The first months of 2015 have seen the SVD AUS Province preparing new missionaries for their ministry in Australia with two orientation and acculturation courses getting underway– one in Victoria and one in Central Australia.

The Summer Orientation into the Australian Culture program in St Leonards, Victoria was held for the newly arrived young SVD seminarians/students and missionaries, while the Central Australia SVD Orientation and Acculturation Course got underway in Alice Springs for confreres recently assigned to the Central Australia District.

Diminishment is a term by the French Jesuit and philosoper, Theilhard de Chardin, that explains the spiritual dimension at the last stage of our life’s journey. Just as everything comes to an end, each one of us will be drawn to our final stage, a time of growing old and becoming frail that regularly needs special cares and supports.

I feel privileged to have spent my time over the last two semesters as a volunteer at St Vincent de Paul Nursing Home, Box Hill, Victoria. 

Blessed John Henry Newman famously said, “To live is to change and to be perfect is to change often”, and I think every missionary would recognise the truth in that.

As missionaries we are frequently asked to move to new ministries and take up new challenges, all of which require us to change. But we are not called to change for change’s sake. Rather we are called to respond to the promptings of the Spirit as we respond to need.

“Two years of mission experience, and already I have so many stories to tell,” said Fr Vinh in a farewell dinner with friends and confreres before heading to Vietnam for home-leave.

Why is it important to “tell our tales,” especially for missionaries? SVD Superior General, Fr Heinz Kuluke SVD, in his recent visit to Thailand, encouraged our SVD confreres to share more about their ministries and working with the people of God.

January 29 is the feast day of St Joseph Freinademetz SVD.

St Joseph was the first member of the fledgling Divine Word Missionaries to be sent out on mission, when the founder of the SVD, St Arnold Janssen, assigned him to China.

Today, January 15, is the feast day of St Arnold Janssen, the founder of the Divine Word Missionaries and the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS).

Here is a Feast Day prayer you might like to pray with us:

A full church of family, confreres, parishioners, friends and school students gathered recently to pray for the repose of the soul of Fr Gerard Mulholland SVD, who died last month of Motor Neurone Disease.

And, in a fitting tribute to Fr Gerard’s love of the people of Papua New Guinea, instead of flowers, those attending the funeral donated more than $2000, which will be assigned to a particular mission project in PNG.

About 120 young people from a host of different nationalities came together recently for a Youth Festival at St Mark’s Parish, Inala in Brisbane to celebrate Mission Day and deepen their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.

Parish Priest, Fr Stephen Pilly SVD says the multicultural nature of the St Mark’s congregation and his own personal experience of leading a group to World Youth Day in Brazil last year prompted him to hold the Youth Festival.

It was a joyful celebration when choirs from many different parish and multicultural groups came together at Marsfield for the annual Divine Word Missionaries’ Christmas Carols by Candelight.

The joy of the occasion was not confined to those present, with funds raised throughout the evening going to disadvantaged youth in Laos. Christmas cakes on sale also raised funds for Cana Communities to assist their work with homeless people.

The Holy Spirit Sisters (SSpS) celebrated the 125th anniversary of the founding of their congregation with gratitude and rejoicing, recalling their humble beginnings and giving thanks to God for all he has done through them.

The SSpS Sisters were founded by St Arnold Janssen in Steyl, The Netherlands, in 1889, with co-foundresses, Mother Maria Helena Stollenwerk and Mother Josepha Hendrina Stenmanns.