Greetings from Nemi, Italy, where I am attending the 19^th General Chapter of the Society of the Divine Word.

With Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, I am representing the Australia Province at the General Chapter and working hard as part of the Chapter’s Steering Committee and as a small group facilitator. Fr Prakash was a part of the International Preparatory Committee which helped formulate the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document which guides the Chapter’s proceedings.

The Australia Province will soon welcome a newly ordained priest, Fr Roger Kyaw Thu SVD, as he takes up his first assignment to his homeland of Myanmar.

Roger, together with three other Divine Word Missionaries, was ordained last month by Bishop J. Terry Steib SVD, the Bishop Emeritus of Memphis Tennessee, at the Church of the Holy Family in Chicago, USA.

The arrival of the Divine Word Missionaries at the Ministerial Region of the Good Shepherd in Townsville, Queensland marked a significant change for the community, but now, three years down the road, parishioners have not only embraced the SVD’s missionary outlook but shared their own strong faith as well.

The SVD was invited to the Townsville Diocese by Bishop Timothy Harris to undertake parish ministry both in the suburbs of the city and also with the First Nations peoples of Palm Island.

Fr Alejandro (Alex) de la Sotta SVD has been warmly welcomed as Parish Priest of St Bernadette’s Parish in the vibrant heart of Auckland, New Zealand, and is enjoying not only the diverse, multicultural community, but also the opportunity to get involved in the local Laudato Si’ Farm.

“My arrival at St Bernadette's Parish was a welcoming process more than a formal installation ceremony with the bishop,” he said. “Coming from the East Coast Parish, I was received with open arms by this vibrant community.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, parish priest in Alice Springs, will have a good understanding of the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, of the upcoming SVD General Chapter when he arrives in Rome next month, having been part of the international commission which prepared it.

Fr Prakash was selected to be a member of the 2^nd International Preparatory Commission which met in Rome in April.

Fr Kevin Cantwell SVD, who recently celebrated 65 years as a priest, says his vocation came to him as a bolt out of the blue, and once received, it never wavered, giving him a lifelong sense of certainty which he believes “must have been a matter of grace”.

“My vocation was solid from the moment I received it. It came to me one morning in just a minute or two. I didn’t think about it or weigh up the pros and cons or anything like that. I had no hesitation about it,” he said.

“You are part of our Tiwi people; you are part of our Tiwi family.” These were the words spoken by one of the Traditional Owners of the Tiwi Islands earlier this month during the official installation of Fr Niran Veigas SVD as parish priest on Bathurst Island.

Fr Niran was installed at Our Lady of Peace and St Therese - Wurrumiyanga, Tiwi Islands by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci in an emotionally moving and culturally rich Mass almost two years after the Divine Word Missionaries arrived in the Tiwis.

The Divine Word Missionaries in the Indian state of Odisha are running a range of projects to support people living in the marginalised slum communities and to give them the education, skills, motivation, leadership animation, and financial assistance to help lift them out of poverty, reports Society Matters mission magazine.

Fr Rasal Xess SVD, the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Coordinator for the SVD India East Province (INE) said the urban poverty is characterised by exclusion, including inadequate and insecure housing and basic services, limited access to services like health, nutrition and water sanitation.

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.