When Fr Niran Veigas SVD answered his vocational call to become a missionary priest, he could not have foreseen himself ministering in Russia and now the Tiwi Islands, but the Indian-born priest is embracing the new challenge of getting to know the people and helping to make a difference in their lives.
Fr Niran was born and raised in a Catholic family in the city of Mangalore, in southwest India and says he began discerning the possibility of being a priest as a young boy.
Internationally renowned theologian and missiologist Fr Roger Schroeder SVD was in Australia recently, presenting a range of workshops on interculturality and spending time with a diverse range of people in SVD ministries in Sydney, Alice Springs, the Tiwi Islands and Brisbane.
During the first half of his time in Australia, he gave two talks and a day workshop around the theme of interculturality, which has been the central theme for the SVD and SSpS since their General Chapters of 2012 and 2018, respectively.
Fr Anton Bulla SVD has been remembered as a faith-filled and joy-filled person, a committed priest and missionary, both during his years in Papua New Guinea and later in his ministry of healing through the marriage tribunal in Sydney.
Fr Anton died at Marsfield on July 11, just shy of his 89th birthday. His requiem Mass was held in the St Arnold Janssen Chapel and was attended by confreres, friends and fellow members of the canon law community of which he had been an active member. Members of his family overseas were able to watch by video.
The SVD Australia Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass, has been appointed to take part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October, an opportunity he describes as both humbling and exciting.
Fr Rass was named as one of the expert facilitators from the Oceania region to attend the Synod, following his role as a facilitator of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) gathering in Fiji earlier this year.
Whenever I hear the account of Pentecost day as told in the Acts of the Apostles, where the apostles, all filled with the Holy Spirit, are speaking in foreign languages, I think of our multicultural and intercultural SVD communities, where a great variety of languages are always present, but also a unity in the Spirit.
For most of the history of the SVD Australia Province, the Divine Word Missionaries have been blessed with a heterogeneous blend of confreres from different racial, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
The Provincial Chapter was a positive, hopeful time of deliberation on the future priorities of the SVD Australia Province, with a focus on personal and communal renewal for mission, says Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.
The outcomes included a reaffirmation of the priority given to ministry in indigenous communities, as well as a renewed commitment to multicultural parish ministry and interfaith dialogue.
The official visitators to the SVD Australia Province have given positive and constructive feedback on the ministries being undertaken across the Province, while also encouraging confreres to continually return to their foundation of Trinitarian spirituality.
Fr Jose Antunes da Silva SVD, who is Vice Superior General of the Society of the Divine Word and was previously the provincial superior of Portugal was one of the visitators appointed by the General Council. He was joined by Fr Yosef Masan Toron SVD, who is currently serving as the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Biblical Institute.
We are about to head into Holy Week, which culminates in the Paschal Triduum, those holy days where we enter into the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Christians are a resurrection people, but all of us in our life can expect to walk the road of Calvary in some way on our road to Easter joy.
If one single word is used to describe the foundation upon which the whole Christian life is based, it is HOPE. Hope is the main theme running throughout the heart of the Bible, from Genesis down to Revelation.
The SVD Australia Province is hosting two General Visitators over the next month, who will make their way around the various districts in Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand to spend time getting to know the confreres and observing our ministries in action.
Fr Yosef Masan Toron SVD, who is currently serving as the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Biblical Institute, is one of the Visitators appointed by the SVD Generalate in Rome. He is joined by Fr Jose Antunes da Silva SVD, who is Vice Superior General and was the provincial superior of Portugal.