Fr Cuong Quoc Dang SVD will soon take up his first missionary assignment in Angola following his ordination to the priesthood in Melbourne this month.

Cuong’s journey to a religious vocation began in his home country of Vietnam and continued in Thailand, where he first met the SVD, before coming to Australia to complete his studies and formation

When Fr Aloysius Nato SVD first arrived in Melbourne in July 2010, he spotted a beautiful church from his car window and was told it was Sacred Heart Preston, an SVD parish. Ten years later, he was appointed to serve in that parish – only it was during the Covid lockdown period and there were no parishioners in the pews.

Four years down the track, the parish has returned to full life again and is putting in place action plans to realise its ambition of becoming a vibrant faith community and a missionary parish.

The Divine Word Missionaries Australia Province launched the Jubilee Year for the 150^th anniversary of the Society of the Divine Word this month, the first of many Sesquicentenary events to be held throughout the year.

The occasion in Melbourne was a double celebration, also featuring the priestly ordination of Cuong Quoc Dang SVD, who will continue the missionary legacy when he takes up his first assignment to Angola.

The Divine Word Missionaries were well-represented at the recent Australian Catholic Communications Congress, which took the theme, ‘Missionary Message for the Modern World’.

The SVD also came away from the Congress with an Australasian Catholic Press Association award for an article on confreres growing their own gardens – an activity which contributes to both spirituality and sustainability.

Jesus’ teaching of putting a millstone around a person’s neck and throwing him into the sea; plucking out the eye, cutting off limbs if one sins is rather disturbing and puzzling for a good teacher like Jesus.

During his prime, Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight-boxing champion of the 60s and the 70s proclaimed one day, “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!” When he said this nobody tried to refute it, for during his time, he was indeed the greatest.

If I asked anybody if they love to experience pain, particularly physical pain, well I'd think you were a masochist if you would ever say yes. Well … believe it or not, pain is very necessary in life and, ironically, pain is life-saving.

Today, the first reading is taken from the book of Prophet Isaiah.  He tells the timid people, those who are uneasy about the Word of God, whose hearts live in fear “Be strong!  Fear not!” 

After a five-week journey through Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel (Sundays 17 to 21 in Ordinary Time), we find ourselves on the first day of Spring taking up Mark’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus from where we left off at the 16th Sunday.A Reflection for the 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The movement of people from one place to another is not something new that has occurred only in our life time. It happened already thousands of years ago for apparent reasons. It became a global concern because the world we are living in became a global village due to the rapid movement in our midst, reflects Fr Jun Perez SVD.

A conference on seasonal workers/migrant workers which I attended recently presented the reality on the ground regarding the situation they are facing. All the stakeholders are responsible for the success in their temporary sojourn in a foreign land.