Working in a large, multicultural parish in the Wellington Archdiocese, New Zealand, has both challenges and joys, but for Fr John Quang SVD, it’s one of the best assignments he’s ever had.

“I love it in New Zealand. I’m really happy here,” he says.

“There’s a freedom of space here where I can explore and be creative in ministry and the people are great.”

Fr John was born and raised in Vietnam, but came to Australia as a refugee when he was a teenager. He completed high school at Bankstown TAFE and undertook a social studies degree at the University of NSW, before joining the Divine Word Missionaries. After completing his formation in Melbourne, he was ordained to the priesthood in 2002, worked in Macquarie Fields parish for a while and then undertook his first overseas missionary assignment – back to Vietnam.

He has been back in the Australia Province for a number of years, working in New Zealand.

Fr John is Assistant Priest at the Parish of the Holy Spirit in Wellington Archdiocese, working with Parish Priest, Fr Marlon Maylon SVD.

The Parish of the Holy Spirit takes in four churches in the Lower Hutt region, which were previously stand-alone parishes, but six years ago, were amalgamated into one parish with four Mass Centres.

The SVD priests there are supporting the Archdiocese of Wellington in its vision for promoting lay pastoral leaders, and helping support all the baptised to take up leadership at the local level, as well as looking at the area of stewardship and responsible care for the environment.

“We’re trying to create a shared leadership model, where the clergy are working together with lay leaders,” Fr John says.

“It’s challenging because many parishioners are so used to the previous model, where there was one parish, one church building and one priest. So, it’s challenging to adapt to these changes.

“Some are very happy to see the change, some are trying, and some are not so keen. But all change takes time and creates some pain.

“We see it as an opportunity to create more awareness of the roles lay people can carry out in a parish and to work together.

“Our role is to encourage people to be more proactive in their role as community leaders and really embrace it.”

The Parish of the Holy Spirit is a very multicultural community, with a range of Pacifika people, from countries such as Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, along with people from Asian backgrounds, including those from India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, and New Zealanders of European background.

“It’s great,” Fr John says. “If you enter one of our churches, sometimes you don’t know which part of the world you’re in!

“It’s enriching, but at the same time there are the usual challenges of trying to get people to work together.

“Recently, for the Feast of Christ the King, we had just one Mass in the parish, with everyone, from all four churches attending that one Mass together. All the communities came together and it was really good.

“The four parish schools are also good for embracing all the different cultures and bringing them together into one community.”

Fr John and Fr Marlon are also active in visiting local nursing homes and hospitals when requested, as well as providing chaplaincy support to various ethnic groups.

Fr John says a number of SVD initiatives, such as Bible groups have proved to be popular in the parish.

“The great thing about those groups is that the people themselves can run them. We are there to support and encourage and provide the resources, but the people are doing it for themselves,” he says.

“It’s like going back to the early Church, where there was an absence of structure and clergy, but people practised their faith together in community.

“Our job is to bring people together, to encourage them, to train them and to walk with them as they live out their baptismal call.”