“The Whanganui river in New Zealand is the first river in the world to be recognised as an indivisible and living being, after being granted personhood in 2017. It has been granted the same legal rights as a human being.”

No doubt this sounds very strange to us, but a couple of weeks ago I started reading a book by the late Fr. Denis Edwards called: “Ecology at the heart of faith” published in 2006. I highly recommend reading it and meditating on the various sections, reflects Fr Nick de Groot SVD.

The Arnoldus Family across the Australia Province celebrated the SVD’s 148^th Foundation Day this month, with confreres, Holy Spirit Sisters and lay partners coming together in prayer and thanksgiving.

SVD Foundation Day falls on September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the date on which St Arnold Janssen founded the Society of the Divine Word in Steyl, Holland in 1875. St Arnold also went on to found the Holy Spirit Sisters and the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters.

As Christian communities around the world celebrate the Season of Creation this month, some green-thumbed members of the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province are proving that caring for creation can begin with small actions, close to home.

The Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action to protect creation, beginning on September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation, established by Pope Francis in 2015 and running through to October 4, the Feast of St Francis, who is the patron saint of ecology in many traditions. This year’s theme is ‘Let Justice and Peace Flow’.

Parishioners of Mary Mother of the Church parish in Macquarie Fields came together recently for the first Multicultural Day celebration since before the COVID pandemic, carrying flags from more than 50 countries in a spectacular procession which highlighted the parish’s unity in cultural diversity.

The Multicultural Day has been a popular part of the parish’s tradition over many years and parishioners and visitors were delighted to see it return.

This week I departed for Rome to take part in the Synod of Bishops on Synodality.

I have been appointed by Pope Francis to be a small group facilitator during the Synod discussions, and while I am certainly aware of the enormity of the task ahead, I am also honoured and excited to be a part of it.

Roger Kyaw Thu SVD, from Myanmar, is nearing the end of his initial formation to become a missionary priest and has been assigned to the Australia Province, saying he was attracted to missionary life by the idea of going to places where he is most needed.

Roger is to be ordained a deacon on October 1 at Our Lady of Africa Church in Chicago, Illinois, an SVD parish in the United States not far from where he has been undergoing his formation.

In 1967, Australians gave overwhelming support to a referendum that recognised Australia’s First Peoples as citizens. In 2023, we will be given a chance to vote in another referendum to constitutionally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through a Voice to Parliament, writes the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council

Australia’s Bishops see it as an opportunity for all Australians to renew our engagement with the First Peoples of Australia. They have come to this view through much listening to the First Peoples and they encourage us all to listen to them in a spirit of love and humility.

A group of 50 young adults from Sydney’s Vietnamese community came together recently for a retreat where they explored the theme: “Me, Myself and God”.

It’s the 74^th year that the retreat has been held and the guest speaker was Fr Manh Le SVD, a Vietnamese Australian priest currently ministering with the Indigenous community of Palm Island, off the coast of Townsville.

When Fr Niran Veigas SVD answered his vocational call to become a missionary priest, he could not have foreseen himself ministering in Russia and now the Tiwi Islands, but the Indian-born priest is embracing the new challenge of getting to know the people and helping to make a difference in their lives.

Fr Niran was born and raised in a Catholic family in the city of Mangalore, in southwest India and says he began discerning the possibility of being a priest as a young boy.

Theologian and Missiologist Fr Stephen Bevans SVD returned to Australia recently to give a range of presentations on the role of mission in meeting the needs of the world today.

Fr Stephen, who is the Emeritus Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD Professor of Mission and Culture at Chicago Theological Union, led the SVD annual retreats in locations around the province, delivered a presentation for Catholic Mission, and gave an online seminar for the SVD’s Mission, Education and Research initiative.