The workshop ran over two weeks at the SVD’s retreat centre at St Leonard’s in Victoria. It was designed for all confreres who have recently arrived in the AUS Province, both students and priests.

 

Fr Linh Nguyen SVD, Formator of Scholastics for the AUS Province, says the aim of the course was to broaden and deepen the newly arrived conferes’ sense of the mission of the Church and its missionary mandate across the Australia Province, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar.

 

“It also aimed to foster and strengthen the commitment of the newly arrived confreres’ religious and missionary vocation as Divine Word Missionaries,” he says.

 

“And to give them a basic understanding of the background, history and issues of living and ministering in Australian society, including issues around safeguarding and professional standards.”

 

Fr Linh says topics covered included: Being Church in Australia – SVD mission opportunities and challenges; Listening to the voices of Aboriginal people; Aboriginal Spirituality and AUS ministry with Indigenous Australians; the History of the Australian church and the history of the SVD in Australia; Culture and Mission – Culture, culture-shock and intercultural living; Mission and self-care.

 

Other topics looked at cultural norms and expectations, including: How to Behave in Public in Australia – Drinking; Modesty and etiquette in Australia (Western culture); Women in Australian culture, society and the Catholic Church; Safe-guarding and professional standards in ministry; SVD parish pastoral ministry in AUS, NZ, Thailand and Myanmar; Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation; Budget and finance management.

 

There was also an opportunity for a culture presentation from each participant.

 

“We hope that this two-week, immersive course will help our newer confreres to the Province to be aware of the challenges of entering a new culture, in order to deal with the possibilities of homesickness, culture shock and even conflict in the ministry and community living,” Fr Linh says.

 

“It was also an opportunity for new confreres who come from many different cultural backgrounds, to live and experience the reality of intercultural living.”

 

Fr Niran Veigas SVD, who was born in India and spent a number of years on mission in Russia, has recently taken up his new assignment in the Tiwi Islands, a part of Darwin Diocese. He says the acculturation course felt like “coming together as a SVD family”.

 

 

“It was really wonderful to get to know the new faces of our province and try to understand how dynamic we are,” he says.

“Acculturation helped me a lot to understand the Australian church and how I need to respond to it, by reading the signs of the times. Personal sharing and sharing of our missionary life and presentation of our cultures touched my heart. Being an SVD we need to respect each other’s cultures and we need to adopt to the local culture.”

 

Fr Niran says he felt the program would be very useful for his ministry in the Tiwi islands since the Aboriginal cultures were addressed strongly in the course.

“Some of the speakers were well experienced being with Aboriginal communities,” he says. “It was a learning lesson for me, how to understand the First Nations people. This inculturation program also helped me to understand the history of the Australian country as well as the First Nations people. What I learned the most was to walk with the Aboriginal people and to listen them. 

SVD student Krisna Papalesa, from Indonesia said he particularly enjoyed a topic on the Etiquette of living in Australia, saying the presenters made him realise that “Australia is a unique and wonderful country”.

 

“This program showed me that working in Australia or anywhere as a missionary has norms to be observed,” he says.

 

“I do not bring God to the place that I will go into, however, I seek God in the place that I am in.”

 

Gusty Siga Buu Araujo was born in East Timor and raised in Kupang, Indonesia. Like Krisna, he is now studying at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne to become an SVD missionary priest.

 

“The acculturation course was really a significant time for me in terms of living the interculturality within our society,” he says.

 

“We didn't just get input from the speakers, we were also given a chance to introduce our own culture and learn about mission life from the senior confreres

 

“During this course, I managed to learn about some important things which really help me as a missionary in this province, especially the Australian culture, the SVD mission in Australia, and Aboriginal Culture. 

 

“As a newcomer, I found that those themes were very practical and helped me to get in touch with the culture and the mission in this province.”