This week I departed for Rome to take part in the Synod of Bishops on Synodality.

I have been appointed by Pope Francis to be a small group facilitator during the Synod discussions, and while I am certainly aware of the enormity of the task ahead, I am also honoured and excited to be a part of it.

Roger Kyaw Thu SVD, from Myanmar, is nearing the end of his initial formation to become a missionary priest and has been assigned to the Australia Province, saying he was attracted to missionary life by the idea of going to places where he is most needed.

Roger is to be ordained a deacon on October 1 at Our Lady of Africa Church in Chicago, Illinois, an SVD parish in the United States not far from where he has been undergoing his formation.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today, we celebrate the 25th Sunday in ordinary time year A. Today's gospel is about the generosity of an employer who gives equal pay to workers. All workers were paid one denarius a day, even though they worked in different hours.

The Gospel on this 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time presents us with Jesus’ beautiful teaching on forgiveness and an encouragement for us to forgive one another, as God forgives all our wrongdoings.

When I was a seminarian, we had an evaluation system called “Fraternal Correction”. My classmates would write positive things about me and also things to be improved about me. And did the same for them.

As I walked through the heart of European cities Cologne, Brussels and Amsterdam, I saw so many gothic church buildings standing in the midst of high energy bustling crowds below.

In 1967, Australians gave overwhelming support to a referendum that recognised Australia’s First Peoples as citizens. In 2023, we will be given a chance to vote in another referendum to constitutionally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through a Voice to Parliament, writes the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council

Australia’s Bishops see it as an opportunity for all Australians to renew our engagement with the First Peoples of Australia. They have come to this view through much listening to the First Peoples and they encourage us all to listen to them in a spirit of love and humility.

A group of 50 young adults from Sydney’s Vietnamese community came together recently for a retreat where they explored the theme: “Me, Myself and God”.

It’s the 74^th year that the retreat has been held and the guest speaker was Fr Manh Le SVD, a Vietnamese Australian priest currently ministering with the Indigenous community of Palm Island, off the coast of Townsville.

When Fr Niran Veigas SVD answered his vocational call to become a missionary priest, he could not have foreseen himself ministering in Russia and now the Tiwi Islands, but the Indian-born priest is embracing the new challenge of getting to know the people and helping to make a difference in their lives.

Fr Niran was born and raised in a Catholic family in the city of Mangalore, in southwest India and says he began discerning the possibility of being a priest as a young boy.

Theologian and Missiologist Fr Stephen Bevans SVD returned to Australia recently to give a range of presentations on the role of mission in meeting the needs of the world today.

Fr Stephen, who is the Emeritus Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD Professor of Mission and Culture at Chicago Theological Union, led the SVD annual retreats in locations around the province, delivered a presentation for Catholic Mission, and gave an online seminar for the SVD’s Mission, Education and Research initiative.