Faith communities in Alice Springs are working together with local elders to respond in practical and spiritual ways to the growing youth street crime crisis in the Central Australian city.

Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish, Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, says the first step in responding to the situation is to understand the deep-seated social issues at play.

Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD celebrated Harmony Day in style this year by taking his Pledge of Allegiance and becoming an Australian citizen.

Fr Elmer, who was born and raised in the Philippines, took his Aussie pledge in Alice Springs this month, a 90km drive from his current home in the Aboriginal community of Santa Teresa, Central Australia, where he is Parish Priest.

The Divine Word Missionaries are extending their ministry in Central Australia, especially their outreach to Aboriginal communities, at the invitation of the Bishop of Darwin, Charles Gauci.

Bishop Gauci recently spent time staying with the SVD communities in Alice Springs and Santa Teresa, listening to their needs and meeting the people.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD says his return to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs feels like “coming home”, as it was the first parish he was assigned to as a Divine Word Missionary more than five years ago.

Back then, Fr Prakash was in Alice Springs as assistant priest, but last month, he returned to be installed as Parish Priest.

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 Alice Springs parish is planning to mark two historical milestones while strengthening the fruits of reconciliation Pope Saint John Paul II spoke about during his visit there three decades ago.

Parish priest Fr Asaeli Raass SVD said the parish had much to celebrate this year with the 50th anniversary of their church – Our Lady of the Sacred Heart – and 90 years since the parish’s first priest, Fr James Long MSC, celebrated the first Catholic Mass on the land of the Arrernte people.

Fr Nick de Groot SVD has hit the ground running on his new assignment to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Alice Springs, meeting the people and “soaking up the atmosphere” of the Central Australian community.

The new assignment came as somewhat of a surprise to Fr Nick, who had recently moved to the SVD’s Marsfield community to take up retirement.

The people of Alice Springs were treated to a thought-provoking discussion recently when Fr Nick de Groot SVD delivered a presentation which posed the question, ‘Different Religions: friend or enemy?’

Fr Nick is the Director of the Janssen Centre for Spirituality in Boronia, Victoria, a retreat and hospitality centre with a special focus on being a place of welcome for interfaith and intercultural relations.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs has been finding new common ground through regular sharing of the Eucharist among members of the Arrernte indigenous community and the broader parish.

Historically, the Arrernte Catholic community, or Ngkarte Mikwekenhe community, has celebrated Mass at South Terrace Community Centre, across town from the main parish church. But since Holy Week last year, the two communities have been sharing the Eucharist together once a month.

The Divine Word Missionaries have confirmed their deep commitment to mission in Central Australia by purchasing a property in Alice Springs which will not only be a dwelling for confreres and visitors, but a house of spirituality and Indigenous theology for the whole community.

The house, named the Logos Spirituality Centre, was blessed by the SVD Superior General, Fr Heinz Kuluke, during his visit to the red centre last week.