Parishioners of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Alice Springs celebrated the Feast of Christ the King by coming together for Mass and then gathering at the historic Telegraph Station for a fun family picnic and barbecue.

They were celebrating the end of the Year of Mercy and the beginning of the Year of the Family which is taking place across the Diocese of Darwin as a way of responding to Pope Francis’ apostolic letter Amoris Laetitia.

Internationally renowned theologian and missiologist, Fr Roger Schroeder SVD is currently in Australia delivering a range of presentations and workshops on different aspects of Mission, including the theology of indigenous peoples and interculturality.

Fr Roger is the Professor of Intercultural Studies and Ministry and the Louis J. Luzbetak SVD Professor of Mission and Culture at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union (CTU).

Iato Olivier Noclam was born in Tanna, Vanuatu and grew up in a traditional village where life was simple and neither Jesus, or Christianity, were ever mentioned. Today, Olivier is a Divine Word Missionary in Alice Springs, where he is immersing himself in the language and culture of the Arrernte people and reaching out to those in need, especially prisoners in jail.

“I grew up in a very simple and traditional village known as Lamnatu, where life depended very much on what land provided. We were all related and everybody knew each other. Life was simple, there was lack of finance, but everyone had a piece of land and grew what was necessary to live,” he says.

Last weekend I was with our Darwin Diocesan youth for the Breakaway retreat in Noonamah, NT. I drove up with two young men from Alice Springs for this retreat.

The young people of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs received a dynamic boost to their faith recently when Fr Rob Galea came to town for a shared experience of high energy musical praise and worship.

Fr Rob, who was born and raised in Malta, is a priest of the Diocese of Bendigo, and is well known and loved for his ministry of reaching out to young people through music and song writing. His visit to Alice Springs was part of a wider tour of the Top End, taking in Darwin and the Tiwi Islands.