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News & Events

Yosef Meda attending online zoom lecture 150Divine Word Missionary students and academics might have had their face-to-face lectures cancelled and all lessons moved online, but they are not letting the COVID-19 crisis dim their missionary zeal.

In fact, the students say that the coronavirus restrictions have forced them to adapt to changing circumstances and continue to reach out to people online, in person and in prayer, all of which are necessary attributes for a life of mission in the modern world.

Royal Commission Final Report 150The commitment of the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province to building a culture of well-being and safety continues on a range of fronts, including an appraisal process for confreres.

The Provincial Council has asked 33 SVD members to initiate an appraisal process for themselves this year. Such a process was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, and is also aimed at ensuring the well-being of missionaries in their ministry.

Mass returns at Santa Teresa 150It was an emotional moment for Fr Prakash Menezes SVD when, after weeks of celebrating Mass in front of a phone camera at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart church in Alice Springs, he was finally able to look out and see his parishioners again.

The Northern Territory government relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions on Friday, May 15, and that very same day Fr Prakash celebrated Mass for the people.

Thursday, 28 May 2020 10:48

Wired for connection; created for love

Fr Asaeli Raass profile pic 150If the coronavirus and the enforced social isolation that has come with it has taught us anything, it is that we are social creatures who crave connection.

When we were asked to stay at home it wasn’t shopping or consumption that we missed the most, rather it was visiting our family, hugging our parents, attending our niece’s first birthday party, hanging out with our workmates or enjoying a dinner with friends at a restaurant.

Wednesday, 29 April 2020 19:19

We are an Easter people - even in lockdown

Fr Asaeli Raass profile pic 150Happy Easter to you! We are still mid-way through the Easter season and there’s no doubt that we really needed Easter this year.

With lay people observing the sacred liturgies from their lounge rooms, instead of in churches, and longing to once again partake in the Eucharist, while priests celebrated private Masses streamed online, we were ready to be reminded again of the tomb-busting power of the resurrection in our lives and in the whole world.

Elmer zoom bible study 150How does one be missionary in a pandemic, when we are being urged to stay home and not go out? It is a question that SVDs in the AUS Province have been asking and they’ve come up with some creative responses.

Firstly of course, the Divine Word Missionary priests have, like most other parish priests, been livestreaming their private Mass on social media, and they have also been ensuring community ties remain strong through various initiatives.

Bangkok communications roundtable 150As faith communities raced to adopt technology more than ever to provide pastoral outreach during the coronavirus pandemic, Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD was exploring the underpinnings of such activity in an international roundtable on religion and social communication in Thailand.

The 11th International Roundtable of the Asian Research Centre for Religion and Social Communication (ARC) was held last month at St Louis College in Bangkok.

Fr Larry Nemer SVD Diamond Jubilee 150Fr Larry Nemer SVD says he can’t remember ever not wanting to be a priest, and as he celebrates his 60th jubilee of priesthood, he says he gives thanks for a lifetime of priestly ministry doing what he loves – teaching.

Fr Larry, who now lives in retirement at the SVD Marsfield community, celebrated his jubilee this month with confreres.

Lay Mission Partners Melbourne meeting 2020 150An initial meeting to gauge interest in forming an SVD Lay Mission Partners Group in Melbourne attracted enthusiastic support recently.

If it goes ahead, it would be the second Lay Mission Partners group in the AUS Province, with one already having been formed at Marsfield in Sydney.

Fr James Aricheera SVD 150These days the whole world is in the fear of being in the grip of coronavirus and we have read about the tens of thousands of deaths reported from all over the world. Over the past weeks, new cases were being reported every day and leaders and the medical communities have been challenged to the utmost limit.

Places like churches, mosques, temples and synagogues where people go to find peace and consolation have been closed. One can ask the question, does God care for humanity? Why does God want to make human beings suffer?

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