Fr Henry Adler SVD has been re-elected as ProvinciaI-Superior of the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province for a second three-year term.

Fr Henry was re-elected Provincial by his confreres for a second three-year term and the election was approved recently by the SVD Generalate in Rome.

Well greetings, friends! This month’s message for our In the Word E-News comes from me, Fr Raas, rather than from Fr Henry, who is taking his home leave at the moment.

Do you remember Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato Si? It gave us so much food for thought about how we should care for our common home, but what have we done to take up the challenges it contained?

An enthusiastic group of parishioners from St Mark’s Parish, Inala, celebrated the Jubilee Year of Mercy and the 60th anniversary of the Parish recently, with a pilgrimage to Marian Valley, at Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland.

The Marian Shrine, a ministry of the Pauline Fathers, is one of the Brisbane Archdiocese’s designated pilgrimage destinations.

The SVD AUS Province is blessed to have the friendship and support of many lay people throughout Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, and now moves are underway to explore the possibility of starting an SVD Lay Associates’ Group.

A feasibility study into the formation of a Lay Associates’ Group kicked off this week, with the first meeting of the working party.

The Vietnamese migrants living and working in New Caledonia are a long way from home and their faith plays a big role in keeping them together as a community in a new land.

With only one Vietnamese priest in the Pacific country, the SVD AUS Province Mission Secretary, Fr Truc Quoc Phan pays regular visits to New Caledonia to help meet the faith needs of the migrant people.

The young people of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish in Alice Springs received a dynamic boost to their faith recently when Fr Rob Galea came to town for a shared experience of high energy musical praise and worship.

Fr Rob, who was born and raised in Malta, is a priest of the Diocese of Bendigo, and is well known and loved for his ministry of reaching out to young people through music and song writing. His visit to Alice Springs was part of a wider tour of the Top End, taking in Darwin and the Tiwi Islands.

More than 20 young SVD missionaries and SSpS Sisters gathered in Sydney recently for a workshop which explored different aspects of interculturality, both in the community life of a missionary and in ministry.

All of the young missionaries who attended have been in vows for 10 years or less, or are recent arrivals in the Province.

The General Visitation from the SVD leadership in Rome has found the SVD AUS Province to be young and vibrant, with hope for the future, and focused on its role serving multi-ethnic parishes, indigenous communities, intercultural living, formation, and inter-faith dialogue, according to the SVD Vice Superior General, Fr Bob Kisala.

Fr Bob has spent a month visiting all the places in Australia, Thailand and New Zealand where the Divine Word Missionaries are in ministry.

In Australia we are part way through a Federal Election campaign. So far, the population at large seems to be fairly underwhelmed with what’s on offer from the various parties. I understand this apathy, but I worry sometimes about this disengagement from the political process, because I wonder where it will lead us, and especially what it will mean for the most vulnerable people in our society.

The Australian Bishops have decided to dip their toe into the campaign, not in a party-political way, but by calling for the voices of the “thrown away people” to be heard.

I am not the first or the last to fall in love with the nature of Central Australia. Coming here after three months from the Clinical Pastoral Education Course and one month for a holiday, Santa Teresa Parish is where I hope to stay for a long time.

I remember the first night I came, I had a good sleep because of the quiet and peaceful atmosphere. Furthermore, I had a feeling of being settled.