Cathedral Manager

VICTOR HOA IS the Cathedral Manager.

I was born and grew up in Singapore; the youngest of 3 children. Throughout my life, I involved myself in different community work to help the less fortunate and I attribute this to my family’s strong influence in this regard.
Growing up, I remember spending weekends following my mum to aged care facilities and hospices to help out. Personally, I always found volunteering in these places to be calming and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Although as personal commitments grew and the visits became less frequent, the fond memories of my time spent volunteering remain.

As I entered university, graduated with a civil engineering degree and started working in a statutory board for several years, I returned to volunteering and spent a good portion of my time with community groups that helped society’s less fortunate. After a few years of working, I went on to pursue my masters in environmental engineering and worked as a marine environmental consultant. Due to company growth, I had the opportunity to support its regional expansion and moved to Perth in 2012. I married my wonderful wife the following year and spent the next few years travelling regularly around Southeast Asia as part of my work.
Things came full circle when I was recalled back to Singapore to support the office and was soon promoted to Head of Department for their Environmental team. Although I enjoyed my stint as a consultant, it did not hold the same sense of satisfaction and felt something was missing. Therefore, I decided to move back to Perth and be with my family here and came back in early 2020, just before the strict COVID restrictions kicked in. As with all things, there’s always a silver lining. I took the opportunity to explore and pursue things I wanted and also thought of new directions.

It was during this time that I came across the advertisement for Cathedral Manager pinned to my parish’s notice board. I thought long and hard about applying, and decided to accept the challenge. And as the saying goes, the rest was history.

In the weeks that I’ve been in the role, the journey has been great. Fr Sean and other Cathedral priests have been extremely supportive and Tony, the previous Cathedral Manager, has been a fantastic mentor. Indeed, I do have huge shoes to fill! But with God’s guidance and continued support of the Dean, priests, team and volunteers, I am confident I’ll be up to the challenges that lie ahead.