Australian
Jesuit Fr Nguyen Duc Thu of Richmond has been given a Queen's Birthday Honour
to acknowledge his long-standing service to Australia's Vietnamese community.
Fr Thu,
known by Australian Jesuits as ‘Gus', was born in 1938 in Vietnam and studied
for the priesthood in the Pontifical College in Dalat. He was ordained in 1967
and entered the Society of Jesus the following year.
Realising
that it was unsafe to return to Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, Fr Thu began
working with Vietnamese refugees in Europe. Later, he was invited by the
Australian provincial to come to Australia and serve Vietnamese refugees in
Adelaide.
He got to
know the people spread out across the region, and was able to celebrate a mass
in Vietnamese each weekend at St Mary's Church in Beulah. The people whom he
served were marginalised and traumatised, and Fr Thu was able to minister to
them and link them with services.
Later, he
was able to build a Vietnamese Christian Centre at Pooraka in 1984, and with
additional funding eventually added an ethnic school attended by 500 children,
a hall, a library, a youth centre, and a sports field. The centre is still
running and provides for the Vietnamese community.
Fr Thu's
ministry was holistic, including service to young people, education, Christian
formation and the celebration of Mass.
He
completed a Masters in Pastoral Counselling at Loyola University in Chicago,
spent a year in Brisbane working with Vietnamese communities there, and returned
to Adelaide for another seven years.
Fr Thu
continues to minister today to Vietnamese refugees living in Richmond,
Victoria, completing nearly 30 years in Australia.
Fr Thu
became a Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division on Monday.
The Australian Jesuits congratulate him on this honour, and are grateful for
his steadfast efforts to serve the Vietnamese community.