The SVD Australia Province celebrated joyfully recently when Shouzheng Peter Wang SVD professed his perpetual vows as a Divine Word Missionary and was ordained to the diaconate.

Peter’s ordination as a deacon was the latest step in a vocational journey which began back in his home country of China and brought him to Australia.

Born and raised in a large Catholic family, as the second-youngest of nine children, Peter said his call to a vocation as a missionary priest began during the first vows ceremony of one of his elder brothers, who had joined the SVD and is now a priest serving in Hong Kong.

“After high school, I was unsure about what I wanted to do in the future. During my brother’s first vows ceremony, I found myself standing behind the chapel, and a question repeated in my mind: Why is he standing there to profess, and not me?” he said.

“Later, during lunch, the SVD novitiate master asked me, ‘Would you like to follow your brother?’ I felt shy and hesitant to say yes or no. Then he simply said, ‘Just come and see’—just as Jesus invited Peter and Andrew in the Gospel of John.

“They told me about the SVD summer vocation camp, and after a week there, I felt deeply drawn to religious life.”

Peter joined the SVD and, after completing his pre-novitiate and novitiate, he made his first vows on July 7, 2018. He then applied for the Overseas Training Program in Australia, spending a year studying English before undertaking pastoral ministry in Alice Springs and Santa Teresa for a year. At the end of his OTP experience Peter asked to remain in Australia to complete his theological studies at Dorish Maru College, Melbourne.

Peter made his final profession as a Divine Word Missionary, in the presence of his family who had travelled from China, along with confreres and friends.

“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it,” he said. “Today is the day when I am filled with great joy and gratitude. A day to celebrate God’s abundant mercy, kindness and love throughout my 11 years of vocational journey.”

The following day, Peter was ordained to the diaconate by Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Tony Ireland at Our Lady of China Catholic Church in Box Hill.

Bishop Ireland noted that Peter’s final profession and ordination to the diaconate was taking place during the 150^th Anniversary Year of the Society of the Divine Word.

“The Society calls you to be a bridge between cultures, a messenger of hope and a servant of the gospel. Today, through the sacrament of Holy Orders this mission is deepened and strengthened,” he said.

Peter’s first missionary assignment will be to the Australia Province.

PHOTO: Peter Wang SVD at his Diaconate Ordination with his brother and sister, who have also answered a call to religious life.