Helping people to access the Bible, understand its ongoing relevance, and apply it to their daily lives is the chief hope of Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD in his new role as Bible Coordinator for the AUS Province.
Fr Elmer says he is delighted to be taking up his new position because it is central to the life of the Divine Word Missionaries.
“We are actually named after the Divine Word, so it is important for us to be knowledgeable about the Word and to be able to take the Word to people,” he says.
“For me, the Bible is always relevant because every time I read a passage, I always receive a new insight. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve read it before.
“You can’t really exhaust the Word of God. It continually keeps talking to us in the circumstances of our lives.
“So it does continue to be relevant in the world today and one of our jobs as SVDs is to show people how it is relevant to them and to help them apply it in their everyday lives.”
Fr Elmer says he hopes to continue and build on the work of previous Bible Coordinators for the Province, Fr Dom Flores SVD and Fr Michael Quang SVD.
One of his priorities is to provide support for SVD confreres working in pastoral areas, such as parishes.
“I’m working with Fr Dom and a very committed lay person, Teresa Tiu, to see how we can support them and help them to set up Bible Studies, for instance.
The Bible Apostolate has already helped set up Bible Groups in SVD parishes in Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand and is hoping to provide the support to set up more.
The groups of between five and 10 people are based on a program called Bible Timeline and they have so far focused on the Gospel of Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles.
For those in Sydney who can’t get to a Bible Study Group, Fr Elmer has begun giving a Bible talk at the St Arnold Janssen Chapel in Marsfield every second Friday night.
“I also want to reach out through the Internet and social media,” he says. “I’m preparing an SVD Bible Apostolate Facebook page and I’d love to engage people that way.
“I think there is a real thirst for more Bible study. People really want to know more, not only on an intellectual level but also on a spiritual level.”
Fr Elmer is heading to India in September for an SVD zonal meeting of the coordinators of the Four Characteristic Dimensions (Bible, Justice and Peace, Communications and Mission Animation).
“I’m looking forward to that. It will be a good opportunity to meet other Bible Coordinators from around the region and see what they’ve got going on and maybe even bring back some new ideas.”