SVD - Celebrating 100 Years

38 Left: Fr. Jacob Kavumkal, Mission Day 2017, DMC, Box Hill. right: Fr. Heinz Kulüke, SVD Superior General celebrated Mission Day Mass, 2017, during the General visitation. The celebrations concluded with a multicultural feast organized by the Box Hill community and friends. T he Mission Office of the SVD Australian Province has three distinct but interrelated focuses. They are: • To foster mission awareness; • To show particular interest in the personal welfare of missionaries; • To raise funds for the overseas missions. Fostering Mission Awareness Through the Mission Office, the SVD Australian Province fosters mission awareness in a variety of ways. These include the annual celebration of Mission Day at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne. The day consists of a public lecture, followed by a Eucharistic celebration and then a multicultural meal with members of the local church community and guests. SVD parishes also celebrate Mission Day by promoting a focus on mission-mindedness, as well as fostering a local sense of mission in their ministry, by encouraging parish communities to reach out to those in need in the local community in various ways. The Mission Office regularly invites SVD missionaries from around the world to visit Australia and give teaching or speaking tours with the aim of Mission Formation. It also supports the lay missionary organisation PALMS and is active in promoting missionary vocations. Welfare of Missionaries Being a missionary, immersed in a new culture, learning a new language, and being far from home, religious community or family, can sometimes have its challenging and lonely times. The AUS Mission Secretary and the Mission Office keep in touch with missionaries working abroad, to help support them and care for them, especially those who completed their formation in Australia. In addition, the Mission Secretary tries to stay in touch with the families of missionaries abroad. Returned missionaries are also cared for, with monthly gatherings hosted by Dorish Maru College. Raising funds for overseas missions A key focus of the Mission Office is to support the mission projects of the SVD around the world. To this end, the Mission Secretary for the Province and a small but dedicated staff, work hard to raise and distribute funds for mission activities in overseas countries. An important part of raising funds is in sharing the stories of how people’s lives are being transformed by these projects and by the love of God as present in and through the SVD missionaries.By seeing the faces and hearing the stories of the people being served by these mission projects, our generous donors, who we think of as our co-missionaries, can truly see the difference they are making. The main vehicle for this sharing of Mission stories is our quarterly publication 'Society Matters'. This is a free magazine which is mailed directly to our friends, donors and supporters. Mission Animation