As this edition of In the Word lands in your inbox, I am preparing to represent the Divine Word Missionaries and the communities we serve at the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia, which begins on Sunday. Fr Prakash Menezes SVD, parish priest in Alice Springs, will also be attending as part of the Darwin Diocese’s delegation, due to his role as Episcopal Vicar for the Diocese’s Central Region.

Of course, none of the members of the Plenary Council have ever taken part in something like this before, as the last Australian Plenary Council was held in 1937, so there is both excitement and some trepidation at what is to come.

The Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province had cause for great celebration earlier this year when five young confreres from three different countries made their Final Profession of Vows and were ordained to the Diaconate.

The young men making their commitment in Melbourne were Nicholas Duc, Marius Razafimandimby, Francois D'Assise Andrianihantana, Edward Okletey Teye, and Hai Nguyen. They are from Ghana, Madagascar and Vietnam.

Every year since 1940, when the first Social Justice Statement was produced, the Catholic Bishops of Australia have responded to the social changes in this country and the wider world by bringing out their annual social justice statement. Responding to the signs of changing times, which have often brought with them a pandora’s box of social ills and inequalities, the bishops have endeavoured to touch both the consciousness of our political leaders and the heart of the ordinary citizen by raising awareness to the needs of the poor and those left out of the race to the top. 

The Social Justice Statements, their release timed to coincide with Social Justice Sunday, have always been timely and relevant. This year’s 2021-22 Social Justice Statement, “Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor,” mirrors an earth in crisis, an earth exploited and suffering, an earth that will not support humanity’s beauty and diversity much longer unless we act now.

After 20 months being separated from his missionary assignment due to COVID border closures, Fr Toub Anisong Chanthavong SVD is set to return to Thailand with a thankful heart in September.

Fr Toub took the short trip from Thailand to Laos in December 2019 for three months of home leave with his family, but the worldwide pandemic prevented him from returning to his ministry for almost two years.

The Divine Word Missionaries this month celebrated 125 years in Papua New Guinea with a range of celebrations, giving thanks to God for all the blessings bestowed on the mission, the people, and the missionaries themselves.

SVD Superior-General, Fr Paul Budi Kleden, was special guest at the celebrations, having made it all the way from Rome, despite the COVID-related difficulties in international travel.

As I write this message, millions of Australians are once again living in COVID lockdown across New South Wales, the ACT, and Victoria. Gatherings are banned, families are separated and many people have either lost employment or taken a blow to their income. Of course, many are also suffering from the health effects of COVID and a significant number of people have died. We pray for them.

In amongst these challenges and difficulties we have been forced to continually adapt to the new circumstances we face. The SVD has also been called upon to adapt to new ways of doing things and in September we will hold our first ever online Provincial Assembly.

A new initiative aims to invite Pacific Islanders living in Australia to embrace the principles of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ and become positive agents of change for their homelands by bringing their voice to the fight against climate change.

Fr Asaeli Rass SVD says the Laudato Si Movement, in partnership with the Edmund Rice Centre’s Pacific Calling alliance will encourage ex-patriot Pacific Islanders to work for a better climate future for their home countries.

Members of the SVD AUS Province have been enjoying a time of reflection during July, as they took part in the annual Province retreat, which, due to the pandemic, was offered online this year by American biblical scholar, Fr van Thanh Nguyen SVD.

Fr van Thanh, who is Professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, deliver the retreat on the topic, ‘The Love of Christ Impels Us: A Retreat with Saint Paul and the 18^th General Chapter’, to confreres from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar.

The current COVID pandemic has made it so much harder to reach out in ministry to others. This reaching out was something that I previously took completely for granted but now I can only make the best use of those ministerial opportunities that are available, within a seemingly never-ending cycle of lockdowns. So far, we have experienced five lockdowns in Melbourne and have just emerged somewhat from the latest one.

One can be tempted to lose hope that one’s ministry will ever return to those former, more “sunny” times. Some of my ministry, before COVID, had been helping out in neighbouring parishes as well as ministry at a large aged care facility.

Fr Larry Nemer SVD, who died in Sydney last month, has been remembered as an accomplished scholar and theologian, a dedicated teacher, much-loved family member and a happy priest for more than 60 years.

Fr Larry was born and raised in Chicago and grew up in “a very Polish Catholic neighbourhood”, attending the local Polish Catholic Grammar School.