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.

Despite the ever-increasing degree of globalisation taking place in the world characterised by intertwining economic systems buttressed by internet technology, it is rare to have a happening to which every section of humanity on all continents of the earth can directly relate, writes Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD. 

The coronavirus pandemic that made its appearance in late 2019 and has continued to ravage the world in 2021 is an exception to the usual state of affairs because it has managed to turn the entire world upside down with all the disruptions brought upon the global political, social, economic and religious structures.

The SVD has signed up to The Sydney Statement, an interfaith charter for building bridges between people from different religions and is looking forward to supporting its aims in a variety of ways.

The Sydney Statement was developed by Youth PoWR (Parliament of the World’s Religions), a coalition of young adults from different religions, following two years of consultation and drafting.

In his Lenten Message this year, Pope Francis urged us to “… experience Lent with love”.

He was referring specifically to caring for those affected by the Coronavirus, but it’s a great invitation for us all to really enter into the season in a positive and meaningful way.

As winter sweeps over Europe, as the landscape is covered by vast drifts of white snow, an idyllic picture of romantic, post-card proportions presents itself. However, the picture remains short lived, when a greater reality becomes apparent: not everyone is enjoying the snowy scene, reflects Fr Michael Hardie SVD.

Especially not the migrants and refugees crowded into makeshift camps, without adequate clothing and footwear, without enough food to last from one day to another, with no help and no hope in sight. These are the refugees who have trudged the Long Walk from their homes and countries of origin in Syria and Iraq to find a better future in Europe, but as the biting cold eats into their meagre reserves of strength, those dreams are fast fading.

While many Australians hit the beach over the Summer holiday period, some SVD students at Dorish Maru College headed out to work – taking on jobs in fruit-picking and factory employment.

The Summer work experience is part of their program of missionary formation and enculturation, helping them to better understand and empathise with the working people they will serve.

The Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province, which is one of the 599 partner organisations to sign on to the UN Treaty to ban nuclear weapons, has joined Australia’s bishops in urging the federal government to sign onto the treaty, which came into force last week.

The majority of United Nations member states, including the Holy See, have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Australia, however, has not yet become a signatory.

Ecuadorian SVD student Luis Robles has concluded his Overseas Training Program (OTP) in Australia, saying his time here was “a journey full of unexpected surprises and priceless experiences”.

Luis arrived in Australia on March 17, 2019, and apart from learning English, he also spent time in SVD communities in Sydney, Melbourne and Central Australia.

Divine Word Missionary communities throughout the AUS Province and the world have had much to celebrate in January, with the commemoration of two SVD saints – St Arnold Janssen and St Joseph Freinademetz.

St Arnold’s feast day was on January 15, the date of his death in 1909 in Steyl, Holland. He was the founder of the Divine Word Missionaries, as well as two orders of Religious Women, the Servant Sisters of the Holy Spirit and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration.

Happy New Year! I trust that as you receive this edition of In the Word, you are feeling rested and refreshed after a break over the Summer period.

As 2021 begins to unfold, it’s hard not to wonder what is in store for us after all the turmoil of 2020. And yet, our faith tells us it is better to take each day as it comes than to worry about the future.