The Divine Word Missionaries’ Australian mission publication, Society Matters, has taken out a Highly Commended award at the recent Australasian Catholic Press Association awards dinner in Melbourne.

Society Matters won the commendation in the category for ‘Best Content – Faith and Life’ for a feature article on the SVD mission in Myanmar.

An invitation by the SVD Generalate in Rome to be an official Visitator to the SVD mission in Indonesia’s biggest Province paved the way for a positive experience, says Fr Henry Adler SVD.

Fr Henry was one of three Visitators to spend a month in the Indonesia-Java Province recently, meeting SVD confreres there and spending time observing the various ministries in action.

The Season of Creation – the annual Christian celebration of listening and responding together to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor – is drawing to a close and once again, it has been an important reminder of how faith communities can respond together to the climate crisis.

The Season of Creation began on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on October 4, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.

Almost two years after his priestly ordination in Melbourne, Fr Clement Baffoe SVD was finally able to return to his home village in Ghana to celebrate his Thanksgiving Mass with family, friends and parish community members.

Fr Clement, who was assigned to the SVD Australia Province, and is currently serving in the Ministerial Region of the Good Shepherd in Townsville, Queensland, says the trip back home, after the long pandemic separation, was a graced opportunity to give thanks to God.

Just a few days before the recent national Homelessness Week (August 1-7), staff in the St Stephen’s Cathedral precinct in Brisbane’s CBD were invited to a meeting to learn more about those sleeping rough outside their offices, writes Bishop Tim Norton SVD in The Catholic Leader.

We weren’t sure how many staff would attend so it was a pleasant surprise to see about 100 employees come in during their lunch break to hear from homelessness outreach specialists.

The Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province has extended its commitment to being present in New Zealand and is ready to respond to any requests by bishops to provide more confreres as needed.

Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, undertook a Provincial Visitation to New Zealand earlier this month, and said he was “very impressed” by the ministry of the four confreres who are currently assigned there.

The halls of Dorish Maru College, the SVD’s formation house in Melbourne, are once again ringing with life following the arrival of five new missionary students – the first big intake since international borders re-opened after the pandemic.

The students are from Vietnam and China. Also arriving recently are two SVD priests, who are studying English before beginning their ministry.

After two years of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions in Melbourne, the SVD students finally got the opportunity to hit the road and travel out of Victoria as a formation community during the recent winter academic holidays.

The students from Dorish Maru College visited SVD parishes and confreres as well as the Holy Spirit Sisters, shared their vocational stories and spent time with families in Queensland and New South Wales, while also having the chance to explore some of what the different parts of Australia have to offer.

This past weekend, the Catholic Church in Australia marked Social Justice Sunday, and this year, the bishops chose to focus on the pressing issue of domestic and family violence.

We only to have to watch the news to know what a big problem this is in our community. And sadly, too many Australians, mostly women and children, have first-hand knowledge of the trauma of violence.

I have to admit that for quite some time I have not read many SVD publications. I feel I don’t find anything new. The familiar messages of multi/intercultural, international, dialogue(s), mission, ‘world is our parish’, ‘unity in diversity’… all sound too familiar from the novitiate days and almost slogan-like. It’s the same message, just under different packaging. Social justice and climate change! Oh yeah, great! Who would not stand up for such lofty ideas in this age of the globalisation, unless one is a bigot.

Like doubting Thomas, instead of taking ideas for granted, we must keep asking questions and re-examine what is passed on to us. Renew and revive!