyril who is a carpenter and married. My parents are farmers who live in small village called Silamaganadu which is located in south part of Tamil Nadu.  I joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart upon completing school in June 2008. It was not an accident or a long dream that I would like to join in MSC but through one of my cousins called Fr. Inigo who is good friend of MSC community in Bangalore. I was inspired by the charism of the congregation and decided to live in the community. It was almost 10 years of formation, I made my first profession in 2011, took my perpetual vows in 2017 and I did my regency in one of the parish in Bangalore in 2014. After completing my studies in philosophy and theology, I was ordained as a deacon in 8^th June 2018.  I did my deaconate ministry in our MSC parish at Dindigul where I taught at the MSC school Chevalier Academy. And I was doing my ministry in one of the parishes called St. John the Evangelist church in Bangalore.

Receiving faculties from Archbishop Christopher Prowse.          

This is my first time in Australia and being outside India. It is a very exciting time for me as I have the opportunity to experience a new culture and get to meet and work with my brother MSCs here in Australia. I am looking very much forward to living in the community in Kippax and working in the parish with Fr. Gerard and Fr. Kimi. I am very happy to be here in Australia and enjoining my ministry. I am experiencing the real love and hospitality from the parishners and the community where I live. Thanks to all the MSCs confreres.   

THE PRINTED MSC AUSTRALIA MAGAZINE.

Have you seen copies of the printed MSC Magazine, MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEART?

Beside the MSC Logo on the top of the front cover, there are the words, the encouragement,

Be on earth the heart of God.

The new issue is out, Issue 4, Summer 2019.

There is a photo of the cover and contents (clearer photos beyond the capacity of the editor or his phone/camera.  (Perhaps, that could be an enticement to read the magazine).

Some of the material is drawn from website items. The rest of the material is exclusive to the magazine.

Copies are available from:

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

1A Waltham St,

Coogee.   NSW.  2034.

(02) 9665 8999

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A SURPRISING LETTER FROM OUR MSC CONFRERE, JONAS HASSAN, WHO WORKS IN FORMATION IN CAMEROUN.

Jonas studied at Marymount, Castle Hill, in a renewal program in 2017. He also visited MSC communities in Australia, especially the Northern Territory.  He keeps in touch, especially with Formation news.  This was an unexpected letter about his current holiday – not exactly our idea of a holiday.

Jonas writes. Hello Peter. Hope you are doing fine. Am on holidays. My family is fine but all spend the night on the mountain because they know neither the day nor the hour that the terrorist group Boko Haram will target them once more. They leave their house around 5pm and go down at 6am.  Many of them left the village permanently and others settled temporarily in Mora and Maroua.  They seek to kill only men. 

The big problem is the children suffering from the cold weather of December, and especially the school, that is among the five big primary schools in the diocese  with nearly 1500 children that are at risk of depopulation. 

I wanted to go to the presbytery but my parents have forbidden me and the parish asked me to go to Mora.  I will stay either at Mora or at Kourgui in an ancient presbytery.  I can spend the day in the village but by 16h I leave.  The government says it has no staff because all went to North and south west of Cameroon in trouble since 3 years.  The soldiers are tired and discouraged by the duration of the war and especially the high ranks soldiers who take everything. 

I have already been to some officers to hear them, but nothing came out.  It is expected by 15th December reinforcements with the last exit.  I experienced such a situation in 2014 in Bourha when hundreds of Nigerian Christians took up my parish hunted by the same terrorist group but right now am very overwhelmed.  A special intention for the villagers. Thanks.

Mora is a town in northern Cameroon. Mora has a population of 55,216 making it the 5th biggest city in Far North. The German fort of Mora was the last German fort in Cameroon to surrender during World War I

A HAPPY MSC DAY: PROFESSING HIS FIRST VOWS,  KENJI KONDA, MSC

Saturday, December 14, in the community Chapel at St Mary’s Towers, Douglas Park, Kenji Konda completed his novitiate and made his first profession - a province celebration, a community celebration.

Provincial superior, Chris McPhee, received the vows.

Kenji’s mother was present at the ceremony.

His Novice Master was Peter Harvey-Jackson MSC.

Kenji and his family have had a long contact with the MSC, originally in Japan, but especially in Sydney, the parishes of Randwick and Coogee where he served on the Parish Councils, and long involvement with Adrian Meany in the MSC Missions Office.

We share the community blessing over Kenji

We have some quotations from Kenji, from a recent article in the MSC Magazine.

With his work in preparing the novitiate for the incoming new novices, Kenji noted: “for these reasons and others, the thought of taking vows never really entered my mind. In fact, were it not for my community, it may have taken even longer to register. The belief started to set in when I began noticing the subtle changes in the way the members here behaved towards me. Of course, over the course of the past 12 months, I had grown accustomed to being showered with the joy and delight as I progressed through each stage of the novitiate program – the community have been totally supportive and encouraging throughout the process – but things were a little different now. It is difficult to describe because the experience is at the effective level, a genuine sense of being brought into the fold and accepted as “one” – much more and at a far deeper level than ever before.

It is like an expression of their approval, a sign that I am now welcome to make my profession as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, following in the footsteps of many great men who have gone before them and now me. As it was for my community members, it is a significant moment in my life and a day that all MSC share in common regardless of their vocation. Whether he is a brother or priest, each MSC is professed, giving the vows a unifying and universal quality.

Through this experience and also with guidance from my Novice Master, I have come to the realisation that much of the undertaking and understanding of the vows has to do with perception and how I view these commitments in light of my faith through the person of Jesus. The vows, therefore, should not carry a negative connotation, and are certainly not about control. There is a liberating element which transcends beyond the limitations of my worldly consciousness – a source of uninhibited freedom to seek and explore God’s love for me and the opportunity to allow this love to continually transform my life and beyond.

With thanks for photos taken by Sean Donovan, MSC Mission Office.

REMEMBERING 130 YEARS OF ANNALS – A COMMEMORATIVE LUNCH

Two months before he died, Paul Stenhouse planned to celebrate the 130 years of Annals and his completion of the final edition.

He wanted a lunch at Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensington, an invitation to those who had supported Annals over the years.

Sadly, Paul died, but that week at the end of November was his week, the Tuesday night vigil and sharing of memories, the packed requiem Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Kensington, travelling to St Mary’s Tower, Douglas Park, for his burial.

In our post on his Mass and Funeral (November 28^th), a link was included, still active, to the Catholic Weekly report of the Mass, with photos.

We included the core of Michael Fallon’s eulogy – in full in the Catholic Weekly (easily found by Googling).

Then there was a double page spread of tributes to Paul.  Below, find the text and the photos.

THE LUNCH

The celebration was a Province event, with Provincial, Chris McPhee, present. With Kensington Monastery as the host, the meal was blessed by Community Leader, John Kelliher. The lunch was chaired by Peter Malone.

Paul’s brother, Richard, was present as well as Tricia Kavanagh, Paul’s cousin, who worked on Annals in the early 1970s. 

Paul, when he realised he could not give an address outlining the history and achievement of Annals, he asked a contributor, emeritus Professor, Michael Wilding, to stand in for him. 

Peter Macinante, a cousin who began work in the Annals Office in 1982, added some memories – with some touches of humour, ‘Andiamo’, ‘Mother Machree…’.

We closed formalities with a toast to Annals and a prayer for eternal rest for Paul. Amen.

CATHOLIC WEEKLY DOUBLE PAGE  TRIBUTE

Defender of the Faith: Fr Paul Stenhouse MSC

By Guest Contributor

Father Paul Stenhouse, who died last week at the age of 83, would have made a brilliant intelligence officer or spy. It was not for nothing that Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP paid tribute to him at his funeral on 27 November as “one of the sharpest intellects amongst the Australian clergy.”

His gifts in dealing with people from every walk of life, his abilities with seemingly arcane languages, his extraordinary range of contacts among churches, politicians, community organisations, ethnic groups and in world affairs combined with his journalistic ability to distil complex historical, social and political issues into expertly-written yet deeply engaging concise copy are beyond summing up in any normal sense.

Yet he was much more:  deeply intelligent and highly educated with a genuine interest in everything and everyone around him, always sensitive to the feelings of others, matching his equally deep faith in Christ and his Church. He wanted to share the Gospel with everyone without imposing faith on a single person. He loved other human beings and wondered at the precious uniqueness of every person he met.

Fr Paul Stenhouse MSC, centre, with other Australian representatives of churches in Jerusalem in 1971.

Meanwhile, his scepticism of so many false idols, his calling-out of sham posturing or pretence in politics and public life or treachery and deceit in international affairs made him a minor Cassandra. And he was loved by everyone he knew.

Yet despite the fact that he was primarily known as editor of Annals Australasia, a journalist on an equal footing with professionals who worked on the biggest newspapers in the world and a brilliant scholar of Arabic and semitic studies he was, above all other things, a Catholic priest.

The tributes have poured in since his death in care on 19 November.

Fr Stenhouse after a Campion College lecture with Giles Auty, centre, one of numerous outstanding writers who Fr Stenhouse corralled for contributions to Annals, and Peter Coleman, former editor of The Bulletin and Quadrant.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott told The Catholic Weekly the influence of the legendary Catholic journalist and editor would live on. “Father Stenhouse was a distinguished scholar in several fields including Islam. Above all, he was a fine priest with a deep faith and a gift of communicating it to others.

“I have lost a friend but have gained much from his friendship. Although writers die, their writings never do. Paul’s spirit will live on through his works,” Mr Abbott said.

Aid to the Church in Need

Among the many bodies paying tribute to Fr Stenhouse this week was a statement from the International Office of Aid to the Church in Need, the global charity which aids persecuted Christians, with which Fr Stenhouse was involved extensively at both the Australian and international levels.

“At international meetings and in talks in London and elsewhere, his own indomitable spirit and oratory challenged, entertained and inspired audiences,” the ACN statement said.

“Paul helped the charity to steer a course after the founder, Fr Werenfried, died and whilst he asked tough questions – based on his extraordinary knowledge of the Middle East in particular –  he also bestowed the blessing of deep and abiding friendship on so many.

 “He would travel the world to help a friend in need – and through Annals, often running articles and adverts on ACN – he inspired the Faith in so many.” Archduke Philipp Habsburg, a member of the General Council of ACN, paid his own tribute. “What a man and what a priest! It was so good to know him still being there with his endless knowledge, wisdom, humour and humility. We will miss him greatly,” the Archduke said.

John McCarthy QC, Australia’s former Ambassador to the Vatican and, like Fr Stenhouse, a former Chair of ACN Australia, said that with the passing of Fr Stenhouse, the Church had lost one of its most outstanding scholars of Islam as well as a great commentator and advisor on the Middle East.

“Australia has lost a world figure in the struggle for religious freedom and the end of persecution of Christians,” he told The Catholic Weekly.

Fr Stenhouse sharing a light -hearted moment with Professor James Franklin at the Monastery of the Sacred Heart in Kensington.

“His legacy is enormous in these areas. All of us are in his debt. May this great defender of the Faith rest in peace.”

Leading Australian theologian Dr Tracey Rowland, at whose marriage Fr Stenhouse presided, paid tribute to not only the academic but the human gifts Fr Stenhouse shared.

“Fr Paul was one of the most highly educated priests I ever met, and I have met a few, but what really stood out to me about him was how he also had a really highly developed affective side as well,” she told The Catholic Weekly.

The practical intellectual

“Some people are great scholars, others are gifted in pastoral care, he was able to occupy both ends of the spectrum at once. He was highly integrated.

“He also loved the Church, the glorious moments in her history and the high culture to which she gave birth.  Fr Paul was also an Australian without being ocker. He had buckets of cultural capital and shared it as a kind of common Catholic patrimony.”

Greg Sheridan, the long-serving Foreign Affairs editor of The Australian newspaper, described Fr Stenhouse as much more than a friend.

Greg Sheridan, Foreign Affairs editor of The Australian newspaper, was among those paying tribute to an extraordinary figure. Fr Stenhouse won recognition as a highly accomplished journalist and editor. Photo: Giovanni Portelli

“Paul Stenhouse was a gifted polymath, a cosmopolite of astonishing diversity and virtuosity, a prodigious reader, a knower of infinite facts and theories, and a deeply wise, friendly, good, pastoral priest,” he said. “Surprising as it may seem, that combination is not quite as common as you might think.

“Paul was a friend of mine, but I was very slack about maintaining the friendship properly. Because he was so affable and easy going, and because I suffer from that tendency which besets many journalists to get in touch with friends when I need their help, my contact with him was spasmodic.

“As a priest, he officiated at my wedding, helped me when I was sick, offered wise counsel more than once.

A respected public intellectual

“But I also shamelessly drew on him as a great public intellectual, and talked to him about Islam, Indonesia, the Balkans, Lebanon, the Middle East more widely, medieval Christianity, contemporary Christianity and any other subject which from time to time I needed input on.

“I met him through another great polymath, the former Labor cabinet minister John Wheeldon. John was the associate editor of The Australian when I joined the paper in 1984. Although a conscientious atheist, John had the greatest admiration for Paul and the two were firm friends, although they tended to show off a bit in my company by speaking to each other in a variety of languages which I couldn’t understand.

“Paul befriended many journalists. He combined with his great learning a deep, priestly, pastoral personality, an ever friendly and cheerful demeanour and loads of common sense. My only difficult encounter with him came many years ago when I gave a lecture to a small group on Islam in Indonesia. Paul rose to ask a question. He lavished my feeble remarks with unjustified praise and then, politely and kindly, took them apart piece by piece.

“Paul rose to ask a question. He lavished my feeble remarks with unjustified praise and then, politely and kindly, took them apart piece by piece.”

“And here is his true genius. I liked him just as much afterwards as before, and while I was perhaps none the wiser for the encounter, I was certainly better informed.”

Because of his (entirely justified) scepticism of the state of contemporary Australian tertiary education and because of the importance he saw in creating an answer, helping to establish and then promote Campion College, Australia’s first Liberal Arts tertiary institution, became a personal mission.

Campion founder Karl Schmude paid tribute to Fr Stenhouse’s support and personal encouragement.

Fr Stenhouse was a strong supporter of Campion College, Australia’s first Liberal Arts College. He saw in it part of the answer to the malaise of Australian tertiary education which has fallen prey to ideological control and political correctness in recent decades. Photo: Courtesy Campion College

“He had a special fondness for Campion,” Mr Schmude told The Catholic Weekly.

“He was, from the outset, a strong supporter of the College, and he served as an early member of the Campion Board. The initial meetings of the Board in the early 2000s took place, at his invitation, at the MSC Monastery in Kensington – and for many years he generously publicised Campion in the pages of Annals.”

It was at Campion, on 19 October, that Fr Stenhouse gave his final public address as the College hosted the Australian Chesterton Conference. The moment was poignant. The longtime journalist and editor clearly knew the end was near but drove himself to honour the commitment to an institution he loved dearly and saw as vital for the future.

“A kind-of intrepid, scholarly Indiana Jones”

As editor of Annals Australasia over five decades (his only appointment as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart), Fr Stenhouse assembled a stellar range of contributors ranging from figures such as Giles Auty, the well-known English art critic and columnist who migrated to Australia in 1995,  through to Wanda Skowronska, the Catholic psychologist and author who were among the many willing contributors who made Annals the best-informed and most interesting Australian Catholic journal. Dr Skowronska told The Catholic Weekly that among his many gifts, his erudition was remarkable.

“Once I emailed him with a question and he wrote back saying he was in the middle of Kashmir at the moment (at some relatively remote place) trying to decipher some inscriptions but he would get back to me as soon as he could,” she told The Catholic Weekly.

He was, she said, “a kind of intrepid, scholarly Indiana Jones, forging ahead always for Christ, making friends in different parts of the world.”

As former NSW Premier and now ACU Chancellor John Fahey looks on, Fr Stenhouse speaks after being presented with his Doctorate (honoris causa) by the university in 2015. Photo: Giovanni Portelli

“I recall once walking up to his office,  and finding him poring over a manuscript with his finger going rapidly from right to left. After I entered this office with floor to ceiling bookshelves (the room’s ceilings were several storeys high), I could see that the manuscript was in Arabic and I asked if he were reading something interesting and he said ‘yes’ in a matter of fact way.  But such was his graciousness he put aside the papers to answer the questions I had for some particular article I was working on.  He was kind like that to many people.”

Fr Stenhouse left school at the age of 14 to become a journalist working on several NSW newspapers but, first through his preparation for priesthood and then subsequently he achieved remarkable academic heights.

Academic heights

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP prays over the coffin of Fr Stenhouse at Our Lady of the Rosary Church on 27 November. Photo: G Portelli

In 2015 Australian Catholic University awarded him its highest honour, Doctor of the University (honoris causa) “in recognition of his significant contributions to knowledge and the life of learning in Australia and internationally, to higher education, to journalism and Catholic culture, and to priestly service and pastoral care of the Catholic community.” Recalling him this week, ACU Deputy Vice Chancellor Coordination, Hayden Ramsay, described Fr Stenhouse as “a public intellectual—a rare thing for a priest In these days.

“He was a learned man; a man who trained himself to doctoral level and beyond in the languages and cultures of the Middle East,” Prof Ramsay told The Catholic Weekly.

“Fr Stenhouse knew the importance of being able to read the Koran in the original and understand the religious dimension behind key social issues of our day.

“He could speak with authority on the terrible persecution of Christians in the 21st century.

“I knew him only as an elderly man. He was sweet and kind – and not afraid to state truth. Despite his national importance, he was in a special way an ornament of his Order and of the Archdiocese of Sydney.”

Speaking at Fr Stenhouse’s Requiem Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary in Kensington on 27 November, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP mourned his death.

Fr Stenhouse was, said Archbishop Fisher, “a man of deep faith and humanity, a keen observer of culture and society, a prolific writer and editor, a scholar and linguist, he was above all a loyal son of the Church and friend to many, including my predecessor and myself.

“I have only known him personally since he started dying in 2003. That made the last act of his grand opera an unpredictably long one and a tribute to his determination.

“But when I saw him in the hospice he told me he had put the last Annals to bed: it was clear he had finally decided to die.

“Paul was a missionary through and through. At the heart of everything Paul did was his mission to promote the Catholic faith. Annals was a testament to that mission.

Good and faithful servant

“His missionary vocation took him all over the world and allowed him to collect exotic languages, stories and friends along the way.

“He translated chronicles of ancient Samaritan high priests in Rome, lived in Tito’s Yugoslavia, travelled in and out of war-torn Beirut.

“Whether you agreed with Paul or not – and mostly I found I did – his conversation was always erudite and interesting. Vale good and faithful servant: enter now into the joy of your master.”

___________________________________________________

KHOI DOAN NGUYEN MSC, NEW BOOK: TOWARDS CALVARY, The Stations of the Cross in Everyday Life.

Khoi’s third book, the first in Vietnames, the second, A Quiet Place Within, Contemplation from the Heart. He lives at Cuskelly House, the MSC Formation House in Blackburn, Melbourne, where he is the Director of the Pre-Novitiate program.

TOWARDS CALVARY

For generations, the fourteen stations of the cross have been part of the Catholic observance of Lent when we recall and reflect on the journey of Jesus to Calvary. But the command of Jesus to take up our cross is not limited to a forty day period in the church’s year but to the everyday experiences and challenges of being faithful disciples.

This understanding is at the heart of Towards Calvary. Khoi Doan Nguyen has taken the traditional number of fourteen stations but has modified them, recalling other incidents in the Gospel stories, offering new insights for our consideration, inviting us to fresh understandings of what it means to journey with Jesus to Calvary in our everyday lives.

The story of Jesus’ passion and death is not exclusively for Lent or Easter. It is the central story of Christianity; about human life and transformation. It is the story of our everyday life.

Khoi Doan Nguyen is a Missionary of the Sacred Heart in Australia. He graduated Bachelor of Theology and Master of Theological Studies at the University of Divinity in Melbourne.

He has published two books in Vietnamese, Return and Limitation and Forgiveness, and one in English, A Quiet Place Within (Coventry Press). He has also written articles on theology, spirituality and social justice in Compass, The Swag, and Populus Dei (the monthly Vietnamese Catholic Magazine in Australia). He was ordained a priest in 2018 and is currently a formator for his congregation.

To buy this book, Google:  Coventry Press. Towards Calvary  Khoi