Sleeping conditions fell to a chilling seven degrees when Christine and Andrew Lapalapa lay their heads down on their Catholic parish’s car park.

The Catholic married couple joined 40 young people to sleep outside St Maximilian Kolbe church, Marsden, with just a sheet of cardboard and a sleeping bag.

SVD Provincials from around the Asia-Pacific (ASPAC) region gathered in Sydney recently for a meeting in which they mapped out joint priorities and areas of focus for future new missions in the area.

AUS Provincial, Fr Henry Adler says the meeting considered future growth in missions in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia and other parts of South East Asia.

In San Pio Village, Cebu, young children play happily in a playground that they themselves helped to design.

It is a world away from the rubbish tip where they used to live and play, and it is just one of many sights in the Village that causes Sydney man, Ron Natoli to give thanks to God for a dream that has come to fruition.

This week, we are celebrating Migrant and Refugee Sunday – an event which is always close to our heart as SVDs, because migrants and refugees are so much at the heart of what we do.

Most of our ministries in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand have significant populations of migrants and refugees and we have identified ministry in this area as one of our top mission priorities.

Are you interested in Mission? Would you like to hear from expert international missiologists and theologians on the history, present and future of Mission?

Then why not register now for the International Mission Symposium to be held in Melbourne this October.

Fr Liam Horsfall SVD died peacefully on Saturday, August 8, feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Fr Liam's funeral will be held on Thursday, August 13, at 1pm. Click for details.

Uili Uvea SVD's journey towards his missionary vocation had plenty of ups and downs, and was derailed for a while when he got caught up in a wild youthful life of peer pressure.

To celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week (Aug 2-7), Uili shares the story of his journey and his amazing, life-changing encounter with the grace of God.

There will be times where we don’t get along, and perhaps there will be times where we’re at each other’s throat. Yet, there will always be times where we come together. The SVD community in Thailand brings together men from different countries, backgrounds, and cultures.

From the mountains of Papua New Guinea to the East and West coasts of the United States to the desert of Australia to the islands of Indonesia and to the rice fields of Vietnam, we are rich in diversity

The Founding Generation of the Arnoldus Family has formed the inspiration for reflection at the annual Provincial retreats for members of the Divine Word Missionaries and Holy Spirit Sisters this year.

The retreats have been held in Thailand, Alice Springs, Boronia (Victoria) and Marsfield in Sydney, and have provided a much needed time for the prayer, reflection and recharging of the batteries that is so necessary for missionary life.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs celebrated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday earlier this month with a Mass which was deeply imbued with the culture of the Arrernte people of Central Australia.

Parish Priest, Fr Asaeli Raass SVD, says the Mass was a great celebration of faith and culture, drawing from the theme for NAIDOC Week: “We all stand on Sacred Ground”.