Fr Shayne D’Cunha

At the age of 18, Fr Shayne D’Cunha was living the dream of most people his age.

He was playing for a professional football (soccer) team and representing his country at the under-19 level.

"Ever since I was a young kid, I loved playing football," he says.

"In high school, I realised I could take it a bit seriously and I always had a dream of playing for Australia and playing in front of big crowds.

"By 18 I was playing semi-professionally, playing for the under-19 national team for Australia and played a few seasons with the Western Sydney Wanderers. I was realising my dream."

But a growing dissatisfaction with what was meant to be his dream, led him to discern a different path.

"I experienced the dissatisfaction with the world in a very strange way because football was something I loved, yet at the same time, it couldn’t provide me with what I thought it could: that self-worth and that happiness," he says.

Fr Shayne was raised in the Parish of Pennant Hills and would attend Sunday Mass growing up but started to take his faith more seriously during his early adulthood.

Not only was he in a transition period in his daily life, he was also in a transition period in his spiritual journey, coming to know more deeply who Jesus Christ was and who His Church was.

"Consequently I started to search and moved away from a worldly way of understanding who and I am and reality, and towards a Christian way," he says.

"This experience led me to realise just how much Our Lord desires to be part of my life and I wanted to communicate that to others."

Shayne entered the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in 2019 and following seven years of study, was ordained a priest.

He shares many great memories of his time in the seminary.

"I really enjoyed my first year in the seminary," he says. "I learned the importance and joy of fraternity, prayer and study. World Youth Day and my parish placement at Warnervale in 2023 were also great."

He says other young men in the Diocese need to be courageous in responding to where God is calling them.

"’Do not be afraid!’ Be courageous and respond to Our Lord’s call with confidence; not so much in your own abilities but confidence in God who calls and sustains you," Shayne says.

"A phrase I like to recall is ‘God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called’."

Fr Shayne D’Cunha was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Broken Bay on 29 April 2026.