Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! And welcome to the first edition of In the Word for 2023.

As you receive this Enews, I am in Fiji preparing to facilitate the meeting of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania. It is a crucial meeting for the bishops of our region and will cover many things, including the preparations for Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality. I ask for your prayers for the bishops’ discernment and also for me as I facilitate the meeting with the help of secretariat staff.

No sooner will I be back in Australia than we will begin preparing in earnest for our Provincial Chapter meeting in March.

The Provincial Chapter normally happens every three years and is a formal gathering of appointed delegates from around the Province who meet to chart the path forward for the next three years. Thanks to the pandemic, our last Provincial Chapter was held in 2018, so there is much to catch up on.

The Chapter is an opportunity to examine and promote our religious-missionary life and the work of confreres, lay mission partners and staff in the Province, and take care that efforts be made to realise the goal of the Society of the Divine Word in a way corresponding to the needs and circumstances of the province spread out in four countries.

This year we will also have present at the Chapter our two General Visitators on behalf of the Generalate, as well as other invited guests.

As we seek to discern God’s will for our missionary life in the AUS Province, we ask for your prayers. We too will be preparing ourselves spiritually for the work and obligations associated with the Chapter, by praying together.

May we open ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit and have the courage and wisdom to follow where the Spirit leads us in our ministry and community life.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD

Provincial