More than 70 members of the Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province – came together this month for the first ever online Provincial Assembly.

Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, says the Zoom platform created both challenges and opportunities for the gathering.

As this edition of In the Word lands in your inbox, I am preparing to represent the Divine Word Missionaries and the communities we serve at the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, which begins on Sunday. Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, parish priest in Alice Springs, will also be attending as part of the Darwin Diocese’s delegation, due to his role as Episcopal Vicar for the Diocese’s Central Region.

Of course, none of the members of the Plenary Council have ever taken part in something like this before, as the last Australian Plenary Council was held in 1937, so there is both excitement and some trepidation at what is to come.

Final preparations are underway for the 2018 Provincial Assembly and Chapter for the SVD AUS Province, to be held in Sydney next month.

The Assembly will begin on February 19 and the Chapter will start on February 21 and both events will help set the missionary priorities of the Province for the coming years.

The 2018 Provincial Assembly and Chapter of the SVD AUS Province was officially convoked this month and preparations are well underway for this important event which will help set the missionary priorities of the Province for the years to come.

Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, convoked the Assembly and Chapter in a letter to all confreres, setting the Assembly down to begin on Monday, February 19 and the Chapter to begin on Wednesday February 21.