Mumbai-based sociologist, Fr Joseph Mundananikkal SVD will visit Australia in September to carry out a number of speaking engagements in which he will explore different aspects of India’s social and religious culture.

Holding a M. Phil in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and a PhD from the same university, since 2009 Fr Joseph has been Director and Superior at the SVD-run Institute of Indian Culture, a post-graduate research centre in Sociology and Anthropology in Mumbai and since 2012 has been assistant professor in Sociology at the State University of Mumbai. He is the National Co-ordinator for India of Mission, Education and Research of the SVD.

Among the million or so pilgrims at World Youth Day in Brazil, is Fr Stephen Pilly SVD of Sacred Heart Parish, Preston, in suburban Melbourne.

Before he left, Fr Stephen said what he was most looking forward to was to walk in faith with the young people he is accompanying, and to enjoy his own deep encounters with Jesus.

It is important for the Church to delve more deeply into the history of the indigenous communities it serves, and to listen more deeply, in order to fully understand and adequately respond to the present reality of the Aboriginal people, says Fr Jim Knight SVD, who lives and works in Central Australia.

Fr Jim, who joined the Divine Word Missionaries in 1957 in Marburg, Queensland, has stepped down now from his role as Parish Priest at Santa Teresa, an Aboriginal community about 80 km from Alice Springs. But he will continue to live and minister in the community, while also exploring the history of the Arrernte people of Central Australia and their contact and growing relationship with European people over the decades.

The danger in talking about migrants and refugees is that we always talk about statistics, rather than focusing on the real people, with real faces and real names who lie behind the statistics – people who are all made in the image of God, says Fr vanThanh Nguyen SVD, a visiting Scripture scholar.

Fr vanThanh is Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union. He was in Australia recently to teach a course for The Broken Bay Institute entitled ‘Strangers, Migrants and Refugees in the Bible’, as well as give a series of talks and retreats around the country.

As this edition of In the Word is published, we are surrounded with news and events that range from joyful and life-giving to profoundly sad and frustrating.

On the joyful side, we are witnessing all the energy, faith and exuberance of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pope Francis set the tone when he said this upon arrival in Rio:“I have neither silver nor gold, but I bring with me the most precious thing given to me: Jesus Christ! I have come in his name, to feed the flame of brotherly love that burns in every heart, and I wish my greeting to reach one and all: The peace of Christ be with you!"