VOCATIONS: Fr Sunil’s missionary life inspired by St Francis

By Catherine Sheehan

From the time Fr Sunil de Silva read the life of St Francis of Assisi as a young boy, he had an overwhelming desire to become a missionary, to serve the poor and bring the love of Christ to all those in need.

“I saw in the Catholic newspaper the life story of St Francis of Assisi,” said Fr Sunil, Parish Priest at Mersey Leven.

“After reading that article, I went to the library and found another book on Francis of Assisi, his whole life story and all his activities… I became very curious about his life journey.

“I was so attracted by the way he was reaching out to see the lepers and giving not only his love and care, but also his belongings to the poor people. That attracted me so much.”

This desire to be a missionary like St Francis set him on a path that led to the Catholic priesthood, and to serving the faithful in foreign lands.

Fr Sunil was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the seventh child in his Catholic family of five boys and three girls.

He attended school in Colombo, and would wake every day at 5am to ride his bicycle to Mass at his local church where he was an altar server.

His Parish Priest saw qualities in him suitable for priesthood.

“He was encouraging me, [saying] ‘You are going to be a priest’, and he told the other altar servers also, ‘This Sunil is going to be a priest and you must pray for him’. So these reminders were there all the time.”

At the age of 14 he visited the seminary in Colombo to ask the Rector if he could enter but was told to wait another two years as he was too young.

“When I went there, I was in grade seven. They said, ‘You are too early, go back home and you stay two more years at home and then come back’.”

Two years later he entered seminary at age 16. He was ordained to the priesthood on 28 July 1990, the year Pope St John Paul II released his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, ‘On the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate’.

Fr Sunil celebrated his first Mass at a Carmelite convent chapel where his older sister was a Carmelite nun.

“It was a beautiful and inspiring day,” he said. “I thought this is the beginning of my missionary life. So that was always in my mind.”

He went on to serve on mission stations in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as in parishes in Colombo.

He served in Pakistan close to the Kashmir border from 1994 until 2001 when he was forced to leave for safety reasons as the US was attacking the region occupied by Osama Bin Laden and his followers. During that time Fr Sunil was appointed Principal of five schools.

“That missionary life was extremely good and fulfilling,” he said. “It was a real missionary journey because we had 106 Mass centres in the parish.”

He also spent three months serving in Egypt in 2019. After his return to Sri Lanka he was appointed Personal Secretary to the Archbishop of Colombo, a position he held for ten years.

After enquiring about further opportunities for missionary work, Fr Sunil was invited by then Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous to serve in Tasmania.

He moved to Hobart in 2021 and spent three years serving in the Campbell Town Parish before being appointed Mersey Leven Parish Priest.

Fr Sunil said the missionary challenges in Australia included the need to encourage people to embrace faith, to attend Mass, and be involved in their parish communities.

“It is by continuing with my mission that you find fulfilment and joy,” he said.

“My priesthood was inspired by Francis of Assisi. It’s a complete mission of giving your best to God and for his people.

“While serving, I experience how the Lord is guiding me.

“If you want to be a priest you must think of a missionary life and of going out to serve the people of God anywhere you are asked to serve and there is no limit to what man can do for the humanity, if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

For enquiries regarding vocations to the priesthood please contact Vocations Director, Fr Steven Smith, on 0493 122 283 or at steven.smith@aohtas.org.au.