Volume 34 No. 1 | Autumn 2024 2 Society Matters Message from the Provincial Superior Dear Friends, Welcome to the Autumn edition of Society Matters for 2024. I hope the first months of this year have been good for you. One of the things about God’s mission is that it is always evolving. As missionaries we must always be prepared to go where we are needed most, always open to the creativity and the dynamism of the Holy Spirit. In this edition, we catch up with a range of projects in India which were supported by our Province through the generous donations of you, our partners in mission. Focused on those living in slums in Odisha Province, the projects include support for women, children, and ragpickers, providing work skills, financial literacy, education, and workplace advocacy, among other things. Over the last year, a similar Spirit-led dynamism in our own Australia Province has led us to accept the invitation of bishops to extend the SVD ministry with our indigenous brothers and sisters into the Tiwi Islands and Daly River in the Darwin Diocese and Balgo in the Broome Diocese. You can read about those latest developments on pages 6-7 and we ask for your prayerful support of these new missionary endeavours for our Province. Also in this edition we introduce you to Fr Jun Perez SVD, a very experienced missionary who has served in Russia, Africa, South Korea, Thailand and now Australia, as the new Coordinator for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation in our Province. We hope you enjoy his story. Thanks also to you, our valued partners in mission, who help support such important initiatives. Yours in the Word, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD Provincial Superior Cover Story: An animator meets with a group of urban poor women in the slums of Jharsuguda in Odisha, India. Read more on pages 4-5. Appeal Office: 199 Epping Road, Marsfield NSW Locked Bag 3, Epping NSW 1710 Australia Telephone: +61 2 9868 2666 Victoria: 100 Albion Road, Box Hill, Vic 3128 Tel: +61 3 9890 0065 Queensland: 96 Lilac Street Inala QLD 4077 Tel: +61 7 3372 5658 New Zealand: 41 Britannia Street, Petone, 5046 Tel: +64 4 971 7885 Published by Divine Word Missionaries Incorporated, ABN 51 885 667 646
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