austraLasia #2404

(Thanks to M28 FIN for this item)
Taking risks in mission life

MANILA: 1 May 2009 --  There are times mission life can be unpredictable.  Fr. Anthony Nguyen Ngoc Dung is a Vietnamese Salesian who shares snippets of what happened in his near-death experience after being physically attacked by a student in Don Bosco Vanimo in early February.
    His Salesian vocation began when he was still 18 years old amidst a young and suffering Church in Vietnam. He entered the aspirantate from 1996 to 1998 leading up to his postnovitiate. It was on August 15, 1998 that he then took his first profession. The then Br. Anthony spent his first year as a practical trainee in Vietnam from 2001 – 2002. In the succeeding year, he came to the Philippines on March 16, 2002, as part of the exchange program between Vietnam and the Philippines. He was assigned to Don Bosco Canlubang where he organized the football club of the school, winning friends among the youth through sports. Br. Anthony had his first taste of the missions when he was sent to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea from May 2003 – 2004. It was finally in August 1, 2008 that he was ordained to the priesthood.     In his love for the missions, Fr. Anthony spent his first year of priesthood back in Vanimo.
    Fr. Anthony recalls the attack on the fateful day of February 12, 2009. It was at 6:30 pm during supper time with the boarders. The boy, a grade 12 student-boarder, approached him at the dining area while everyone was having their meal. He received the boy with a smile but he was greeted by being strucked with a bush knife straight to the right shoulder opening a deep wound. The laceration hit vital parts of the large veins in his arms causing heavy bleeding The boy kept swinging the bush knife as Fr. Anthony tried to ward off the attacks. He used his right arm to repel the knife but his fingers were cut too in the process. The boy lunged the knife straight at his abdomen as a final blow where it finally could have been Fr. Anthony’s last. He lay almost dead on the floor. Somehow, during the commotion, some of the boys got the courage to stop their fellow boarder from the ruthless attack.
    Fr. Anthony underwent several operations and blood transfusions when he was brought to the Philippines for medical treatment. He
continually thanks God for his near death experience. It was a moment of blessing for him when others might think of it otherwise. Through it, he sees what is truly essential in life. Fr. Anthony has no bitterness for the boy. He was asked by the Diocesan bishop what his last words were as he was given up for dead after the attack. Fr. Anthony with all conviction said “Do not punish the boy. I forgive him before he even asks forgiveness. I love him more now.”
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Title: australasia 2404
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces PNG VIE
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2404