After years of prayerful discernment and study and with the loving support of their families, Philip Pham and Robert Tonkli were ordained by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP in St Mary’s Cathedral on November 19. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Deacon Pham, 65, and Deacon Tonkli, 54, are the first permanent deacons to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Sydney since 2020.
Joining them for the occasion were their family, friends, colleagues, parishioners of Fairfield, North Ryde, and Berala, Bishops Richard Umbers and Daniel Meagher and many priests and deacons from Sydney and beyond, while more watched via a livestream.
Archbishop Fisher acknowledged those who had helped the two men discern and prepare for their vocation, including Fr Simon Kitimbo and Deacon Aisavali Salu who lead the Office of the Permanent Diaconate and the president of the Catholic Institute of Sydney Professor Hayden Ramsay and staff.
Speaking at the end of Mass on behalf of both new deacons, Deacon Tonkli thanked the archbishop and all involved in their formation, Deacon Pham’s wife Theresa and their five adult children, and his own wife, Maryanne and son Matthew.
The diaconate was a call “that God has placed in our hearts, a call to be united more closely to Christ in his servant mysteries, in the service of the church and those in need,” said.
“Above all, Philip and I give thanks and praise to Christ our Lord. It is only by God’s grace that we, in spite of our weaknesses and sinfulness, can be made servants of his Gospel.
“Please pray for us, that we might bear abundant fruit that will last.”
Unlike transitional deacons who are preparing for ordination to the priesthood, permanent deacons may be married, with children and a secular occupation, following the 1964 renewal at the Second Vatican Council of the ancient order of the permanent diaconate.
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Permanent diaconate was “a call placed in our hearts” (By Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly)
