The SVD AUS Province’s newest mission in Myanmar is continuing to unfold, as the missionaries get to the know the people, the language and the place.

The Divine Word Missionaries have been on the ground in Myanmar for almost two years now, following an invitation from Cardinal Charles Bo SDB to establish a Bible ministry in his Archdiocese of Yangon.

The first SVD house in Myanmar has been officially blessed by Cardinal Charles Bo, in another significant milestone for the AUS Province’s newest missionary endeavour.

Named the Divine Word Centre, the house was blessed by the Cardinal following many months of hard work by confreres and local tradespeople to restore it to a habitable home.

After 10 years as a  missionary in Kenya, Fr Mariusz Kubista SVD has arrived in Myanmar, saying he is keen to get to know the people and help establish the AUS Province’s  new mission in the south-east Asian nation.

“My hope personally is to fulfil the will of God,” he says. “But for the mission started here, I would say my hope is to reach out to people in their local language, both in the written and spoken form.”

Cardinal Charles Bo SDB, the Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, paid a special visit to the Divine Word Missionaries Marsfield community in Sydney recently to meet the confreres and thank the Province for establishing a new mission in his Archdiocese.

Cardinal Bo’s visit came during his tour of Australia, as a guest of Catholic Mission.

The Bible is not a static collection of ancient works but the living Word of God which continues to speak to us today, so for Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD, a recent Biblical study course in the Philippines provided new insights which he is eager to share upon his return to Australia.

Fr Elmer is the Biblical Coordinator for the SVD AUS Province, and he took part in the course with two other new members of the Province, Fr Mariusz Kubista SVD, a Polish priest who has been in Kenya for some years and Fr Tuyen Nguyen SVD, from Vietnam, who has been in Argentina for 10 years. Both Fr Mariusz and Fr Tuyen were taking part in the Biblical study course in the Philippines to prepare them for their upcoming assignment teaching the Bible in Myanmar, the AUS Province’s newest mission.

The SVD in Myanmar joined the local parish of Hmawbi to host hundreds of people from surrounding areas in their property when Pope Francis came to town recently.

The house, which is still undergoing renovation, was at a stage where tiling had been completed and it was fit and habitable for the guests.

Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD is based in Bangkok, part of the SVD AUS Province, and when Pope Francis visited nearby Myanmar on November 29, he was at the Papal Mass and managed to get a few great photos of the Holy Father on his phone, which he posted to social media.

Here, he reflects on whether in getting those photos, he missed the opportunity for a more personal encounter with the Pope.

The SVD AUS Province’s new mission in Myanmar is full of both wonderful potential and challenge, says Mission Secretary, Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD.

Fr Truc has recently returned from Myanmar where, together with Fr John Hung Le SVD, he has been preparing the property for the first missionaries to take up residence in sometime in the first half of next year.

The SVD AUS Province is preparing to send a team of missionaries to Myanmar by the beginning of next year to establish a brand new Divine Word Missionary presence in the South-East Asian nation.

Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, who has recently returned from visiting Myanmar, says that Cardinal Charles Bo invited the SVD into his diocese of Yangon to pursue Bible ministry there.