“The Lord has a plan for each of us.”
By Ivy Chai
Shawn Dominic Wong Tian Ci is a Singaporean who has spent the last seven years in seminary formation at the Institute for World Evangelisation (ICPE Mission) in Malta. Every summer, he gets posted to a different country for exposure.
Shawn was in Kuching from 1 August to 17 September 2023, where he spent two weeks with the seminarians at St Peter’s College Seminary and had the opportunity to attend the Kuching Archdiocesan Pastoral Assembly (KAPA-2).
His couple of weeks in Bunan was an enriching experience, visiting some of the outstations of the parish and experiencing life in the longhouse. He spent his remaining 12 days at St Joseph’s Cathedral, Kuching learning as much as he could.
To Bro Shawn, his experience in Kuching taught him that language is never a barrier to serve. Because of the priests’ love for their people, they learnt the language spoken by the kampung people so they could serve them.
At the tender age of 14, Shawn felt he would one day be a diocesan priest after encountering a life-changing experience while serving in his home parish of St Francis Xavier in Singapore. However, he had a change of heart after attending the school of mission for young Catholics in New Zealand in 2012.
At the school of mission where he stayed for five months, Shawn “for the first time felt loved for who I am”, loved as a “child of God”. It was a “life transforming time for participants… a liberating experience”.
Shawn had spent eight years discerning to be a diocesan priest, joining the seminary as an aspirant every year, but all that changed when he met the first priest who inspired him to be a missionary priest.
Although he went back to working life after the course in New Zealand, he felt the “Lord stirred my heart”, especially after an incident in the course of his work, and he decided to join ICPE Mission in Malta in 2016.
ICPE is not religious. Their primary mission is evangelisation. This is done through the Gospel, the celebration of the sacraments, preaching retreats, recollection, spiritual accompaniment, formation programmes, seminars, outreaches and more.
Their spirituality is both Ignatian and Charismatic, and often referred to as Contemplatives in Action.
When asked what advice he would give to young aspirants to the priesthood and religious life, Shawn said: “Trust in the Lord because the Lord really has a plan for each one of us. Sometimes that plan may not be in accordance with what we think the Lord wants for us.”
He himself thought the Lord wanted him to be a diocesan priest, but he found out the Lord wanted him to be a missionary. He never thought he would be equipped for missionary work, but the Lord has shown him to trust in him.
“Trust in the Lord, discern and let him show us the way. Have the courage to take that leap of faith,” Shawn said.
