Year in Review 2020 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst 23 After completing his regency, Fr DJ made plans to return to the seminary in Manila and continue with his priestly formation. God however had other ideas. Fr DJ’s aunt and uncle, who live in Wodonga, suggested he consider studying for the priesthood in Australia, something Fr DJ had not even thought of at that point. “God had a plan for my life,” wrote Fr DJ on arriving in Australia in 2016. “Now I set out in the Diocese of Sandhurst to encounter Jesus in everyone that I meet.” “I set out in the Diocese of Sandhurst to encounter Jesus in everyone that I meet.” Over the course of 2020, when there was temptation to despair and lose hope, Fr DJ reflected on the words of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which were said to Juan Diego when she appeared to him on Mount Tepeyac in Mexico almost 500 years ago. ‘No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” “Am I not here, I, who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry you, disturb you.” Reflecting about the months in 2020 leading up to his ordination and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fr DJ wrote ‘Let nothing else worry you. Let nothing else disturb you.’ How consoling these words of Our Lady are! When I read this quote during my message of gratitude, I had to let myself be contained in those motherly arms. I was her child after all ... all of us are.” CLERGY LIFE & MINISTRY Fr DJ Suguitan Sandhurst’s Newest and Youngest Priest Fr Denib Josette (DJ) Suguitan, Sandhurst’s newest and youngest priest, was ordained at Sacred Heart Cathedral in December 2020. He is now serving as Assistant Priest at the Cathedral Parish cluster. Fr DJ is accustomed to trusting in God’s plan for him and, after a year of challenges, realised that it was no coincidence that his Ordination to the priesthood fell on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “I realise now, more than ever, that life plans only work if, and only if, they are in sync with what God has willed for us,” he wrote at the time of his Ordination. If there is one thing I’ve learned ... it is the fact that God never ceases to amaze us, as long as we let ourselves be amazed.” “God never ceases to amaze us, as long as we let ourselves be amazed.” At the start of 2020 Fr DJ was looking forward to his Ordination to the priesthood, which was planned to take place in July. Then, due to government enforced COVID19 restrictions, his Ordination date was moved from July to September, before being postponed with no set date. Finally on 12 December, Fr DJ was ordained to the priesthood. Fr DJ said it was his trust in God which led him to priesthood in the Diocese of Sandhurst; a world away from the plans he was making for himself while at a major seminary in the Philippines. Originally from Makati City in Metro Manila, Fr DJ became a Sandhurst seminarian in 2016. On arrival in Bendigo, he wrote about his road to the priesthood: My personal encounter with Jesus started in childhood when I joined my local parish in Makati City as an altar server. As I aged in that ministry, I realised what an honour it was to be very close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It must be a greater honour for the priest, I thought to myself. Without me knowing it, I was already being drawn to the idea of priesthood. Like most teenagers, however, I did not give it much thought. I tried to brush it off, but the seed was already there. Fr DJ joined a major seminary in Metro Manila and began priestly formation and studies in Philosophy. He says of this time: I realised that I really did have the desire to be a priest ... I learned how to discern the calling, how to strengthen my personal encounter with Jesus through prayer. I thought that, after finishing my Philosophy studies in the seminary, I would immediately start studies in Theology but, I did not. Instead, I decided to take “regency”, a period off from seminary studies to work, usually in an apostolic ministry. I taught in a secondary school as a Religious Education teacher. While teaching, I confronted myself about my desire to be a priest. At this point, I encountered Jesus in the many people who I met: my students, my colleagues, the parents of my students …”
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