The 2015 Provincial Chapter affirmed and confirmed the Province’s commitment to its current mission priorities, as well as a desire to strengthen and further enrich SVD community life.

AUS Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, says the Chapter also highlighted a growing sensitivity and commitment towards living interculturally, both within the Society and in its outward mission.

“The Chapter recognised that we already live interculturally, but that we want to get better at it,” Fr Henry says.

“A desire also emerged for us to be more inclusive in our ministries, even though external factors don’t always make this easy.”

The Chapter confirmed the Province’s commitment to the Biblical Apostolate, Mission Animation, and Justice and Peace initiatives. It reaffirmed that priority be given to indigenous Australians, the mission in Thailand, the urban poor and multicultural communities in Australia and New Zealand and faith seekers and people of other faiths and cultures.

“As far as Thailand is concerned, we confirmed that as a Province, we are looking beyond our present ministries there, to grow in mission, according to need.”

Fr Henry says that while confirming the existing ‘Ad Extra’ priorities for mission outreach, the Chapter also expressed a desire to focus more on the ‘Ad Intra’ aspects of community and spiritual life.

“It was a recognition, I think, that we are all in this together, and so we need to work together to build up our communities and to engage with our SVD spirituality and also with practical matters, such as finances,” he says.

“There was a very good spirit of collaboration at the Chapter meeting, which, I believe, was a sign of the presence of the Spirit in the Chapter.

“We worked hard, with the expert help of our wonderful facilitator, Patricia Bergin, and at the end, I think there was a real sense of excitement and reinvigoration for the mission in the coming years.”