Happy Easter to you! We are still mid-way through the Easter season and there’s no doubt that we really needed Easter this year.

With lay people observing the sacred liturgies from their lounge rooms, instead of in churches, and longing to once again partake in the Eucharist, while priests celebrated private Masses streamed online, we were ready to be reminded again of the tomb-busting power of the resurrection in our lives and in the whole world.

How does one be missionary in a pandemic, when we are being urged to stay home and not go out? It is a question that SVDs in the AUS Province have been asking and they’ve come up with some creative responses.

Firstly of course, the Divine Word Missionary priests have, like most other parish priests, been livestreaming their private Mass on social media, and they have also been ensuring community ties remain strong through various initiatives.

As faith communities raced to adopt technology more than ever to provide pastoral outreach during the coronavirus pandemic, Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD was exploring the underpinnings of such activity in an international roundtable on religion and social communication in Thailand.

The 11^th International Roundtable of the Asian Research Centre for Religion and Social Communication (ARC) was held last month at St Louis College in Bangkok.

Fr Larry Nemer SVD says he can’t remember ever not wanting to be a priest, and as he celebrates his 60^th jubilee of priesthood, he says he gives thanks for a lifetime of priestly ministry doing what he loves – teaching.

Fr Larry, who now lives in retirement at the SVD Marsfield community, celebrated his jubilee this month with confreres.

An initial meeting to gauge interest in forming an SVD Lay Mission Partners Group in Melbourne attracted enthusiastic support recently.

If it goes ahead, it would be the second Lay Mission Partners group in the AUS Province, with one already having been formed at Marsfield in Sydney.

These days the whole world is in the fear of being in the grip of coronavirus and we have read about the tens of thousands of deaths reported from all over the world. Over the past weeks, new cases were being reported every day and leaders and the medical communities have been challenged to the utmost limit.

Places like churches, mosques, temples and synagogues where people go to find peace and consolation have been closed. One can ask the question, does God care for humanity? Why does God want to make human beings suffer?

The SVD senior confreres have written or shared a compilation of 'Prayers during this time of Pandemic'.

It is part of the Divine Word Missionaries commitment to reaching out to others, especially during this time when many have been feeling isolated and anxious. 

This month, the SVD Australia province had three young men take their final vows.  A week after that, nine young SVD temporary professed renewed their vows.  And the SVD final professed are continuing with their vows in their ministries.  These vows highlight our spiritual love and commitment for God during the coronavirus crisis around the world. The SVD constitution says, “By taking the public vows of consecrated chastity, evangelical poverty and apostolic obedience, we respond to his call and follow him along the way of evangelical counsel”. (Cons 201)

The power of love is making us free to worship God and exercise our mission.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD says his return to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs feels like “coming home”, as it was the first parish he was assigned to as a Divine Word Missionary more than five years ago.

Back then, Fr Prakash was in Alice Springs as assistant priest, but last month, he returned to be installed as Parish Priest.

The SVD AUS Province has welcomed two new postulants, who have answered Jesus’ call to “come and see”.

Aaron Ong from Brunei and Shehan Fernando from Sri Lanka have taken the step to join the Divine Word Missionaries and test their vocation to religious missionary life.