The seminarians in the Divine Word Missionaries’ Australia Province have been hitting the road recently to spend time getting to know some of the youth in SVD parishes in Queensland and sharing their vocation stories with them.

The road-trip from Melbourne’s Dorish Maru College to the parishes of St Maximilian Kolbe in Marsden and St Mark’s, Inala, is part of the mission outreach of SVD Youth, which was established in the Province earlier this year.

Vocations Director, Fr Yon Wiryono SVD, says it’s all part of a move to increase collaboration with parishes in the area of vocations promotion.

“We are lucky in this Province to have a wonderful group of seminarians from all around the world studying in Melbourne, so it’s good to involve them in parish life and with the youth in parishes,” he says.

“They each have their own stories about how they answered their vocational call from God, and each story is different.

“When they stand up and share their story, it becomes real for the young people who are listening, not just an idea, but something real, and it might just inspire one of those young people to think about their own vocation.”

Fr Yon says that another aim of the seminarians’ visit to the SVD’s Brisbane parishes was to help strengthen the parish youth groups and contribute to the life of the local Church.

“After COVID, it’s been a bit of a challenge for parishes to build their youth groups back up, so having the seminarians come can inject some fresh energy to engage them again,” he says.

Fr Yon says this will be the pattern for the new SVD Youth activity, both in Melbourne, where Fr Yon will be based, but also in other parishes around the country.

“On Sundays in Melbourne, we’ll go out as a group with the seminarians to the parishes for a vocations promotions Mass, sharing our vocations stories and inspiring young people to respond to God’s call in their lives,” he says.

“We really want to be reaching out to the parishes and showcasing what it is to be SVD – our intercultural living, our spirituality, and our commitment to the Word of God and mission.

“In a multicultural nation like Australia we want to share with people what we as SVDs have to offer from the richness of our intercultural living.”