Alan Wong will be one of the guest speakers at an evening for young men interested in finding out more about Jesuit spirituality at Jesuit Theological College on 26 August. Clementine Binks, from Star of the Sea College, Melbourne, interviews Alan Wong on why he took the Jesuit path.
C: Firstly, how long exactly have you wanted to join the Jesuits?
A: How long have I wanted to be a Jesuit? That’s a good question: since after university. I think the desire or the dreams have manifested themselves occasionally throughout my life, but the deep sense of desire or urge was after university.
C: What did you study in university? Did that lead you to make this decision?
A: I studied engineering, and no, I don’t think the course itself led me to this sort of vocation or this path. I did the studies well, basically, to make money. That was the only goal that I had at that stage of my life.
C: Were there any particular events that you really feel inspired you?
A: The first event that I can recount was probably my schooling days at St Aloysius. I always thought that the Jesuits that taught me there, the Jesuit priests and brothers, were the sort of men that had the confidence that showed they knew what they wanted and how to go about it. So even though the vocation didn’t actually manifest during my my high school days, the essential groundwork, or the seed, was planted there.
But after university one tragic event happened that triggered this search for deeper meaning. My grandparents passed away and that in itself led me on a search for a lot of different things but eventually it led me on to search to be a priest and be a Jesuit.
C: Was there anything in particular about the Jesuits that drew you?
A: I went to a Franciscan parish, but I always thought that the priests were just one body so to speak. I didn’t know there were all these different orders. I always knew the Jesuits and I always admired them. There were only really the Jesuits.
C: Are there any goals you hope to achieve by becoming a Jesuit or is it about being on a journey?
A: I think its all linked – I can’t separate the goals from the journey aspect. There are goals and desires, I guess. One thing is the desire to work in China. That’s part of the vocation in a certain way. I think that desire within the vocation drives me and is a source of my vocation as well.
C: What kind of work would you like to do in China?
A: I don’t know. It’s just a very vague concept at the moment.
C: When you decided to take on this vocation, what were people’s reactions?
A: My family were ambivalent. They were supportive in that they wanted me to live my own life, but they were ambivalent in the sense that the path that I was taking to live this life wasn’t a culturally normal thing to do; it was very counter-cultural to live this life. My dad wasn’t totally shocked because over the year before I joined, and actually walked into the novitiate, I was speaking to him and he had inklings of that desire, but he was still ambivalent about the decision.
My friends were a little bit more in the ‘shocked’ category because it was never in their mind, so to speak, that someone would actually undertake this decision. Even though they are Catholic, very Catholic in their outlook and in their disposition, they were still shocked that someone would undertake this route because of the difficulties they perceived that lie ahead. My colleagues were just flabbergasted, really, because they didn’t really know what it meant to be a priest and a Jesuit and all these other things.
C: Do you think that’s because it’s not something that many young people would do nowadays?
A: It was more of a shock in the sense that they never knew that this path existed. It’s something that never really came across their minds, so maybe part of it is the scarcity of people who are joining the priesthood. I think it’s all connected. But also they were shocked because that among priests and the church itself, especially within religious life, there were so many scandalous stories that deterred them from that sort of role.
C: How exactly do you go about joining the Jesuits?
A: I guess, first, and I can only speak from my own experience, I found that there was some urge or desire to join the Jesuits. Then I found out through the Jesuit website that there was someone that I could speak to about this desire, usually the vocations director, and that they would allocate you someone, a spiritual director, that you can speak to about your desires, your dreams, your problems, your inner journey, the spiritual journey and then your outer journey.
So you can basically talk to him as a friend and he will be able to help you and guide you, and be like a God-tracker in your life, to help you discern if this is the right path for you. If it is, then after a process of time depending on the province you’re in, then you can formally apply to join the Jesuits.
Finding the Sacred in the Secular: Jesuit Spirituality and Vocation
Alan Wong will be one of the guest speakers at an evening for young men interested in finding out more about Jesuit spirituality at Jesuit Theological College on 26 August.
The evening, ‘Finding the Sacred in the Secular: Jesuit Spirituality and Vocation’, will be a chance to meet and hear from Jesuits about their ministry and calling, and to think more deeply about God’s calling.