Oblate Father Eric Alleaume’s road to becoming a priest was a bit like being drawn into a kind of “Bermuda Triangle”, The Catholic Leader reports.
After his family emigrated from Mauritius when he was almost three years old, Fr Eric grew up in Melbourne where his destiny was sealed.
“I grew up in Springvale North, in the parish of St John Vianney’s, which was an Oblate-run parish, which is probably about 3km south of the Oblate seminary, which was on Jacksons Road, which is about 5km from Mazenod College, which was an Oblate secondary school,” he said.
“And it’s like the Bermuda Triangle; I kind of lived in that triangle,” he laughs as he thinks about it.
Fr Eric, of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is parish priest at Cannon Hill in Brisbane and lives in the Oblates’ community at Iona College.
Becoming a priest wasn’t such a foreign idea for him because of his upbringing.
Father Eric Alleaume OMI says he was drawn to the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate by the example of the Oblates during his school years and its missionary outlook. PHOTO: Catholic Leader.
“(I came from) a very strong Catholic faith family, and Dad’s oldest brother – my uncle – was a diocesan priest in Mauritius so you’re growing up with that as a natural part of who you are and what your family is,” Fr Eric said.
“And then, of course, the Oblates in (our) parish (in Melbourne), the Oblates in the school, the Oblates in the seminary were always part of our normal life, and seeing these guys as they’re just normal, human blokes – that that kind of priest is very human, very basic – was very influential.”
Although young Eric was influenced it was not enough to stop him dreaming of other possibilities.
“I suppose as a young kid I wanted to be a pilot and then I ended up having to wear glasses, so that threw that out the door,” he said.
“And then I got caught up into electronics, and just loved that and, eventually when I finished high school, I ended up doing a year at RMIT doing electrical engineering.
“That was about the same time as the local parish priest, (Oblate Father) John Hannah, was asking, ‘What are doing with your life? C’mon, you’ve got to do something better …’
“And that was the question, I think, that clinched it because there was that sense of, I think, trying to turn a hobby into a career wasn’t really working.
“So, in the end he said, ‘Oh, have a go … Look at the seminary …’
“So I wrote a letter, ended up doing novitiate the year after and was ordained in 1991.”
Apart from the challenge from Fr Hannah, he was also drawn by the spirit of the order.
“I suppose it was the whole thing of the Oblates being a missionary congregation and at the time when I was at school at Mazenod in Victoria we had seven priests on staff and they were all fairly young,” Fr Eric said.
“I think five of the younger men went to Indonesia, and I suppose it was the adventure of the missionary (that appealed to me) … In the end, I did go to visit the missions in Indonesia but that was as a teacher, because after I was ordained I was stationed at Iona College here in Brisbane in mid-’91 after ordination.”
That’s when he realised that teaching Year 10 boys religion “is probably more missionary territory than trying to learn Indonesian and bring Catholicism to Indonesia in Java”.
He’s also had varied experiences as a priest.
“I had seven-and-a-half years at Iona teaching, then I had seven years teaching in Western Australia at Mazenod College, in Lesmurdie, then I had a few months in a parish, and then I ended up as personal secretary to our superior general in Rome for seven-and-a-half years, came back to parish ministry in Adelaide, was in the parish in Sydney that we closed to take on Cannon Hill, and now three years here,” he said.
“So, thankfully, I’ve had a variety of experiences in ministry but I think the most important thing was, I suppose, when I taught the kids, I used to say, ‘If ever you can do a job in your life that you love and you get paid for it then you’re really lucky …’”
To any young men thinking of joining the Oblates or becoming a priest, Fr Eric’s first word of advice would be “to be yourself”.
“Try to be your best self; and be as happy as you can because as you do that then everybody else will be happy along with you,” he said.
“Happiness is contagious; hope is essential and hope is also contagious.
“Oblates really are ministers of hope, especially at this time.
“Just have the courage to give it a go; listen to people who have encouraged you along the way; listen to God; and listen to those things that are going to make you happiest in life; and recognise that all of those things can be fulfilled as a minister of God.”
This article is an abridged version of an article written by Peter Bugden for The Catholic Leader. Read the full article here.