Missionary life in Central Australia is a world away from the cobblestones and church spires of Rome, but Fr Oliver Noclam SVD is about to make that transition as he takes up a new appointment for the Society of the Divine Word.

Fr Ollie, who is currently Parish Priest at Santa Teresa - Ltyentye Apurte, an Aboriginal community about 80km from Alice Springs, has been appointed as Assistant English Secretary at the SVD’s Generalate.

This month, I returned from the SVD General Chapter in Rome just in time to attend the celebrations marking 100 years since the first Mass took place on Palm Island.

The two events could not have been more different in many ways, but they were also intertwined, because at the Chapter we prayed, discerned and talked about mission and tending to the wounds of humanity, and on Palm Island we are part of God's mission in action.

After nearly a decade holding the purse-strings of the SVD across the world, Fr Stephan Gerdes SVD has arrived in the AUS Province, ready for God to reveal his new mission assignment.

Fr Stephan, who was born and raised in Germany, has been Treasurer-General of the Society of the Divine Word, based in Rome since 2010 and before that was a missionary to Papua New Guinea.

A renewed commitment to sharing resources for SVD Mission and Communications around the world was one of the chief outcomes of a special meeting held in Rome recently.

The Mission Secretary for the SVD AUS Province, Fr Truc Quoc Phan, was among a group of Directors of Mission Offices and Communications Offices from various nations who attended the special gathering.