Ten SVD students from five countries resumed their academic studies in Theology this month at Yarra Theological Union, the University of Divinity in Melbourne.

Both the students and the academic staff said they were looking forward to returning to face-to-face or blended classes again following the shift to online lectures and tutorials during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

A Divine Word Missionary priest who is based in Bangkok, has been appointed to a new role at an organisation which explores the intersection of religion and communication.

Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD, a member of the AUS Province, has been appointed as Executive Director of the Asian Research Centre for Religion and Social Communication (ARC).

Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD celebrated Harmony Day in style this year by taking his Pledge of Allegiance and becoming an Australian citizen.

Fr Elmer, who was born and raised in the Philippines, took his Aussie pledge in Alice Springs this month, a 90km drive from his current home in the Aboriginal community of Santa Teresa, Central Australia, where he is Parish Priest.

Well, just like that, Holy Week is with us and the great mysteries of the Easter Triduum lie before us.

Thanks be to God, this year in our part of the world, most of us can hopefully celebrate the Easter liturgies with our faith communities (despite a fresh COVID cluster in Brisbane), unlike last year when the churches were closed due to the pandemic. Easter is always special, but this year, its celebration will seem even more precious.

We invite you to join us via Facebook livestream on Saturday, March 13 at 10am for the Final Profession of vows of five of our confreres.

We rejoice with Duc Le, Edward Teye, Francois Andrianihantana, Hai Ngueyen and Marius  Razafimandimby on this special day and we pray for God's blessing upon them.

A new community centre for the Vietnamese Catholic Community of Brisbane will signal a new beginning, filled with hope, and promote an environment of faith, care for each other, and cultural enrichment.

The Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre development at Inala was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now back underway, with construction beginning on the church and the centre’s office.

The Sydney Catholic Slovak community and the Divine Word Missionaries recently celebrated 50 years of pastoral relationship with a special thanksgiving Mass.

“The celebration strengthened and confirmed the relationship that’s been there for all those years,” says Fr Henry Adler SVD, the chaplain to the Slovak community in the Archdiocese of Sydney.

After years serving the sick and the poor through his vocation as a nurse, a doctor and an SVD brother, Br Ruel Bancoro SVD is about to begin a new chapter as he takes up Theology studies for the priesthood.

Br Ruel will undertake his studies through the University of Divinity in Melbourne – although due to COVID border closures, he will begin the first semester online from the Philippines.

Despite the ever-increasing degree of globalisation taking place in the world characterised by intertwining economic systems buttressed by internet technology, it is rare to have a happening to which every section of humanity on all continents of the earth can directly relate, writes Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD. 

The coronavirus pandemic that made its appearance in late 2019 and has continued to ravage the world in 2021 is an exception to the usual state of affairs because it has managed to turn the entire world upside down with all the disruptions brought upon the global political, social, economic and religious structures.

The SVD has signed up to The Sydney Statement, an interfaith charter for building bridges between people from different religions and is looking forward to supporting its aims in a variety of ways.

The Sydney Statement was developed by Youth PoWR (Parliament of the World’s Religions), a coalition of young adults from different religions, following two years of consultation and drafting.