The Divine Word Missionaries are relaunching their Dei Verbum Biblical Course for those engaged in Biblical ministry, and three missionaries from the AUS Province will be among those taking part in the program to be held in Nemi, Italy, later this year.

Province Biblical Coordinator, Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD, will be accompanied by Fr Mariusz Kubista SVD and Fr Tuyen Nguyen SVD who have recently taken up their assignments in the new Myanmar mission, where their work is focused on Bible ministry.

The 60 day course is open to both lay people and priests and Fr Elmer says it builds on a long tradition of SVD Dei Verbum courses.

“It will be a great opportunity to get together with people from all over the world and share our experiences and learn new things about engaging in the Biblical Apostolate in our world today,” Fr Elmer says.

The first Dei Verbum Biblical-Pastoral Course was launched on August 9, 1987 with Fr John Fullenbach SVD as its director. It lasted for 18 weeks and 28 participants took part. From the very beginning the course was opened for lay people, religious and priests from all over the world.

As a joint venture between the Society of the Divine Word and the Catholic Biblical Federation, the course was organised, with few exceptions, every year until 2015.

Now, following a review of the program, the new, reshaped edition of the program is to start, lasting 60 days which is an allusion to the distance of 60 stadiums between Jerusalem and Emmaus that two of the Disciples were walking with Jesus.

The course aims to meet three objectives:

1. To accompany in attentive reading and diligent study of the Scripture in order to understand it properly;

2. Enable interiorising of the Word of God, through introduction into some selected themes, daily common liturgical biblical prayer, sharing and functions;

3. Inspire participants to find suitable ways in communicating the Word of God in today’s world.

“As I understand it, although there is a substantial paper to submit at the end of the course, the focus is on developing practical skills and insights,” says Fr Elmer.

“Obviously, as our name indicates, the Word of God is central to the life and ministry of Divine Word Missionaries, so I’m looking forward to this further opportunity to learn more and hopefully bring the fruits of what I learn back here to the AUS Province to share it in ministry.”

PHOTO: Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD, Fr Tuyen Nguyen SVD, and Fr Mariusz Kubista SVD, who will attend the Dei Verbum program in Italy.