The annual SVD Marsfield Community Carols by Candlelight was a wonderful celebration again this year, featuring choirs and performers from a broad range of ethnic communities.

The multicultural flavour of the evening was topped off when everyone came together to sing Silent Night, with verses in different languages as well as in English. And there was even a visit from Santa for the kids.

The Divine Word Missionaries were in the midst of it when more than 3000 young people from dioceses all over Australia celebrated the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Adelaide this month.

Fr Elmer Ibarra, the SVD Vocations Director, together with Hy Nguyen SVD, a young OTP student in the AUS Province, ‘hung out’ at the Divine Word Missionaries stall at the Festival’s Expo, and shared information and insights about SVD life with visitors to the stall.

Young people from St Mark’s Parish, Inala, in collaboration with the youth groups from Darra–Jindalee parish and Acacia Ridge parish, came together recently to celebrate the G1 youth event – God First.

Around 100 young people gathered in the Mercy Hall at lunch time on Sunday, November 29, for praise, worship and adoration and to hear two different testimonies about life changing moments in life after encountering God.

Christmas is special for so many reasons. It is a time for family and friends, for gift-giving, for church-going, for eating, and, perhaps by the late afternoon, even for napping. As a European, I love the relaxed and laid back atmosphere of the Aussie Christmas, which is more likely to feature a game of beach cricket than the snow men of my youth.

But even as we appreciate all that Christmas is to us, let us try to never forget that Christmas is truly special because it recalls the fact that a little over 2000 years ago, God chose to come and dwell with us, in the person of Jesus Christ.

SVD missionaries ministering in places as far-flung as rural Central Queensland, suburban Brisbane and fast-growing Logan City, gathered together recently for a Queensland District Assembly.

The Assembly, which was held at the same time as the official Provincial Visitation, was a time for the confreres to get together for support, fellowship and ongoing formation.

In situations where there are a variety of rich religious traditions, interreligious dialogue will be the main form of evangelisation and may be the only way to exercise mission, says the General Mission Secretary of the Divine Word Missionaries, Fr Lazar Stanislaus SVD.

Fr Lazar, who was in Australia recently for the International Mission Symposium, says the link between interreligious dialogue and mission can be found in the wisdom of the Second Vatican Council.

Five young Divine Word Missionaries, who have undertaken their formation in the AUS Province, were ordained for the priesthood or diaconate recently, and are now preparing to be sent out on their first mission assignments.

Marianus Supardi and Uili Uvea were ordained as priests, during the Mass at St Paschal’s Chapel, Box Hill, while Michael Wu Pengfei, Anthony Li and Laurensius Woda were ordained as deacons.

When SVD priest, Fr Anthony Le Duc chose the topic of Theravada Buddhist Environmental Spirituality for his Doctoral thesis, he was hoping to go beyond theory and to help provide practical resources for local communities living in environmental crisis.

Fr Anthony is a missionary in Thailand, which is part of the AUS Province. He is due to graduate soon with a Doctorate in Religious Studies.

The beginning of Advent always comes as a bit of a shock in this increasingly busy world we live in. Just as everything seems to get busier in the countdown to Christmas, the Church asks us to slow down, to reflect, to prepare.

This year, as the world reels from recent terror attacks, we have more cause than usual to engage in some serious Advent reflection and to earnestly await the arrival of the Prince of Peace.

“I am a sinner,” said the newly appointed Pope responding to his first interview. By the same token in introducing myself to the AUS province, I will take on Pope Francis’s words and proclaim that I too, first and foremost, am a sinner.

To see me and to understand my physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological make-up, one has to look through that lens. It is inseparable to my being. It took me 27 years to actually scratch the surface of that truth. Of course, three years of vows were momentous for my understanding.