3 Volume 36 No. 2 | Winter 2026 Society Matters Fr Truc Phan SVD appointed as Province Mission Secretary for second time The Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province has a new Mission Secretary, with the appointment of Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD to the post. Fr Truc, who is currently Parish Priest of Emerald Parish in Queensland’s central highlands, has a good handle on what is required for the job, having served two three-year terms as Mission Secretary from 2014-2020. “I am being recycled,” he joked. He said he was surprised to be invited by the new Provincial, Fr Boni Buahendri SVD and the Provincial Council to take up the position again. “It is always hard to say goodbye to a parish,” he said. “And I have loved my six years here in Emerald and the surrounding areas, so it is hard. But saying goodbye is part of missionary life. “Having been the Mission Secretary before does give me a certain confidence in how I can approach the job. I can’t promise I will do a great job, but I will do my best.” Fr Truc, who was born and raised in rural Vietnam, completed his missionary formation in Australia and was ordained to the priesthood in 2006. His first assignment was to Thailand in 2007, where he served as parish priest of three small parishes in the countryside, along the Mekong River. He returned to Australia in late 2013 and served as Assistant Priest and Chaplain to the Vietnamese Community at St Mark’s Parish in Inala, Brisbane for fourand-a-half months before being appointed as Mission Secretary. During his term as Mission Secretary, Fr Truc was based at the SVD’s provincial offices in Marsfield, Sydney, but also spent time in the mission field, working for a year in Myanmar to renovate and prepare a house for the SVD Australia Province’s newest missionary endeavour in that country. During his second term in the role, he was also appointed as Mission Coordinator for the ASPAC region. Fr Truc said that while he brings more pastoral experience to his second term as Mission Secretary, thanks to his years in Emerald, the role itself retains the same areas of focus. “The responsibilities of the Mission Secretary are described in the Constitutions of the SVD,” he said. “There are three key roles: Mission Animation; Taking care of missionaries; and raising funds for mission.” Fr Truc said the Australia Province has been blessed with generous benefactors and partners in mission over the years who continue to support SVD mission both overseas and within the province. “Fundraising is really about relationship,” he said. “It’s about building relationships and nurturing those friendships and we are blessed to have strong relationships like that. But we are also looking to reach new people, who might not know so much about the Divine Word Missionaries, and extend the invitation to them, too.” He said that a focus in recent years, under Mission Secretary Fr Viet Nguyen SVD, has been to strengthen bonds with migrant and ethnic communities with whom the SVD has pastoral ministry, including printing copies of Society Matters in the Vietnamese language in order to share mission news with them. “There are lots of possibilities to explore. In the end, we are trying to invite people to join us in Christ’s Mission, in whatever way they can. And we are very grateful for all of our partners in mission.” Fr Truc with a display of a relic of St Carlo Acutis Fr Truc Phan SVD with parishioners at Emerald in Qld.
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