Fr Manh Le SVD has been a missionary with the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and now Australia’s Indigenous peoples, on Palm Island, and his ongoing search into Indigenous spirituality recently led him to participate in an ecumenical conference exploring the role of the churches in Indigenous history since European settlement.

He said the Tribal Voice for Justice: An Indigenous Theological Revolution conference in Melbourne was an opportunity to delve deeper into his understanding of indigenous spirituality, and the need for ongoing personal and communal conversion in indigenous matters.

The Presentation Parish in Thailand celebrated its feast day recently with a special Mass and shared meal attended by the local bishop, parishioners and villagers, including people from other faiths.

The parish is situated on the banks of the Mekong River between the Thai-Laos borders and the villagers came together to decorate the church beautifully for the celebration and prepare special food to share together afterwards.

Members of the Divine Word Missionaries who are serving in the Good Shepherd Parish, Kirwan, in Townsville recently celebrated SVD Mission Weekend with parishioners.

The Mission Weekend also marked the postponed feast day celebrations of SVD founder, St Arnold Janssen.

Lent really crept up on us this year, didn’t it? It felt like we were no sooner waving a wistful farewell to the Christmas season when Ash Wednesday was upon us.

Now, we are well and truly in the midst of our Lenten journey – a journey that will take us all the way to Calvary and then, to the glory of Easter.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today we enter the second week of Lent. Today's Gospel shows us the transfiguration of Jesus. Literally, transfiguration means a change of face.

Temptations are a regular part of our lives. When I was still living in Macquarie Fields, five days a week, I would go out in the morning and take an hour’s walk. Basically that was my exercise for the day.

Today, our Mother Church continues to remind us that Jesus is a compassionate and loving God to all who approach Him with open minds and hearts.

There’s a saying: “A good start is a job half done.” On this first day of Jesus’ public ministry this is not just a good start but also a rousing start.

Three SVD missionaries who have recently arrived in the Archdiocese of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, have begun a year-long induction program for incoming clergy from overseas, called ‘Landing the Waka’.

Fathers Akuila Taliauli SVD, Raja Kommareddy SVD and Uili Uvea SVD joined Fr Ravi Kumar Voliganti and Fr Nicholas Phone Myint MF (Myanmar) in the program which was hosted by Church Mission staff and Vicar General Mons Gerard Burns, for a three-day retreat at the Magnificat Centre in Cross Creek, South Wairarapa.