January has been a big month of prayer and thanksgiving at Divine Word Missionary communities throughout the AUS Province with the celebration of not one but two SVD saints’ feast days.

Both of the SVD saints, St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz, have their feast days in January, prompting SVD and SSpS communities to come together for special Eucharistic Celebrations and gatherings.

The SVD in Myanmar joined the local parish of Hmawbi to host hundreds of people from surrounding areas in their property when Pope Francis came to town recently.

The house, which is still undergoing renovation, was at a stage where tiling had been completed and it was fit and habitable for the guests.

When the Superior-General of the Divine Word Missionaries, Fr Heinz Kuluke, visited the SVD AUS Province recently, he had one key message for both confreres and partners in mission: “Thank you”.

“I am here to thank you,” he said. “I am always touched by the dedication of our missionaries and the many mission partners who support us in so many different ways.”

The SVD AUS Province’s new mission in Myanmar is full of both wonderful potential and challenge, says Mission Secretary, Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD.

Fr Truc has recently returned from Myanmar where, together with Fr John Hung Le SVD, he has been preparing the property for the first missionaries to take up residence in sometime in the first half of next year.

The Superior General of the Divine Word Missionaries, Fr Heinz Kuluke, is visiting the AUS Province to spend time with the SVD missionaries here, to learn about their ministries and encourage them in their work.

Fr Heinz, who is based at the SVD headquarters in Rome, will visit Melbourne, Central Australia, Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand. He has previously visited Thailand which is also part of the AUS Province.

One of the great blessings of the SVD across the world and in the AUS Province is the presence of its young members, and recently, those confreres who have been in the AUS Province for five years or less, got together for some ongoing formation.

“It was a time to come together and share our story of our ministry in our respective fields,” says one of the participants, Fr Kommareddy Rajasekhar Reddy SVD (Raja). “We were given an opportunity to share our joys and challenges in ministry.”

The SVD AUS Province is blessed to have the friendship and support of many lay people throughout Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, and now moves are underway to explore the possibility of starting an SVD Lay Associates’ Group.

A feasibility study into the formation of a Lay Associates’ Group kicked off this week, with the first meeting of the working party.

The General Visitation from the SVD leadership in Rome has found the SVD AUS Province to be young and vibrant, with hope for the future, and focused on its role serving multi-ethnic parishes, indigenous communities, intercultural living, formation, and inter-faith dialogue, according to the SVD Vice Superior General, Fr Bob Kisala.

Fr Bob has spent a month visiting all the places in Australia, Thailand and New Zealand where the Divine Word Missionaries are in ministry.

Some years ago I found in a Dutch catholic newspaper an article on a spiritual renewal centre in Helvoirt in the Netherlands province of Brabant.
Reading it, I slowly realized they were talking about our former SVD Noviciate house, where I entered the SVD as a novice.

The author wrote: “Stepping into the building, one can feel an atmosphere of prayer.” In other words, you can feel it is a holy place”.

This month, we have joined Divine Word Missionaries across the world in celebrating the 140th anniversary of the Society’s foundation.

Anniversaries such as this remind us that as missionaries in consecrated life, we have both a rich heritage and a shared future. Engaged in Christ’s mission together, we are part of something much greater than ourselves.