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News & Events

Tin Trinh ordination 250The Divine Word Missionaries joyfully celebrated the Ordination to the Priesthood of Tin Minh Trinh SVD this month – and for the first time, the ordaining prelate was Bishop Tim Norton SVD, Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane.

The Ordination took place at St Christopher’s Parish, Syndal in Melbourne, where Tin has been serving as Deacon and featured contributions from the local Vietnamese community, in tribute to Tin’s home country.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD profile pic 250As we head into the hectic time of year leading up to Christmas, the Church calendar gives us an opportunity to step back from all the busyness and take some time for prayer, reflection, and outreach.

Advent is a beautiful season of preparation for the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord and it is the perfect antidote to all the seasonal rushing, spending and partying.

Fr Clement Baffoe with school kids vertical 250After a long Victorian lockdown and months of uncertainty, on the 28th of November, 2020, I was ordained a priest in Melbourne, writes Fr Clement Baffoe SVD. This week, on the 28th of November, I have been ordained for two years. One month after my ordination, I was assigned to the Townsville Diocese. In fact, I was one of three confreres to be assigned to this new SVD mission in far North Queensland.

How then would I describe my two years as a priest? First and foremost, I must say it has been a time of grace, God’s goodness, mercy and great learning. From celebrating the normal weekday Masses, hearing confessions, visiting our schools to share quality time with our teachers and pupils whether in school Masses, liturgies or assemblies, visiting patients at the Townsville University Hospital, our two nursing homes, to celebrating baptisms, weddings and funerals, etc, it’s been a time of encountering God, myself and those to whom I minister.

Janssen Centre solar panels 250 lighterThe Janssen Spirituality Centre in Boronia, Victoria, is looking forward to sunny days ahead, for both visitors and residents, following the installation of solar panels on its roof.

The installation of the panels means that now all three of the larger SVD houses – at the Provincial Centre in Marsfield, Dorish Maru College in Melbourne and now the Janssen Centre – are largely producing their own electricity and requiring less fossil-fuel generated power.

Top view of headphones on laptop and bible - concept of online bible study during pandemic. Banner formatIn every age, discipleship has always been about adopting and living out a lifestyle that imitated Jesus and went against the cultural currents of the society, writes Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD.

While disciples are not removed from the social and cultural elements that make up the fabric of the society in which they live and work, they are expected to exhibit in words and deeds characteristics that can identify them as serving God’s kingdom – proclaiming the good news, calling people to repentance, working to promote values of harmony and justice, and making an option for the poor. These are the constants in the life of the disciples of Jesus and serve to determine their mission and vocation.

Friday, 28 October 2022 19:51

Mission - We're all in it together

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD profile pic 250Last month, I received a letter from Superior General, Father Budi Kleden SVD, reappointing me as AUS Provincial for another term from January 1, 2023 to – December  31, 2025.

I was lost for words and humbled to be reappointed again knowing that I don’t really deserve such a position with responsibilities that never end! My request to you is please pray for me as I pray for you.

Fr Niran Veigas with international students in Russia 250It is a world away from Fr Niran Veigas’ previous missionary assignment in Russia to his new assignment in the Tiwi Islands, but the Indian-born priest is embracing the new challenge and looking forward to getting to know the people and helping to make a difference in their lives.

Fr Niran was born and raised in a Catholic family in the city of Mangalore, in southwest India and says he began discerning the possibility of being a priest as a young boy.

Mission Day seminar panel 2022 250The SVD Mission Day, hosted by Dorish Maru College and Yarra Theological Union/University of Divinity, made a welcome return this month, following a two-year COVID hiatus, with speakers exploring the topic, ‘For a Missionary Church in a Wounded World’.

Keynote speaker at the Mission Day event was Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, Provincial. The Respondent was Sr Anne Jordan PBVM, of Cana Communities. The formal program was followed by Mass and a shared multicultural meal.

Fr Michael Nguyen SVD book 250Two members of the Divine Word Missionaries’ Australia Province – Fr Dom Flores SVD and Fr Michael Nguyen SVD - have published books reflecting their life as missionaries.

Fr Dom’s book, entitled Sundays with Domingo, takes the form of a series of interviews with his younger friend, Pia Tenedero, while Fr Michael’s book, Writings of A Mendicant Monk, is a collection of his writings since 1995.

Fr Erwin Schmutz SVD2 250Fr Erwin Schmutz SVD was remembered for his very full life of service - as priest, missionary, medic and botanist – at his funeral Mass in the St Arnold Janssen Chapel, following his death in Sydney earlier this month.

Fr Erwin was born in Ingolstadt, on the River Donau in Bavaria, Germany, and spent 30 years as a missionary in Indonesia, then some years as a German Airforce chaplain, before arriving in the SVD AUS Province where he was chaplain to Adelaide’s German community for many years.

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