As he prepares to farewell his first parish appointment since ordination for further studies in Rome, Fr Clement Baffoe SVD looks back on how his ministry with a parish community in Townsville has changed him.

"As I leave the parish, I leave better than I came in three years ago. I’ve been challenged, encouraged, supported and allowed to grow in every way humanly, spiritually, and pastorally possible," he writes.

A series of online academic presentations on the theme of ‘Mission and Dialogue Today’ which were hosted this year by the SVD Australia Province have been hailed a success with plans underway to do something similar in the future.

The Mission, Education and Research (MER) presentations ran from June to November and featured speakers from within the Province as well as overseas.

The Santa Teresa – Ltyentye Apurte community in Central Australia has celebrated its 70^th anniversary with prayer, thanksgiving and a pilgrimage back to the location of the Little Flower Mission, where it all began.

Parish Priest of Santa Teresa, Fr Olivier Noclam SVD, said the anniversary celebration was “a really great occasion”, as the community of Eastern Arrernte people remembered not only their rich cultural history over thousands of years, but also their history as a Catholic community.

The Australia Province of the Divine Word Missionaries is putting Pope Francis’ call for a more synodal Church into action by engaging in a strategic planning session using the synodal methods of deep listening and dialogue.

The fruits of that strategic planning session, which involved the Provincial Council, some confreres, lay partners, benefactors and friends, will now be sent to all confreres at District level who will be asked to apply their own discernment and feedback, using the synodal methods.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, who is currently serving as Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs, has been appointed by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci to be Vicar-General of the Diocese.

Fr Prakash, who is from India, completed his SVD formation at Melbourne’s Dorish Maru College and was ordained by the former Bishop of Darwin, Bishop Eugene Hurley, in 2014, before being assigned as a missionary to Central Australia.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today we celebrate the Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe. In my opinion, there are two dimensions to today's celebration: the cosmic dimension and the eschatological dimension.

Imagine you got the windfall of a lifetime. You’ve just won the top prize in lotto, which was worth millions of dollars. What would you do with this windfall?

Our Gospel reading for this 32^nd Sunday of ordinary time challenges us to be vigilant and wise. We often hear people say that “she has lots of wisdom or he has lots of knowledge”. 

In this Sunday’s second reading, Paul starts with a beautiful image of his loving tenderness to the people placed under his pastoral care: “We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children.”

Attending this consultative Synod as one of the 38 small group facilitators is a great honour and privilege – an experience of a lifetime, a Kairos experience! “Come to us, O Holy Spirit” is the consistent cry holding the synodal journey from many languages, cultures and Christian traditions under the leadership of Pope Francis, writes Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

I am thrilled to be part of Pope Francis' dream towards a synodal Catholic Church that walks, prays, discerns together in the Holy Spirit. This is subjective, and yet I could openly express in appreciation how the Spirit is gently and surely leading the Catholic Church to a better space in the history of salvation.