The 2018 Provincial Assembly and Chapter of the SVD AUS Province was officially convoked this month and preparations are well underway for this important event which will help set the missionary priorities of the Province for the years to come.

Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, convoked the Assembly and Chapter in a letter to all confreres, setting the Assembly down to begin on Monday, February 19 and the Chapter to begin on Wednesday February 21.

The Provincial Assembly and Chapter precede the SVD’s 18th General Chapter, to be held in Rome in December 2018.

Fathers Boni Buahendri and Viet Nguyen have been appointed Coordinators of the AUS preparation for the Local, Provincial and General Chapters.

As part of preparing for the Provincial Assembly and Chapter, local SVD communities will come together on a Regional basis to reflect on their missionary activity, their life together as missionary confreres, and to prayerfully consider where the Gospel might be calling them for the future. This information, from each of the Regions in the Province, will then be collated and presented ahead of the Provincial Assembly and Chapter.

The Assembly and Chapter will help set the priorities for the SVD AUS Province over the coming triennium.

As part of the preparation for the General Chapter in Rome, the AUS Province will take part in communal reflection exercises set by the SVD Generalate.The theme of the General Chapter is “The Love of Christ Impels us” (2 Cor 5:14): Rooted in the Word, Committed to His Mission.

“The objective of the 18th General Chapter is to foster a process of a spiritual rekindling, bringing us back to the Word of God as the source of our life, vocation, and mission and our religious missionary commitment,” the SVD Superior General Fr Heinz Kuluke wrote in a letter to Provincials.

“Thus, the aim of this Chapter is the renewal of oneself, community life, and mission.”

Fr Henry says all local SVD communities will reflect on this theme and the call to renewal as individuals and communities, so as to be able to face the challenges of being missionaries in the situations of our own time and place.

“Let us pray to our Saints Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademetz for the success of this important event in the life of our Province and the local churches we serve,” he said.

PHOTO: Fr Henry Adler SVD addresses the opening of the previous Provincial Chapter