The Divine Word Missionaries have answered a call from the Bishop of Darwin to live, work and minister with a number of local communities, including Alice Springs, Santa Teresa, the Tiwi Islands, and Daly River.

This ministry includes in a special way the indigenous peoples of those communities, as well as the people of many different cultures and backgrounds who have settled in Alice Springs and surrounds.

The Australian Province of the Divine Word Missionaries encompasses Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar.

Our community is comprised of about 90 men, including priests, brothers, and novices in formation, from 19 different nationalities.

“Like John the Baptist, we the Divine Word Missionaries of AUS Province seek to discover the light which is already shining among the people we are working with and to give witness to it. We do this in union with Jesus, the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14) who came not to crush the smouldering wick but to make it burn brighter.

The Spirit of the Land of Smiles, the Land of the Long White Cloud and the Wide, Brown Land of drought and flooding rains calls us:

• • To give witness in multicultural cities and remote communities,
  • To collaborate with the local Church in their prophetic promotion of lay ecclesial leaders,
  • To minister in works of justice, education and interfaith dialogue.

AUS Province Vision Statement

We, the Divine Word Missionaries of the Australia Province, affirm that the Word Incarnate is our Life and our Mission. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we follow Jesus, glorifying the Triune God wherever we are sent.

AUS Province Mission Statement

We witness to our missionary charism through living and working in intercultural communities. From this fraternal experience, we reach out to all people, giving priority to the following dialogue partners:

• Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Myanmar;
• Migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, the poor, and the marginalised in our places of mission;
• Faith seekers and people of good will from various places, spiritualities, and cultures.

Together with our dialogue partners, we foster a culture of encounter and care for creation and our Common Home.

We are committed to our Vision and Mission by providing integrated initial and ongoing formation for mission.

We are an international community of Catholic missionaries – priests and brothers – founded in 1875 by a German priest, St Arnold Janssen. Across the world today, there are more than 6000 members serving in more than 70 countries. Our community is named after the Divine Word, and so we are known as the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) or Divine Word Missionaries.

Our SVD identity is rooted in a call to witness to God's love precisely in situations where its inclusive embrace is not recognised and where its openness to the rich diversity of peoples is not appreciated.

Along with our sister congregations, The Missionary Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) and the Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP) we try to listen to the Spirit so we can follow Jesus more courageously in doing the Father's will.

What is our Mission?

God's loving grace has gathered us from various peoples and continents into a religious missionary community dedicated to the Divine Word.
God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. The Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth to reveal the Father's name and to proclaim the kingdom of his love.

His life is our life, his mission our mission.