Internationally renowned theologian and missiologist, Fr Roger Schroeder SVD is currently in Australia delivering a range of presentations and workshops on different aspects of Mission, including the theology of indigenous peoples and interculturality.

Fr Roger is the Professor of Intercultural Studies and Ministry and the Louis J. Luzbetak SVD Professor of Mission and Culture at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union (CTU).

Born and raised in the USA, he took perpetual vows as a Divine Word Missionary in 1979 and was ordained a priest the same year. He was a missionary for six years in Papua New Guinea before completing doctoral studies in Rome, and has been at CTU since 1990. Fr Roger has travelled all over the world giving lectures, presentations and workshops.

During his time in Australia Fr Roger will visit Alice Springs, Santa Teresa, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong.

“I always love coming to Australia,” Fr Roger said shortly after his arrival. “I’ve been here several times over the years and I have friends here, so it’s always good to be back.”

Fr Roger kicked off his visit with a couple of days in Alice Springs, where he took part in an ecumenical seminar on Aboriginal Theology.

“My presentation focuses on indigenous theology in the Americas over the last 50 years – in Latin America, the US and Canada,” he said.

“I think that the situation in the US and Canada with the indigenous people is closest to the situation here, historically, culturally and economically.

“I’ve been working with the Native Americans on the Reservations for 25 years, building up relationships of trust, and I think there are many similarities to the indigenous situation here in terms of poverty, marginalisation and issues such as alcoholism.”

The Alice Springs seminar, which was attended by Darwin Bishop Eugene Hurley (pictured above), featured local indigenous and non-indigenous theologians and practitioners talking about the current situation with Aboriginal people in Australia and explored the ways in which it is possible to bring together that reality with Christian faith.

On the second day, Fr Roger spoke of the indigenous theologies of the Americas, and then those present engaged in a conversation based on comparing the two sets of indigenous theologies, as well as South Pacific theologies.

“It’s about asking how can we be enriched by and maybe challenged by this,” Fr Roger said.

“It’s an approach that looks at who we are as God’s people. It’s acknowledging that God has been with indigenous peoples since the beginning of time and understanding how God is present in our history today, and then with that, you bring the Christian faith.”

While in Alice Springs, Fr Roger also gave a presentation on Mission to parishioners.

“As Christians, we are all called to be missionary disciples. What does it mean to be part of God’s mission?”

After a visit to the indigenous community at Santa Teresa, Fr Roger spent some time in Brisbane and Toowoomba dioceses with Catholic Mission and the SSpS Sisters, before heading to Dorish Maru College in Melbourne to give a presentation celebrating Mission Day. Back in Sydney, he undertook speaking engagements with Catholic Mission and St Vincent’s Health before heading to Wollongong Diocese.

While in Sydney, Fr Roger gave workshops to the SVD community at Marsfield on the topic of interculturality, which was identified as a priority area for the Divine Word Missionaries at the last General Chapter in 2012.

“I’ve been very involved in this area since 2010,” he said. “Interculturality means mutually enriching and challenging relationships between people of different cultures, ethnicities, ages, genders; acknowledging the differences and then working out, negotiating, how do we live and work together?

“It’s about understanding the world of the other and it’s becoming increasingly very important in religious life and in our world.”

Fr Roger brings to Australia his experience of working with SVDs and SSpS Sisters from all around the world in recent years to prepare and accompany them in becoming resource people on interculturality in their various parts of the world.

“Out of that experience we’ve come to really realise that knowledge of other cultures is one thing, but nothing will change unless the heart changes,” he said.

“We have to get over our biases and ethnocentricity. And that means spirituality. There is a need for conversion against all forms of ethnocentrism and it’s an ongoing process and a challenge for everybody.”