The SVD AUS Province is buzzing this month with the arrival of Fr Bob Kisala SVD, the Vice-General of the Divine Word Missionaries, who is here on official Visitation from the Generalate in Rome.
The purpose of the Visitation is to reaffirm the Province in its Mission in the Church today and to affirm and empower our missionaries in what they are doing on the local level throughout the Province, in Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.
Fr Bob began his Visitation in Thailand on April 15 and, as part of that visit, he accompanied me and Br Damien Lunders SVD, the local Superior of the Thai District, on a visit to Myanmar, where, for the past 12 months, we have been considering an invitation from the Cardinal Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo, to take up a new ministry in his Diocese.
The Cardinal has been very specific in his needs. He wants our missionaries to be involved in Bible ministry. He believes that his Archdiocese and the whole country of Myanmar would benefit from a fresh approach from the Church to a country that has been isolated for many years and is now opening up somewhat. The Cardinal wishes to bring the Word of God in a new, fresh way, and he believes the Divine Word Missionaries can help him to facilitate that.
After visiting Myanmar this month and seeing the situation there first hand, we will now consider Cardinal Bo’s invitation to us over the coming months and reach a decision.
From Thailand, Fr Bob continued his Visitation, arriving in Queensland, from where he will proceed to visit the SVD confreres around Australia and then in New Zealand.
Apart from being open to new missionary activity, such as in Myanmar, our Province is also investing in the future through the ongoing formation of confreres.
Next month, all the younger SVD missionaries in the AUS Province who have been in vows for 10 years or less will gather for a workshop with the theme of Intercultural Living and Ministry. Fr Bob Kisala, an expert in Interculturality, will be keynote speaker, as will Fr Noel Connelly SSC, who will talk on Mission in the Australian context, and Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD, who will talk about the Thai District of the SVD AUS Province, which has grown from small beginnings to now be the third largest district in the Province. Among the topics to be discussed at the workshop will be Professional Standards, as it relates to Social Media.
The Official Visitation is a great opportunity to take stock of what the Divine Word Missionaries are doing in their ministries throughout the Province, to affirm them at the local level, and to ask ourselves where might we be needed to go next, always guided by the truth that ‘Our Mission is His Mission’. Ensuring the ongoing formation of our younger missionaries is a part of our preparedness for being open to Christ’s Mission, wherever it might take us.
Yours in the Word,
Fr Henry Adler SVD
Provincial Superior
