Dear Friends,

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.

Currently, we have 92 final and temporary professed members in the Province, from 18 nationalities. The diverse nature of the Province has generally been reflected in the local churches in Asia Pacific today and the call to be inclusive of everyone in the diversity of a multicultural society.

This multiculturality continues to enrich us, both as a Province and in the local Church. It is not only an opportunity for confreres’ development, but also a challenge for confreres to keep learning and adapting.

But we must go beyond multiculturality – the presence of a number of different cultures – and embrace true interculturality – the sharing of and entering into those different cultures. We are called to intercultural living since we do not live in a ‘boarding house’, but rather, we are called to relate positively, enriching each other in our communities.

Community living is a source of our strength and pain. We have our differences, but we try and do our best to live together.

As a Province, we take this call to intercultural living seriously. When new members arrive in the Province they receive formation in the Australian context (or the context of the country they are serving in, such as Thailand) as well as formation in the reality of intercultural living. Culture is so intrinsic to who we are, that often we don’t even know the unconscious bias or stereotyping or different understandings that we might hold about the people and practices of different cultures. Our students at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne receive ongoing formation in interculturality, including spending time with Aussie families. Those confreres who have been professed for less than five years or been in the Province for less than five years also receiving ongoing formation in this area.

I believe that this priority given to the reality of interculturality is one of the reasons that SVD confreres are so readily welcomed into parish ministry in various parts of the Province.

Living interculturally in SVD communities is not always easy and can bring plenty of day-to-day challenges, but it is an essential aspect of being a Divine Word Missionary.

The experience of Pentecost tells us that it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings the unity we long for.

When Jesus left his followers and ascended to heaven, he didn’t leave his followers alone and he doesn’t leave us alone. Through our Baptism and Confirmation we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, though we speak many languages, and have many different gifts, we are all one in the love of Christ Jesus and it is this love we are called to share as missionaries, across many different cultures and contexts.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD,

Provincial.