More than 20 young SVD missionaries and SSpS Sisters gathered in Sydney recently for a workshop which explored different aspects of interculturality, both in the community life of a missionary and in ministry.
All of the young missionaries who attended have been in vows for 10 years or less, or are recent arrivals in the Province.
Speakers at the workshop included the SVD Vice Superior-General, Fr Bob Kisala, as well as Columban missionary Fr Noel Connolly SSC and Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD, who is a missionary in Thailand, part of the AUS Province.
Fr Bob says the opportunity to spend time with a group of young, enthusiastic missionaries was a joyful experience for him.
“It’s been enjoyable being with them during these days,” he says.
“In my presentations, I’ve been concentrating on interculturality, which as SVDs we named as a priority at the last Chapter meeting four years ago. So in a way, this is a follow-up to that Chapter.
“We’re looking at ways of living together in intercultural communities, learning from each other so that our differences don’t divide us, but enrich us with different ways of looking at things and doing things.
“And then, from that understanding we look at what we can bring from that experience to our mission ministries.”
Fr Bob says that a commitment to intercultural living has been part of the SVD character right from the very beginning.
“So we see it as part of our heritage as SVDs,” he says. “And it’s something that we have now that we can contribute to Mission.”
Young missionaries are a blessing for which the SVD gives thanks, he says.
“We’ve been blessed by a relatively large number of vocations, especially in Asia, and we have a growing number of members, especially younger members,” he says.
“And it’s especially good to see it here in Australia.”
Fr Noel spoke to the group on the missionary situation in the Australian context, with his presentation entitled ‘Living happily and creatively in an increasingly multicultural Church’.
His presentation touched on Australian history, culture and religious values and he invited the participants to reflect on their own migrant experience and the impact it had on their faith life and their ministerial activities.
And Fr Anthony gave an overview of the SVD mission in Thailand, a mainly Buddhist country, where Catholics represent just a half of one per cent of the population.
He outlined how the SVD, apart from its original work of caring for people with HIV/AIDs and the orphans of AIDS, now has 13 missionaries engaged in parish work, ministering to migrants, and education in Thailand.
Fr Anthony said there are many challenges and opportunities ahead for the SVD in Thailand.
“The SVD in Thailand, in the last 15 years, has grown not only in size, but also in the actual impact on the local church,” he said.
“The potential for SVD contribution in Thailand and beyond remains largely untapped. Discussions need to be ongoing for how the SVDs may penetrate this region with its charisms and approach to mission.”
Reflecting on the workshop, Fr Anthony said the participants came not only to listen about what interculturality entails in the SVD context, but they also came to live out the challenges and joys of interculturality as young and enthusiastic members of the Province.
He said an important part of the program was the time set aside for members to discuss and share in small groups, and also to share their personal stories and experience, and the workshop reinforced the notion that interculturality is not a concept, but a way of living in community and in the world.
“The value of interculturality is in the praxis dimension of it, and, observing the way the members interact with one another throughout the workshop, one can imagine that the younger member of the AUS Province are doing quite well along these lines,” he said.