Fr Asaeli Rass SVD profile pic 250Happy New Year! And welcome to the first edition of In the Word for 2023.

As you receive this Enews, I am in Fiji preparing to facilitate the meeting of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania. It is a crucial meeting for the bishops of our region and will cover many things, including the preparations for Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality. I ask for your prayers for the bishops’ discernment and also for me as I facilitate the meeting with the help of secretariat staff.

Here in Australia the idiom “turn something on its head” is used quite a lot, especially in sports. When a team is leading by a big score and then the opponent rallies and is now in the lead, you can hear commentators saying, “The game has been turned on its head”.

January, the beginning of a new year, can be a time of regret and reflection, mixed with optimism for the future, a time for new resolutions.

“Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way.” This gospel passage reminds me of the road from Alice Springs to Santa Teresa, which is a remote Aboriginal community where I’m assigned at the moment.

Fr John Quang SVD 250Working in a large, multicultural parish in the Wellington Archdiocese, New Zealand, has both challenges and joys, but for Fr John Quang SVD, it’s one of the best assignments he’s ever had.

“I love it in New Zealand. I’m really happy here,” he says.

Dorish Maru SVD students Nov 2022 250Students from the SVD formation house, Dorish Maru College, have closed their text-books for another academic year and are heading off to local parishes to gain first-hand pastoral and intercultural experience.

Seven newly arrived students who have been undertaking their English-language courses or their first year of Theology studies at Yarra Theological Union will participate in the SVD Students Summer Acculturation Program.

Tin Trinh ordination 250The Divine Word Missionaries joyfully celebrated the Ordination to the Priesthood of Tin Minh Trinh SVD this month – and for the first time, the ordaining prelate was Bishop Tim Norton SVD, Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane.

The Ordination took place at St Christopher’s Parish, Syndal in Melbourne, where Tin has been serving as Deacon and featured contributions from the local Vietnamese community, in tribute to Tin’s home country.

Fr Clement Baffoe with school kids vertical 250After a long Victorian lockdown and months of uncertainty, on the 28th of November, 2020, I was ordained a priest in Melbourne, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD. This week, on the 28th of November, I have been ordained for two years. One month after my ordination, I was assigned to the Townsville Diocese. In fact, I was one of three confreres to be assigned to this new SVD mission in far North Queensland.

How then would I describe my two years as a priest? First and foremost, I must say it has been a time of grace, God’s goodness, mercy and great learning. From celebrating the normal weekday Masses, hearing confessions, visiting our schools to share quality time with our teachers and pupils whether in school Masses, liturgies or assemblies, visiting patients at the Townsville University Hospital, our two nursing homes, to celebrating baptisms, weddings and funerals, etc, it’s been a time of encountering God, myself and those to whom I minister.

Janssen Centre solar panels 250 lighterThe Janssen Spirituality Centre in Boronia, Victoria, is looking forward to sunny days ahead, for both visitors and residents, following the installation of solar panels on its roof.

The installation of the panels means that now all three of the larger SVD houses – at the Provincial Centre in Marsfield, Dorish Maru College in Melbourne and now the Janssen Centre – are largely producing their own electricity and requiring less fossil-fuel generated power.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD profile pic 250As we head into the hectic time of year leading up to Christmas, the Church calendar gives us an opportunity to step back from all the busyness and take some time for prayer, reflection, and outreach.

Advent is a beautiful season of preparation for the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord and it is the perfect antidote to all the seasonal rushing, spending and partying.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

In the spirit of reconciliation, the Society of the Divine Word, Australia Province, acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, sky, and community.

We acknowledge their skin-groups, story-lines, traditions, religiosity and living cultures.

We pay respect to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all indigenous peoples of New Zealand, Thailand, and Myanmar.

We are committed to building with them, a brighter future together.