The Divine Word Missionaries have a long history of chaplaincy for migrant communities, and some of the confreres involved with chaplaincy ministry came together recently to explore how the AUS Province can continue to best meet the growing needs of these communities.

Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, says the meeting of chaplains aimed to look at what was already being done and to consider possibilities for the future.

“From the beginning of the existence of the Society of the Divine Word, we have worked with migrants and responded to their needs,” Fr Henry says.

“We recognise that the Church has a moral responsibility to welcome, and to be proactive in the welcoming, of the stranger.

“So the purpose of this recent meeting of migrant chaplains was to get together and look at the ministries we are involved with – to look at how we go about it, what the needs are, and how we as SVDs are approaching this ministry.”

Fr Henry says that working with migrants and refugees was one of the principles, or priorities, chosen by the last SVD General Chapter. The AUS Province has also chosen this area of ministry as one of its priorities.

“Migrants and refugees are a reality in the life of Australia,” says Fr Henry. “Australia is a country to which people from all over the world have come, and continue to come.

“So it is only natural that we, as missionaries, would become involved with migrant communities and seek to support them.”

In the post-WWII era, the SVD was deeply involved with chaplaincy to the many different migrant communities who came to Australia either as refugees or as migrants.

However, Fr Henry says, that in the 1980s, as those migrant communities settled into life in Australia and other religious congregations began providing chaplaincy to specific communities, it was deemed that the need was being met and the SVD pulled back from this ministry.

“Now, in the last 20 years or so, we have seen new needs emerging, with new waves of migration to Australia,” he says.

“There have also been new arrivals of refugees and asylum seekers. The SVDs have, in recent years, opened our own doors to accommodate asylum seekers from Afghanistan and other regions of the Middle East.

“We are seeing people from different cultures and language groups who are in need of pastoral care, and so, seeing that need, we have responded to that.”

Today, the SVD AUS Province is involved with chaplaincy to the Indonesian, Chinese, Slovak, and Vietnamese communities (both in Thailand and Australia). Some retired SVD priests are also still assisting with the pastoral needs of some of the more established migrant groups, such as Italians.

The SVD also responds to the pastoral needs of very small groups of migrant Catholics, such as Laotians and Thai Catholics, who don’t have their own chaplains.

Fr Henry says the SVD’s chaplaincy approach is helping migrant communities to take on a more participatory approach to pastoral care.

“For instance, in Melbourne, Fr Boni Buahendri has responded to a need in the Indonesian community for chaplaincy, but because of his commitments as Formation Director of SVD students at Dorish Maru College, he has encouraged the members of the community to become more active in various ministries,” he says.

“This has allowed the community to move into a less traditional, but more participatory model, that involves new members and shared ministries.”

Fr Henry says the inaugural meeting of the chaplains’ group discussed different aspects of their ministries and identified the things that unite them and the potential for sharing insights and initiatives.

One key focus of SVD migrant chaplaincy is to help the different communities to integrate into the broader church in Australia.

“We understand that many migrant groups are very protective of their own identity, but we keep inviting them to enter the process of integration into the broader Church,” says Fr Henry.

“We see the different communities as our partners in mission and we know that many of them feel that they are part of the SVD family, which is wonderful.”

The chaplains group will meet quarterly and continue to seek ways to collaborate.

PHOTOS

Top left: Fr Henry Adler SVD celebrates Mass with the Sydney Slovak community.

Bottom right: The Chinese community of St Arnold Janssen Chapel at Marsfield, performing at the annual SVD Carols by Candlelight.