A young Jesuit priest has held his first Mass after ordination at a Western Sydney parish where he spent time during his Novitiate and developed a deep and lasting connection with the parish community.
Fr Joshua Yew Khean Choong SJ was ordained at St Mary’s Church, Our Lady of the Way Parish, North Sydney, on 5 July, and chose to celebrate his Thanksgiving Mass the following day at Holy Family Parish, Emerton, along with many of his fellow Jesuit priests.
It was an exciting day for parishioners who had come to know and love Fr Joshua during his time as a Novice in the parish in 2014, and who celebrated his return as a priest with a big feast in the parish hall after the Mass.
Marissa Logronio, the chairperson for the Parish Pastoral Council said the parish was honoured that Fr Joshua had chosen to hold his first Mass at Holy Family, and privileged to welcome so many of his fellow Jesuit priests and friends for the event.
Fr Joshua Yew Khean Choong SJ (centre, gold sleeves) with fellow Jesuits and Diocesan clergy following his Thanksgiving Mass at Holy Family Parish, Emerton. Image: Supplied
“We were able to showcase the diversity and rich culture of our Parish both during the Eucharistic celebration and the shared lunch which followed,” she said.
“We feel truly grateful to Fr Joshua for choosing to celebrate his first Mass at our Parish and allowing us to be a part of his spiritual journey. Our prayers will always be with him.”
Parish Secretary Malia Lolesio, who was a youth and young adults leader when Fr Joshua was at the Parish, said he was a deep listener.
“Fr Joshua would challenge us to go deeper into recognising God’s presence in our lives, and to listen closely to how and where He was calling us to be, and to serve,” she said.
Fr Joshua fondly remembers his time at Emerton serving as an acolyte during Mass and helping at the on-site food store and co-op run by the parish. He would also take communion to parishioners in their homes if they were unable to attend Mass.
Members of the parish’s multicultural choir during the Thanksgiving Mass for Fr Joshua Yew Khean Choong SJ at Holy Family Parish, Emerton, following his ordination to the priesthood. Image: Supplied
During his Novitiate, he spent time in other places – the Kimberley in Western Australia working with Indigenous communities, in remote areas of Timor-Leste and at the Jesuit boys’ school St Aloysius’ College in Kirribilli – but the connections he made with the people in Emerton convinced him that this was the place he wanted to hold his first Mass as a priest.
“The generosity and the love that the parishioners of Holy Family showed me really moved me to want to return there for my first Mass,” he said. “I know that whenever I go back there I’m welcomed like family.”
Fr Joshua said an example of this generosity shown by the parishioners was how they celebrated him at the reception after the Mass.
“I’d not been back there in a long time and it was amazing that they turned up in such numbers,” he said. “My friends were very surprised by the amount of food and the diversity of food.”
‘This is where the Lord is calling me’
In the decade between leaving Emerton and his ordination, Fr Joshua embarked on a journey of discernment about how he would fulfil his path within the Jesuit community.
Several years earlier, while praying at a retreat in Melbourne, he had had a religious experience where he received a consolation that everything would be well.
His anxieties about how his parents would react to him choosing religious life over a career, marriage and children were washed away in a feeling that “everything will be fine in terms of my family, that they will be looked after and that this is what the Lord desires for me”.
Fr Joshua Yew Khean Choong SJ celebrates his Thanksgiving Mass at Holy Family Parish, Emerton, following his ordination to the priesthood. Image: Supplied
But the consolation also revealed that he would be involved in education ministry.
“That desire came out of nowhere and I was pretty surprised about it myself because I was an engineer, I wasn’t teaching,” Fr Joshua said of his life before joining the Jesuits.
Another significant moment during his discernment came in the last year of his Novitiate when he was sent to remote villages in Timor-Leste.
“That was when I really felt the affirmation of my vocation to be a Jesuit, to be available to the people, to be close to the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised,” he said. “That was when I really felt affirmed that this is where the Lord is calling me.”
The priesthood ‘has been a gift’
On returning to Australia, Fr Joshua joined the Jesuit formation house in Melbourne and studied philosophy and theology at the Catholic Theological College, before being transferred to Sydney where he completed a Master’s degree in Education and started teaching at St Aloysius’. While there, he taught mathematics, accompanied students on retreats and immersions and was a chaplain to some of the senior year groups.
But it wasn’t long before he was back to the books himself. He undertook a Master’s in Divinity at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, in the US, and is now completing a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, focusing on Biblical Theology, also at the Clough School, after taking time out for his ordination in Australia.
He hopes to be home in Australia in December to pursue his calling in the education ministry. While he is uncertain what that will look like, he would love to split his time between teaching and helping in the formation of the faculty and staff.
Fr Joshua Yew Khean Choong SJ (right) with fellow Jesuits and Diocesan clergy during his Thanksgiving Mass at Holy Family Parish, Emerton, following his ordination to the priesthood. Image: Supplied
Ultimately, he dreams of being able to establish a free school for disadvantaged children along the lines of the “nativity schools” in the US, one of which he taught at in Boston.
Whatever happens, Fr Joshua says the priesthood “has been a gift, and I hope that it will continue to be a gift for the rest of my life”.
