With the help of generous donors and partners in mission, the Divine Word Missionaries have finally taken delivery of a small campervan which will allow the missionaries in Central Australia to stay with outlying Aboriginal communities for longer periods.

Previously, the missionaries have driven hundreds of kilometres to be with the people in those communities, but often, after celebrating Mass or other sacraments, they have to turn around and make the long drive back to Alice Springs again.

Fr Michael Nguyen SVD who has been teaching at the Good Shepherd Seminary in the Archdiocese of Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea this year, has been appointed Dean of Studies for the next academic year, and says he’s enjoying the “vibrant tapestry” of PNG, a place he now calls home.

Fr Michael, originally from Vietnam, is a member of the SVD Australia Province, working in Mount Hagen Archdiocese at the request of Bishop Douglas Young SVD.

Advent is drawing to a close and as you receive this edition of In the Word in your inbox, the joy of Christmas is just days away.

This Christmas, as we struggle with the reality of significant conflict in our world, the impact of the loss of the Voice Referendum for our indigenous brothers and sisters, the cost-of-living crisis which affects us all, and general exhaustion after a long year, we look more than ever to the coming of the Prince of Peace at Christmas.

How many of us whenever Christmas comes around, can’t wait to open up our gifts? Whenever somebody hands us a gift, we try to shake it, press on it to feel what could this be.\

It’s now the start of another liturgical year. This year is Year B, meaning that most of the gospel readings for Sundays will come from the Gospel according to Mark and also a good number of Sundays will be coming from the Gospel according to John.

As he prepares to farewell his first parish appointment since ordination for further studies in Rome, Fr Clement Baffoe SVD looks back on how his ministry with a parish community in Townsville has changed him.

"As I leave the parish, I leave better than I came in three years ago. I’ve been challenged, encouraged, supported and allowed to grow in every way humanly, spiritually, and pastorally possible," he writes.

A series of online academic presentations on the theme of ‘Mission and Dialogue Today’ which were hosted this year by the SVD Australia Province have been hailed a success with plans underway to do something similar in the future.

The Mission, Education and Research (MER) presentations ran from June to November and featured speakers from within the Province as well as overseas.

The Santa Teresa – Ltyentye Apurte community in Central Australia has celebrated its 70^th anniversary with prayer, thanksgiving and a pilgrimage back to the location of the Little Flower Mission, where it all began.

Parish Priest of Santa Teresa, Fr Olivier Noclam SVD, said the anniversary celebration was “a really great occasion”, as the community of Eastern Arrernte people remembered not only their rich cultural history over thousands of years, but also their history as a Catholic community.

The Australia Province of the Divine Word Missionaries is putting Pope Francis’ call for a more synodal Church into action by engaging in a strategic planning session using the synodal methods of deep listening and dialogue.

The fruits of that strategic planning session, which involved the Provincial Council, some confreres, lay partners, benefactors and friends, will now be sent to all confreres at District level who will be asked to apply their own discernment and feedback, using the synodal methods.

Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, who is currently serving as Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs, has been appointed by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci to be Vicar-General of the Diocese.

Fr Prakash, who is from India, completed his SVD formation at Melbourne’s Dorish Maru College and was ordained by the former Bishop of Darwin, Bishop Eugene Hurley, in 2014, before being assigned as a missionary to Central Australia.