Two members of the Divine Word Missionaries’ Australia Province – Fr Dom Flores SVD and Fr Michael Nguyen SVD - have published books reflecting their life as missionaries.
Fr Dom’s book, entitled Sundays with Domingo, takes the form of a series of interviews with his younger friend, Pia Tenedero, while Fr Michael’s book, Writings of A Mendicant Monk, is a collection of his writings since 1995.
In her introduction to Sundays with Domingo, Pia pays tribute to the American author Mitch Albom, who wrote the best-selling Tuesdays with Morrie, in which he recounts the life-lessons taught by his former professor in their conversations in his later years.
“That gem inspired the title and concept of this book,” she wrote.
“In it, you asked, ‘Have you ever had a teacher like this?’ Gratefully, I can say – I do! Except our classroom was a chapel – the Arnold Janssen Chapel – and a wooden bench outside the Arnold Janssen House.
“Thanks Fr Dom, for being my Morrie. You have enriched my life by sharing yours and for trusting me with your stories.”
The book is a relaying of audio-recordings of weekly 30-minute video catch-ups between the pair – Fr Dom, a missionary priest in his 90s, and Pia, a young academic in linguistics and English language studies. Both from the Philippines, the book gives an insight into their friendship, along with memories of Fr Dom’s missionary life, in the Philippines, Samoa and Australia, his dedication to Bible ministry and lay formation in all those places, and some of the spiritual lessons he learned along the way.
At Fr Dom’s request, funds raised from the sale of the small book will support the SVD Alternative Learning System Centre in the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City, Philippines. A portion will also support international charity and vocations projects of the SVD Mission Office of the Australia Province.
In the introduction to Writings of A Mendicant Monk, Fr Michael says his book is “a collection of writings in several genres about the life of a Vietnamese religious priest, a member of the Society of the Divine Word. He was born in Vietnam, uprooted from his homeland due to the Fall of Saigon, lived as a displaced person in Southeast Asia, resettled in the USA, served the Aborigines in Central Australia, and returned to the Philippines for an academic dream”.
He says he was prompted to publish the book following an invitation by the Museum of Arts in Dubuque, Iowa to be a source person for the Vietnam War Exhibition which lasted for several months.
“This exhibition was viewed from the American perspectives,” he says. “Thus, they displayed many pictures that explicitly showed their antiwar attitude to the Vietnam War. In one of the conversations with the director the Museum, I told them that I was a boat person, who fled Vietnam in search for freedom of speech and religion.
“I shared with her another perspective of the Vietnam War. This perspective is of those Vietnamese who took risks with their own lives for freedom since Saigon fell into the hands of the Vietcong. I gave her also some of my writings about my life on the ocean, in the refugee camps and in San Jose, California. Due to my comments, besides the antiwar photos, the Museum also displayed my writing about how my fishing boat was directed to Malaysia by a Vietnamese lady who was captured by Thai fishermen and lived on their boat for months.”
Secondly, he says, many non-Vietnamese people read and encouraged him to publish his writings, especially the writings about the Fall of Saigon and its consequences.
“During the two years I was forced to shelter-in-place in San Jose, California, and then Epworth, Iowa due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I collected all of my writings into a book, Writings of A Mendicant Monk.
Fr Michael says both the title and the cover artwork of the book point to the missionary way of life.
“A mendicant monk is a religious who lives the vow of poverty,” he says. “In the Vietnamese cultural context, he calls himself a mendicant monk who lives on the generosity of humanity and divine grace. The author considers himself as a monk who commenced his mission journey at the church.
Regarding the cover art, Fr Michael says: “This mendicant monk left this comfort zone (the church on the back), so he can share the Good News with those whom he encounters on the roads. On the journey, the mendicant monk carries only a simple bag and some flowers on his back. Above his head is the sun that lightens his way. His companion is a bird chirping a simple hymn as greetings to the mendicant monk. On his hand is a flame that symbolises his heart.”
Mission is at the heart of all the writings in the book, says Fr Michael.
“As an SVD missionary who left Vietnam for freedom of religion, Silicon Valley for Chicago, and the USA for Australia in responding to God’s call, I would like to share my own mission stories with those who would love to know more about a life of a Christian missionary,” he says.
