Official arrival of new Parish Priest

Holy Family parishioners have recently embraced the dawn of a new era with the official installation of Fr Dat Vuong as the Parish Priest. Although Fr Dat has taken the parish priest role since 16 August 2023, the official mass was only held on Saturday, 10 February 2024.

The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Donald Sproxton with Fr Dat as concelebrant. Also attending the Mass were Very Rev Minh-Thuy Nguyen EV (Episcopal Vicar for Clergy), Fr. Ossie Lewis (former parish priest of Holy Family), Fr. Greg Carroll, Greg Milner (City of South Perth mayor), Sr. Maree Riddler, representatives from the Parish Pastoral Council, Finance Council, Liturgy Committee, Parish Assistant, parishioners past and present as well as extended family and friends of Fr. Dat.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Fr. Dat is the youngest of four siblings. Arriving in Perth in the mid-80s, the young Dat Vuong grew up in Morley. He then decided to join St Charles Seminary at the age of 17 and 8 years later was ordained by Archbishop Emeritus Barry J Hickey on 13 Dec 2002. His tenure in the Archdiocese of Perth started in Bateman parish, then Willeton, Mirrabooka, Aquinas College, Bedford, and Yangebup before he undertook this recent assignment at our parish.

The installation mass accompanied by the choir led by Mary Jo Sieber was nothing short of extraordinary. The church was packed with approximately 160 devoted worshipers who had come to witness this significant moment. The congregation came together for lunch at the conclusion of Mass. As the day coincided with the Lunar New Year, a Yee Sang (Cantonese-style raw fish salad) was prepared to commence the celebration. Fr Dat creatively connected this Chinese tradition with the Gospel and catholic prayers. The salad dressings, for instance, which consisted of 3 ingredients were used as the symbols of the 3 Epiphany gifts by the Three Wise Men.

The Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year of the Dragon. Incidentally, Fr Dat was born in the year of the Dragon too. Since this year is his special year of return and anecdotally the personality traits of people born in the year of the dragon are charismatic, intelligent, confident, and powerful, we cannot wait for his brilliant leadership in our parish.