Fr Asaeli Raass SVD, who will succeed Fr Henry Adler SVD as Provincial of the AUS Province in January, has been fortified for the job ahead after taking part in a strengthening ceremony performed by his family and other members of the Fijian community.

Fr Raass, says members of his family travelled to Sydney from Fiji for the first time to prepare him for his leadership role.

As we head into the Advent season of preparation and reflection, Pope Francis’ recent trips to Thailand and Japan illustrate for us yet again, one of the key messages of his papacy – we must be a Church that goes out to the margins.

Both Japan and Thailand are countries with only a tiny percentage of Christians, but Pope Francis travelled all the way from Rome to encourage and support them, as well as to meet with the leaders and people of other faiths.

Four years after Cyclone Pam flattened Tanna Island in Vanuatu, the community has celebrated the re-opening and blessing of the church which was rebuilt thanks to the many generous benefactors who donated to the SVD AUS Province special appeal.

Tanna Island was one of the hardest hit areas in the March 2015 cyclone, leaving about 90 per cent of people without houses. All the trees were bent and stripped of leaves and the local church had its roof blown off.

It was a full, joyous house at St Paschal’s Chapel, Box Hill earlier this month as two young Divine Word Missionaries, who have undertaken their formation in Australia, were ordained to the priesthood.

Toub Anisong Chanthavong, who is the first person from Laos to join the SVD, and Simon Dominguez Prospero from Mexico, were ordained by Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli and will now take up their first missionary assignments in the AUS Province and Central European Province respectively.

The recent deaths of 39 Vietnamese citizens in the back of a freezing, airless container truck in the British county of Essex in October this year, after a long and dangerous journey from their departure point at Zeebrugge, Belgium, highlights what has become an all-too-common way for economic migrants to enter Europe in search of Nirvana.

Discovered dead in the back of the container when the truck stopped at its destination in the northeast of London, the 39 were originally mistaken for Chinese. Further investigation, however, and the existence of a solitary, despairing text message from one of the young stowaways as she breathed her last, revealed that they were Vietnamese. Most were young, many of them from the northern Vietnamese provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An.  All had left their homeland with the help of the people smuggling networks which are so pervasive in today’s world of labour export and people trafficking.

Celebrating Mission Day at Dorish Maru College this month helped me to reflect again on the importance of the concept of 'Mission in Reverse'. Mission for me is never a 'one way street' but rather it flows in both directions at once.

The community at Dorish Maru College in Box Hill, Melbourne, celebrated our annual Mission Day on Saturday, October 5.

The Alice Springs community celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart church and 90 years of Catholic sacramental life in Central Australia recently with the unveiling of a new stained glass window depicting Jesus and Mary in Aboriginal art.

The huge window, based on the painting of local Arrernte woman Kathleen Wallace, was unveiled during a special ceremony on Saturday, October 12. The jubilee celebrations continued on Sunday, with a Mass celebrated by Bishop of Darwin Charles Gauci.

The Divine Word Missionaries, together with members of other culturally diverse religious congregations, are sharing their experiences of interculturality as part of a Catholic Religious Australia initiative to support congregations in preparing for the future.

The Interculturality: Leadership, Community Life and Ministry initiative is part of CRA’s Emerging Futures program.

A new book on missionary life, by Fr Ennio Mantovani SVD, was launched during the SVD Mission Day activities in Melbourne this month.

Fr Ennio’s book, 'Sixty Years of Priestly and Missionary Life: The History of a Journey', is a reflection on his priestly and missionary life and on the changes that took place in the understanding of both the priesthood and the missions.

The growth of the SVD lay partners groups around the world continues to bring fresh energy to the Society of the Divine Word, and one initiative they have undertaken is to promote an international ‘Prayer Bridge’ to mark the World Day of the Poor.

The worldwide prayer initiative was an idea conceived by the lay partners of the SVD in Germany and embraced by lay partners and SVD members in a range of countries and this year it will take place on Sunday, November 17.