The SVD Australia Province has appointed Fr Nick de Groot SVD to take up the role of Province Ministry and Performance Appraiser in a move aimed at providing ongoing formation and “stirring the embers” of missionary service among the members of the Province.

Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD said the appointment fulfills a recommendation of the 2017 Royal Commission “that each religious institute implement mandatory national standards and undergo regular performance appraisals.”.

Well, here we are, about to enter into the Paschal Triduum, those most sacred three days in which we immerse ourselves in the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

When I think of Easter, I think of hope. Hope that through the resurrection, the brokenness and the woundedness we see in our lives and in our world will not have the final word.

The theme of our SVD's 19th General Chapter and its reflections clearly indicate how missionaries need to deepen their understanding of mission, identity, charism, and spirituality. One aspect is crystal clear: we are called to become a light in the wounded world for oneself and for others.

The Divine Word Missionaries are completing a year with our presence at Tiwi Islands. During this year, it has been a time of reflection, understanding, walking along, appreciating the culture, being with the people in sorrow, and, above all, making the Tiwi people know that we are with them.

The Divine Word Missionaries have taken up the pastoral care of communities in Daly River in the Northern Territory and Balgo in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley region, in a move which further demonstrates the SVD’s commitment to ministry with indigenous peoples.

Two SVD priests were installed by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci this month at Daly River in the Northern Territory, while another arrived at Balgo. He will be joined by a second priest in the New Year.

With the help of generous donors and partners in mission, the Divine Word Missionaries have finally taken delivery of a small campervan which will allow the missionaries in Central Australia to stay with outlying Aboriginal communities for longer periods.

Previously, the missionaries have driven hundreds of kilometres to be with the people in those communities, but often, after celebrating Mass or other sacraments, they have to turn around and make the long drive back to Alice Springs again.

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.

COVID lockdowns and restrictions have not stopped the Spanish chaplaincy community in Auckland from getting together for spiritual support and fellowship, but rather challenged them to find new ways of gathering.

Chaplain to the Spanish community, Fr Alejandro de la Sotta says the pandemic restrictions in New Zealand have resulted in the birth of a new YouTube ministry for the community.

It is exactly one year since I was ordained a priest, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD. What has the experience been in this first year of my priesthood? For me, it's been a time of great learning. I have tried to unlearn some things and learnt new things. I have experienced love from people ranging from parishioners to many others who are not even parishioners. I have laughed with families at baptisms and weddings, I have been privileged to share in their sacred stories around meals, and also I have cried with some at hospitals and funerals. I have equally been privileged to celebrate many school Masses and liturgies and they've been opportunities for 'encounter' as I get to share stories with our beautiful students.

My first year of the priesthood has been a ministry of presence. That is, being where I am most needed at any point in time. 

The current COVID pandemic has made it so much harder to reach out in ministry to others. This reaching out was something that I previously took completely for granted but now I can only make the best use of those ministerial opportunities that are available, within a seemingly never-ending cycle of lockdowns. So far, we have experienced five lockdowns in Melbourne and have just emerged somewhat from the latest one.

One can be tempted to lose hope that one’s ministry will ever return to those former, more “sunny” times. Some of my ministry, before COVID, had been helping out in neighbouring parishes as well as ministry at a large aged care facility.

It’s been a period of fond farewells and new beginnings for Fr Sunil Nagothu SVD, as he hands over the leadership of St Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Marsden, Queensland and prepares to take up a new ministry at the Janssen Spirituality Centre in Victoria.

Fr Sunil has been Parish Priest at St Maximilian Kolbe for seven years and was farewelled by his parishioners in a heart-felt celebration earlier this month.