With the SVD’s Sesquicentenary Year now underway, we are looking forward to a raft of events and celebrations around our Province in the leadup to the 150^th anniversary of the Foundation of the Society of the Divine Word on September 8, 2025.

Among these is the annual SVD Mission Day in Melbourne, to be hosted by Dorish Maru College and held on October 12. The Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph, Sr Monica Cavanagh RSJ will be the principal speaker, with systematic theologian and experienced pastoral associate, Dr Cecilia Francisco-Tan the respondent. All are welcome.

The Australia Province of the Divine Word Missionaries is putting Pope Francis’ call for a more synodal Church into action by engaging in a strategic planning session using the synodal methods of deep listening and dialogue.

The fruits of that strategic planning session, which involved the Provincial Council, some confreres, lay partners, benefactors and friends, will now be sent to all confreres at District level who will be asked to apply their own discernment and feedback, using the synodal methods.

Attending this consultative Synod as one of the 38 small group facilitators is a great honour and privilege – an experience of a lifetime, a Kairos experience! “Come to us, O Holy Spirit” is the consistent cry holding the synodal journey from many languages, cultures and Christian traditions under the leadership of Pope Francis, writes Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

I am thrilled to be part of Pope Francis' dream towards a synodal Catholic Church that walks, prays, discerns together in the Holy Spirit. This is subjective, and yet I could openly express in appreciation how the Spirit is gently and surely leading the Catholic Church to a better space in the history of salvation.

This week I departed for Rome to take part in the Synod of Bishops on Synodality.

I have been appointed by Pope Francis to be a small group facilitator during the Synod discussions, and while I am certainly aware of the enormity of the task ahead, I am also honoured and excited to be a part of it.

The SVD Australia Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass, has been appointed to take part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October, an opportunity he describes as both humbling and exciting.

Fr Rass was named as one of the expert facilitators from the Oceania region to attend the Synod, following his role as a facilitator of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) gathering in Fiji earlier this year.

Religious are uniquely placed to lead the way on Pope Francis’ path of synodality, because they are already living a synodal life within their religious communities, Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv told the SVD Provincial Chapter.

Bishop Vincent was the keynote speaker at the Chapter, and he said that despite religious life being “fundamentally at a critical point in our country” due to many ageing Congregations, there was still scope for Religious to have a prophetic voice leading into the future.