As we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Christmas – the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus Christ - let us do so with gratitude in our heart for all that the Incarnation brings us.

When I celebrated the 20^th anniversary of my priestly ordination this month, I was struck by the Advent focus on the coming of Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.

Working 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.

The 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.

After a long Victorian lockdown and months of uncertainty, on the 28^th of November, 2020, I was ordained a priest in Melbourne, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD. This week, on the 28^th 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.

Fr Paulo Vatunitu SVD says God’s hand has guided him all the way in his life, from a career in banking to a vocation as a missionary priest, and he’s confident God will be with be with him now as he takes up a new assignment at Daly River in the remote Northern Territory.

Paulo was born and raised in Fiji, on the island of Vanua Levu and is the second eldest of eight children. After school, he made a career as a loans officer in the banking industry.

The Catholic Church in Australia is about to celebrate Vocations Awareness Week from August 7–14. It’s a time to stop and listen in awe to the way God has worked in people’s lives and called them to walk different paths in service to God and others.

In the AUS Province we are blessed to once again have a ‘full house’ at our formation house, Dorish Maru College in Box Hill, Melbourne. The pandemic-related international border closures meant that for the past two years, the young men who had been due to start their theological studies here could not gain entry to Australia. It is a delight to now be welcoming them into our Provincial community.

For SVD student Antonius Kristanto ‘Krisna’ Papalesa, from Indonesia, the daily activities of life in Dorish Maru College, Melbourne, are immersing him in the local culture and preparing him for a life of mission.

Krisna was born in 1995 and spent most of his life in Jakarta with his parents, three brothers and four sisters.

Fr Hung Nguyen SVD has returned to the Australia Province where he undertook the Overseas Training Program some years ago, to complete English language studies before beginning his pastoral ministry.

Fr Hung’s arrival in Australia for his first missionary assignment since taking his final vows and being ordained a priest in Vietnam, was delayed by two years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions.

The rural atmosphere and a warm welcome from the local community has ensured that Fr Francois Andrianihantana SVD is feeling right at home in his first missionary assignment in Emerald, Queensland.

Fr Francois, who was born and raised in Madagascar, was ordained to the priesthood in Melbourne on November 27 and arrived in Emerald Parish in January this year.

The Syro-Malabar community in Alice Springs is set to receive a new chaplain, in Divine Word Missionary priest, Fr Joe Jacob SVD.

Fr Joe, who is from Kerala in India, was ordained in 2020 and his first missionary assignment is to the Australia Province of the SVD.