Seminarians in the Diocese of Parramatta’s Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park, are being formed for faithful priestly service to our parish communities, and, in turn, the people of our Diocese have an opportunity to support and accompany them on their journeys with a gift to the Bishop’s Good Shepherd Appeal.
Thanks to the kind-hearted support of the people of the Diocese of Parramatta, Holy Spirit Seminary carries out its mission to prepare future priests for the Diocese, like Luke Thien Quoc Huynh, and provide excellent leadership in the communities of the faithful.
Luke Huynh, now in his third year of formation, says his involvement in the Church began as a child.
“The idea of becoming a priest came to me very early,” he says.
Luke moved to Sydney as a student and continued practising his faith, serving his Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement community as a youth leader while completing a Bachelor of Accounting. But everything changed when he attended the Diocese of Parramatta Holy Spirit Seminary Open Day in 2018.
“After the ‘Come and See’ vocations event, there was a desire which burned in my heart, to join the Holy Spirit Seminary,” he says.
“I remember I sat in front of brother Matthew Dimian (whom I can now call in joyfulness, Fr Matthew). We had a great conversation and shared our stories. He inspired me by answering my abundant, curious questions and this set a fire in my thoughts to discover more about my vocation.”
After graduation, Luke worked for a year in the Diocese of Parramatta finance team before entering the seminary.
“I recognised that my true inner peace, joy and happiness were rooted in the service of God’s people. It was here I found my journey – my calling,” he says.
Seminarians of the Diocese of Parramatta’s Holy Spirit Seminary Luke Huynh (left) and Macky Amores. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
One of Luke’s seminarian brothers, Macky Amores, is in his fourth year of formation at Holy Spirit Seminary. It was through the Children of Today’s Choir in his hometown of Bogo City, the Philippines, that Macky received his first inkling of a vocational calling.
“I loved seeing the priest celebrating the liturgy of the Mass and walking along the aisle. I imagined myself wearing the white vestment and it seemed that when I saw them I was lifted by the Holy Spirit, telling me to be part of them,” he says.
A long journey brought Macky to Holy Spirit Seminary. He went to university and became a computer engineer, then a teacher. In 2011, he was part of the Vincentian Popular Mission in Negros Occidental. For the next six years, Macky participated in mission trips across the Philippines and began his novitiate formation with the Vincentians before taking up teaching again.
In 2018, he was inspired to restart his vocational journey and applied to join our Holy Spirit Seminary.
“Based on my own experiences as a missionary, I wanted to take the chance and the opportunity to share my abilities,” Macky says.
“In the future, we will become people’s servants, leading them to salvation and to God, deepening their faith and giving them a chance to be involved in the Church.”
In his homily for the recent ordination of Fathers Adam Carlow, Matthew Dimian and Jack Elkazzi, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, said the new priests were “a sign of hope and renewal of God’s everlasting love for his people”.
He encouraged them to be “signs of the Church that goes forth, sharing the presence, compassion and love of Jesus with our brothers and sisters”.
Support our seminarians to humbly serve our faith community. To make your donation, please call (02) 8838 3482 or visit yourcatholicfoundation.org.au/bishops-good-shepherd-co-appeal-23
