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

The Australia Province will soon welcome a newly ordained priest, Fr Roger Kyaw Thu SVD, as he takes up his first assignment to his homeland of Myanmar.

Roger, together with three other Divine Word Missionaries, was ordained last month by Bishop J. Terry Steib SVD, the Bishop Emeritus of Memphis Tennessee, at the Church of the Holy Family in Chicago, USA.

Fr Kevin Cantwell SVD, who recently celebrated 65 years as a priest, says his vocation came to him as a bolt out of the blue, and once received, it never wavered, giving him a lifelong sense of certainty which he believes “must have been a matter of grace”.

“My vocation was solid from the moment I received it. It came to me one morning in just a minute or two. I didn’t think about it or weigh up the pros and cons or anything like that. I had no hesitation about it,” he said.

“You are part of our Tiwi people; you are part of our Tiwi family.” These were the words spoken by one of the Traditional Owners of the Tiwi Islands earlier this month during the official installation of Fr Niran Veigas SVD as parish priest on Bathurst Island.

Fr Niran was installed at Our Lady of Peace and St Therese - Wurrumiyanga, Tiwi Islands by Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci in an emotionally moving and culturally rich Mass almost two years after the Divine Word Missionaries arrived in the Tiwis.

Fr Boni Buahendri SVD this month marked the 25^th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood with a multicultural Mass and celebration hosted by the parishioners of St Mark’s Parish, Inala in Queensland.

Fr Boni said the celebration was a time to give thanks to God for his missionary vocation and to all the people he has journeyed with along the way.

Missionaries are well known for their willingness to live and serve in a variety of countries, and none more so than Fr Jun Perez SVD, who has arrived in Australia after missionary assignments which have taken him from Russia to Africa, South Korea and Thailand.

“You know the old saying,” he laughs. “Join the SVD and see the world!”

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.

Next week, from August 7-14, the Church in Australia will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week, a time to shine a spotlight on how we choose to respond to God’s call in our life.

We all have a vocation – that is a path to knowing, loving and serving God in our life. Whether it be marriage or single life or a vocation to priestly or religious life, each vocation, given to us by God, is precious and to be valued.

Well-known priest, lawyer and advocate, Fr Frank Brennan SJ visited Townsville and Palm Island recently and while there, presented information sessions to the local people about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Fr Manh Le SVD, parish priest at St Anne’s Parish on Palm Island, said Fr Frank’s visit, while primarily to attend a funeral for a local leader, was a great opportunity to share information on the Voice with the local Indigenous community.

Fr Jim Knight SVD has been remembered as a much-loved family-member and a wise and dedicated missionary priest, committed to those on the margins, especially to the people with whom he ministered in Papua New Guinea and Central Australia.

Fr Jim’s Funeral Mass was held earlier this month at the St Arnold Janssen Chapel in Marsfield, following his death in Sydney on November 24.