Children from low-income families in SVD parishes in Beungkan Province, Thailand are preparing for the new school year with fresh educational supplies thanks to an initiative from their Parish Priest, Fr Truong Le SVD.

Fr Truong cares for the parishes of Immaculate Conception Church and Jesus of Nazareth Church in Beungkan Province, near the Mekong River, bordering Laos. It is the newest province in Thailand and one of the poorest.

There has been a saying going around our Community that the Feast of the Ascension reminds us that Jesus decided thereafter “to work from home”. 

One of the exciting events in Track and Field is the 4 X 100 metre relay. There’s a team of four athletes and they’re standing 100 metres apart and the first athlete runs for 100 metres then they pass the baton to the next athlete and the fourth athlete gets the baton and runs straight until the finish line.

We just celebrated Easter last month.  Each Easter season presents a deep meaning of salvation.  As we celebrate each season of Easter, it moves us toward a deep meaning of the mystery of death and resurrection of Christ, writes Fr Phuong Vu SVD. 

The death of Christ on the cross is reflected in many salvation aspects of Christian life.  The cross becomes an icon for salvation, and it has no end, and it represents this for all nations on earth.  It becomes a personal attachment as well.  It empowers us into life. 

Imagine if you felt God called you to explore the possibility of becoming a Divine Word Missionary, but then a global pandemic meant you had to wait more than a year to fulfill that calling?

That’s exactly what happened to Christopher (Boss) Hiranrattanajinda Bhumbodin from Thailand and Aaron Ong from Brunei, who were both poised to enter the SVD AUS Province postulancy program last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of international borders.

It’s been a period of fond farewells and new beginnings for Fr Sunil Nagothu SVD, as he hands over the leadership of St Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Marsden, Queensland and prepares to take up a new ministry at the Janssen Spirituality Centre in Victoria.

Fr Sunil has been Parish Priest at St Maximilian Kolbe for seven years and was farewelled by his parishioners in a heart-felt celebration earlier this month.

The St Mark’s Inala community came together in all its multicultural richness recently at a special Mass to celebrate the 65^th anniversary since the establishment of the parish.

The day was extra joyful because it marked the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that the church was filled to capacity.

American biblical scholar, Fr vănThanh Nguyễn, SVD will lead the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province members in their annual retreat this year, despite not being able to travel from the US because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fr vănThanh, who is Professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, will deliver the retreat online on the topic, ‘The Love of Christ Impels Us: A Retreat with Saint Paul and the 18^th General Chapter’, to confreres from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar during July.

Who is Jesus Christ? This has been an age-old question that many people particularly theologians have tried to answer.

Thomas’s exclamation, after seeing the risen Jesus face to face, dissolves his doubt and fills him with such faith that it transforms his whole life.