by Gordon Nary
Gordon: When you received your vocation, with whom did you first discuss it, and what was their response?
Father Nico: I was quite young when I first felt drawn to the priesthood. Perhaps unsurprising for someone who grew up in a Catholic family and society in Legazpi City, The Philippines. I was an altar boy at our parish and my parents were both active in the Church. Their witness taught us without words that our Catholic faith was important in our life. When I told my parents that I wanted to go to the high school seminary at the age of 12, they were very supportive. It was a good school and I’m sure in their mind I would receive a very good Catholic formation.
Gordon: Where did you attend seminary and what is one of you favorite memories when you were there?
Father Nico: I attended the local diocesan high school seminary (St Gregory the Great Seminary in Tabaco City where I matriculated, and the Mater Salutis College Seminary where I received my Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Religious Education.
Gordon: Why did you decide to be a Jesuit?
Father Nico: The decision to become a Jesuit did not come to me overnight. I was on retreat in the high school seminary when I heard about the story of Richie Fernando, SJ a 26-year old Jesuit missionary in Cambodia who worked at the Jesuit Trade training school in Phnom Penh for landmine victims, called Banteay Prieb (Centre for the Dove). He was a normal guy who was quite popular among his Cambodian students. One day, a disgruntled young man, who became a soldier at 16 and lost his leg to a landmine, came out of a meeting with administrators of the school and threatened to hurl a hand grenade into a classroom where students were learning.
Richie restrained him from behind and tried to take the grenade off the young man’s hand. They dropped the grenade and it fell behind Richie. The explosion killed Richie but he shielded his student from the blast.
When they sorted through his belongings, they found his retreat journal where Richie wrote: “I wish when I die, people will remember not how great, powerful or talented I was. But that I served and spoke for the truth, I gave witness to what is right, I was sincere in all my words and actions. In other words, I loved and I followed Christ.” I thought to myself, wow, if a man could live his life like that, I want to have what he had. His love for Jesus shown in the tangible service of others, that’s what drew me to the Jesuits.
Gordon: When did you attend The University of Queensland, what degree did you earn, and on what did you focus your study?
Father Nico: I went to complete a Master’s degree in Philosophy. I did it to expand my horizon and understand other frameworks for understanding the world after living for most of my life predominantly within the ambit Catholic culture. This time I focused on Continental Philosophy, especially the 19th and 20th Century French and German Philosophers.
For my final thesis, I wrote on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly the notion of “becoming” in his Metaphysics and its implication for his Existentialist thought. One might wonder why a Catholic would study the philosophy of an atheist. Looking back, what it did for me was to come to understand the trends and influences in contemporary thought so that I can engage with people steeped in that tradition not out of fear but a genuine desire to dialogue.
It was also quite encouraging for me as a student then, to see that when Pope Benedict’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, came out, the first two footnotes were an engagement with Nietzsche’s ideas.
Gordon: When did you attend University of Divinity, what degree did you earn, what was your favorite course, and why was that course you favorite?
Father Nico: I enjoyed studying Greek and the New Testament as well as Church
History. Having the tools to read the New Testament in Greek has opened my eyes to the richness of meaning within the biblical text and depth of reflection that it allows for prayer, preaching, and pastoral practice. Learning about Church History has also taught me about the development of the Church’s self-understanding and her approach to mission.
For example, reading about how the Gospel was appropriated and preached by St Paul from its original Jewish context to the wider Hellenistic cultures of the first century Christians was deeply inspiring. Add to this the Christian community’s search for Christological clarity from Nicaea to Chalcedon and how it impacted the unity and diversity in the Church. Finally, the successes and excesses of the Christian missions in the 16-17th Century. Church History has also given me the tools to discern attentively what the perennial truths in the Church’s Tradition are and what’s culturally conditioned and contingent.
Gordon: When did you attend Australian Catholic University, what degree did you earn, and what is one of you favorite memories when you were there?
Father Nico: I completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. This was part of the old pathway for aspiring teachers who wanted to join the teaching profession in New South Wales after having completed an undergraduate degree. My fondest memories while studying there were meeting other students who were preparing for a career in teaching. Listening to their hopes and dreams for the future as educators. I also enjoyed learning about Educational Psychology and Sociology of Education, which enabled me to think holistically about students in terms of how they learn and how their social world influences what they learn. The program was only for a year and a huge chunk of the time was allocated to teaching practice in the school.
Gordon: When did you attend Boston College, what degree did you earn, and who are some of the friends that you made there?
Father Nico: I studied at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry from the Fall
Semester of 2015 until the Fall Semester of 2017. There, I completed a Master’s in Theological Studies. It was wonderful to study with many religious and lay people from all over the world. I have found listening to their experience of the church very enriching to my understanding of ecclesiology. That there is no single culture that has the monopoly on how to express the Gospel. I still get in touch with my friends from the US, Cameroon, Poland, and Spain.
Gordon: Where have you served as a volunteer, and what were your responsibilities at each organization?
Father Nico: I have done some volunteer work across Jesuit and other charitable
organisations. With the Cardoner Network, I volunteered to be the chaplain of two immersion programs in Nepal for young adults. With our indigenous primary school - Redfern Jarjum College - I was also their chaplain, offering religious formation to children and making the sacraments available to them. In Sydney, I took part in Vinnies Night Patrol (St Vincent de Paul network) where a group of us would meet with homeless and disadvantaged people in Sydney, offering them coffee, tea, a sandwich, and a little ear for conversation.
Gordon: Where have you taught school and what courses did you teach at each school?
Father Nico: I have taught mainly at one of our Jesuit schools in Sydney, St Aloysius College. I was part of the Theology department (we call it Religious Education) teaching from Year 7 through to Year 12.
Gordon: You are currently serving as Company Director at Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia. What are your primary responsibilities?
Father Nico: I sit on the board of the Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia which is the
company that governs our retreat centres and the ministry of the Spiritual Exercises. One of our responsibilities is to ensure that the activities of the ministry are consistent with the mission of the Church and the Jesuits.
Gordon: What makes Jesuit education different?
Father Nico: A key feature of Jesuit education is cura personalis - care of the individual. In our network of Jesuit and Companion schools, we create spaces of learning where students are not just a statistic, but are known, valued, nurtured in their uniqueness and gifts. Jesuit education is also aimed at forming students to be men and women for others. It is education in competence, compassion, conscience, and commitment, in preparation for a life of service to others especially those on the peripheries of society. Students are reminded that Jesuit educational institutions are not a school of privilege but of social responsibility. It cannot stop at achieving excellent academic results alone, but excellent human beings who are capable of effecting positive social change wherever they go.
Gordon: Thank you for an exceptional interview.