The parish of St Clement Catholic Church in Chum Phae, in Thailand’s Khon Kaen Province is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Parish Priest, Fr Ben Bella SVD, said the relatively small parish is located in a rural area, surrounded by several villages with the church an important centre of faith and fellowship for the local people.
SVD seminarians at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne have put aside their textbooks for the winter academic break and have begun a program of formation workshops alongside parish pastoral placements.
The students, who come from a variety of different countries, say the workshops and practical pastoral experience is helping them to discern and prepare for life as a Divine Word Missionary.
The SVD Australia Province is set to host an engaging new online lecture series this year, exploring the theme, ‘Integral Human Development in a Fragmented World’.
The series, from the Province’s Mission, Education and Research (MER) team, will commence on May 16 with a foundational session on ‘Biblical and Mission Perspectives’, featuring distinguished scholars Roger Schroeder SVD and Vien V. Nguyen SCJ.
The diversity of the SVD Australia Province was on full display over the past month as Provincial, Fr Boni Buahendri SVD was welcomed by confreres and faith communities in the South Island of New Zealand, Central West Queensland and the Tiwi Islands.
The visits were part of Fr Boni’s initial tour of the Province, in which he said his primary goal was to simply “be with” the missionaries and listen to their experience.
Three young SVD seminarians professed their final vows as Divine Word Missionaries this month and were ordained as deacons as they continue their journey towards the priesthood.
Agustinus Buu Araujo Siga, SVD (Gusty), Antonius Kristanto Papalesa, SVD (Krisna), and Anthony Khanh Ngoc Nguyen, SVD (Khanh) made their final profession at St Paschal’s Chapel, Box Hill, in Melbourne on Saturday, March 21, before being ordained to the diaconate in the same chapel the following day.
The SVD mission in Thailand and Myanmar has been split into two Districts, a move which confreres say will help overcome challenges of distance and enhance unity, collaboration and effectiveness in ministry.
The two new Districts, which are part of the Australia Province, will be known as the Bangkok-Myanmar District and the Udon Thani District, and it is hoped the new arrangement will also provide further support for vocations and early formation for those discerning missionary life in the region.
The Society of the Divine Word has this month celebrated the feast days of its two SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz.
The Australian Province of the SVD celebrated the feast days with special Masses and social gatherings of confreres, SSpS Sisters, parishioners, lay partners and partners in mission, while in Rome, St Arnold’s feast day was marked as part of the Third SVD Caucus, with former Australian Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD as one of the guest speakers.
The Superior-General of the Society of the Divine Word, Fr Anselmo Ribeiro SVD, made a visit to Thailand and Myanmar in the SVD Australia Province this month, expressing his delight in the commitment of the missionaries and the variety of ministries being undertaken in both countries.
Over the course of five days, Fr Anselmo was given a first-hand experience of ministries ranging from parishes to AIDs ministry, teaching, formation, migrant ministry and more, all within an interfaith cultural context.
As we begin the season of Advent we enter into a time of prayer, reflection, waiting and preparing for the arrival of Jesus at Christmas.
At the same time, people in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving this week. In our part of the world, Thanksgiving is not such a prevalent holiday, but it can prompt us to realise that we have much for which to give thanks, especially in the month of November when we remember in prayer those who have gone before us.
The Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province has celebrated the culmination of the Jubilee Year marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Society of the Divine Word with a Thanksgiving Mass earlier this month.
It brings to completion a year of celebrations to mark the SVD Jubilee across the Province, in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar, under the theme: ‘Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere, for Everyone’.
