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.

He learned of the appointment while taking part in an SVD Renewal Course in Nemi, located not far from Rome, and said it came as a big surprise.

“I see myself as a bush missionary,” he said. “I never at all thought I would one day end up working in the Generalate office.”

Fr Ollie was born and raised in Vanuatu and had missionary experience in Mexico and Cuba before arriving in Central Australia.

He said his new role essentially entails attending the SVD Generalate meetings and taking minutes in English, as well as translating letters and other documents into English as required.

“I have known the Superior-General for many years. We met in Mexico, where I did my Overseas Training Program. We worked in the same parish and then he left for Brazil,” Fr Ollie said.

“But he knows that I speak three languages, two of which are English and Spanish, which are the main languages used by the SVD Generalate.

“And I think he is wanting to have people from all the different continents represented in his Generalate, so that might be partly why I was chosen.”

Fr Ollie said that during his renewal course, he had been praying about a desire to take a break from parish life after almost 20 years in the priesthood, and he had also recognised a desire to once again live in a religious community, rather than on his own, as he has for some years.

“But I didn’t expect this to come from that prayer!” he said.

“At first I thought, ‘Oh wow, this is huge’, and I wondered what will be expected of me and if I could do it. But the General Councillor who made the offer to me at Nemi explained that it is all teamwork and I would not be isolated, but working together as a team to serve the Generalate and the Superior-General. So, then I felt that yes, I could do it.”

Fr Ollie will live in a large religious community at the SVD’s headquarters in Rome, which is often home not only to members of the General Council but also students and visitors.

“I’m looking forward to living in that community and I’m well prepared for it because in our mission in the Australia Province we are experienced in living in very multicultural communities,” he said.

He said while he is excited about the new opportunity he will miss life in Central Australia, especially his 10-year-long ministry with the Arrernte people, first based in Alice Springs and then in Santa Teresa.

“I will miss the people,” he said. “In Santa Teresa we were just getting to know each other and form a relationship, so I will miss that.

“And in Alice Springs, I will miss the people I served as Chaplain and the people who helped in the mission, especially the elders.

“It will be a big change, that’s for sure.”

PHOTOS

TOP RIGHT: Fr Olivier Noclam SVD, carrying a joey and with young people during his early days in Central Australia.

MIDDLE LEFT: Fr Ollie celebrates Mass for members of the Santa Teresa community at the Little Flower Mission Station during their 70th anniversary celebrations.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Fr Ollie at St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the city he has now been assigned to by the SVD Generalate.