The SVD has established a new Melbourne District in a bid to provide the best pastoral care to its growing number of missionaries engaged in a range of different ministries in Victoria.

The new District was inaugurated on the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, a special feast for the Universal Church and for the founder of the Divine Word Missionaries, St Arnold Janssen, who dedicated the first SVD house to the patronage of St Michael in Steyl, Holland in 1875.

The Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province had cause for great celebration earlier this year when five young confreres from three different countries made their Final Profession of Vows and were ordained to the Diaconate.

The young men making their commitment in Melbourne were Nicholas Duc, Marius Razafimandimby, Francois D'Assise Andrianihantana, Edward Okletey Teye, and Hai Nguyen. They are from Ghana, Madagascar and Vietnam.

After years serving the sick and the poor through his vocation as a nurse, a doctor and an SVD brother, Br Ruel Bancoro SVD is about to begin a new chapter as he takes up Theology studies for the priesthood.

Br Ruel will undertake his studies through the University of Divinity in Melbourne – although due to COVID border closures, he will begin the first semester online from the Philippines.

The SVD Lay Partners group at Marsfield recently took part in an international meeting of Lay Partners via Zoom, where they continued to deepen their formation and grow in understanding of their mission in the Arnoldus Family.

AUS Province Mission Secretary, Fr Viet Nguyen SVD says the meeting, hosted by the SVD Generalate in Rome included Lay Partners from SVD provinces in Asia and the Pacific.

The AIDS Education Program run by the SVD’s Mother of Perpetual Help Centre in Thailand has expanded to include not only school students and teachers, but now parents and care-takers as well.

The program, based in Nong Bua Lamphu, in northeast Thailand, started 18 years ago with youth in schools and later included the training of teachers and other interested government personnel with the aim of giving AIDS awareness education to villagers and groups.

Vietnamese SVD student Joseph Hoang Quoc Phan set off for Papua New Guinea as part of the Overseas Training Program wishing to gain experience “in a real mission area”, and, thanks to COVID-19 border restrictions, he got even more mission experience than he bargained for.

Joseph’s OTP training has reached its conclusion, but has been extended because of the pandemic-related international travel restrictions.

The SVD AUS Province is embracing the principles set out in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’ by taking a series of small, practical steps to help protect the environment.

Recently, the Provincial Council and the Treasurer’s Office approved the installation of a 25.2KW solar panel array at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne.

Here we are in Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical year, and oh boy, are we ready for a fresh start.

After a year which began with bushfires in Australia, then floods and of course the unexpected arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are weary and are looking to turn the page. Advent is the perfect season to slow down and re-set.

This month, we have been celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the arrival of the Divine Word Missionaries in Epping, Sydney, which marks the beginning of our mission in Australia.

SVD Superior-General, Fr Paul Budi Kleden, has sent a message of congratulations for our confreres, sisters, friends and partners in mission, which I would like to share with you.

The SVD is taking up a new missionary assignment in Townsville Diocese, with a particular focus on indigenous ministry, including on Palm Island.

Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, says the move comes at the request of Townsville Bishop Timothy Harris.