A program to provide formation for indigenous catechists from the Arrernte and Walpiri people of Central Australia to hand on the faith in their culture is under way in Alice Springs, with the local parish embracing the opportunity.

Speaking at the Mission: One heart, many voices (MOHMV) conference in Sydney this month, Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Alice Springs, Fr Prakash Menezes SVD and two parishioners, Dolores Furber and Paula Turner explained through words and art, how the program is unfolding.

Divine Word Missionaries played an active role in the ‘Mission: one heart, many voices’ conference, held in Sydney this month, offering presentations and reflections as part of three days of exploring the themes of truth-telling, reconciliation and synodality.

Bishop Tim Norton SVD, who was a keynote speaker at the conference which was presented by Catholic Mission and Catholic Religious Australia, invited those present to not only seek truth-telling at a national level, or in the Church, but also to look for truth-tellers in their own lives.

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.

We start the liturgy of the Easter Vigil with what is typically called Lucernarium, the service of light. The Pachal candle is lighted and brought, in the procession, to the centre of the church or of the chapel- signifying that Jesus Christ is the true light for the world. The Exsultet sings of the Paschal candle, praying that it "may persevere undimmed to overcome the darkness of this night".

The symbol of light is a significant element in all the liturgical celebrations of the Church. A symbol that is filled with many associations and meanings. I want to share with you three of them on this momentous and hopeful occasion of Easter, reflects SVD Superior-General Fr Budi Kleden.

Eight young Divine Word Missionaries who are students at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne renewed their temporary vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience recently.

The renewal of vows is a significant annual step in their formative years and a time for reflection and recommitment to their vocational journey.

SVD missionaries who have been professed for less than five years or have been in the Australia Province for less than five years gathered recently for the ‘Under Fives’ ongoing formation course.

Participants shared their ministry experiences and received formal input from a range of speakers in a program described by one of those taking part as “formative, informative and life-giving”.

Vietnamese Catholics in Noumea, New Caledonia, were treated to Masses and pastoral care in their own language during Holy Week and Easter, thanks to a visit by Fr Viet Nguyen SVD.

Fr Viet is the Mission Secretary for the SVD Australia Province, and his visit to Noumea was part of a pastoral outreach begun in 2015 by former Mission Secretary, Fr Truc Phan SVD.

Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD travelled to Argentina this month to attend the 10^th plenary assembly of the Catholic Biblical Federation, an experience he says which reaffirmed and gave fresh energy to his commitment to proclaiming the Word of God in a fragile world.

Fr Elmer, who is Rector of the SVD formation house, Dorish Maru College, in Melbourne, attended the assembly in his capacity as coordinator of the Bible apostolate for the SVD Australia Province.

He is Risen! Happy Easter to you!

As we make our way through the joy of the Easter season, I have been reflecting on the resurrection experience of my visit to the Tiwi Islands during Holy Week and Easter, writes Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

The Provincial Chapter was a positive, hopeful time of deliberation on the future priorities of the SVD Australia Province, with a focus on personal and communal renewal for mission, says Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD.

The outcomes included a reaffirmation of the priority given to ministry in indigenous communities, as well as a renewed commitment to multicultural parish ministry and interfaith dialogue.