“God’s mission is our mission.  His life, our life.” That’s the message that the SVD shared with more than 5500 young people attending the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) in Perth this month.

The Divine Word Missionaries had a stall at the Festival’s ‘Encounter Expo’, where they shared the SVD charism with youth who dropped in to visit. A number of SVD parishes and chaplaincies also took groups of their young people to experience the big faith gathering which had the theme: ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying’.

More than 10,000 members of Australia’s Vietnamese Catholic community came together in Sydney recently for a three day festival to celebrate Mary, the Mother of God.

Fr Manh Le SVD, a Vietnamese Chaplain in Sydney, says that the NSW Vietnamese community has celebrated a festival each October, the month of the Rosary, for some years, but this was the first time that Vietnamese chaplaincy communities from right around Australia came together for the days of prayer, faith formation, music and friendship.

About 80 young people from SVD parishes and chaplaincies in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney made the pilgrimage to the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney early this month, an event they say “changed hearts” and “opened minds”.

The youth kicked off their ACYF experience with a vigil gathering at the St Arnold Janssen Chapel in Marsfield, which was broadcast on Facebook Live, before heading to Homebush for the Festival.