The Emerald Catholic Parish in Queensland’s Central Highlands district is reaching out to welcome seasonal labourers from Pacific nations who have arrived in the rural area to work.

This month, Parish Priest Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD, offered St Patrick’s Church in Emerald as the venue for the induction session for a group of 69 seasonal migrant workers from Tonga. Previously, the parish has offered a welcoming hand to workers from Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Samoa.

Happy New Year to all! I am delighted to be here sharing my first Provincial’s Message for our ‘In the Word’ e-news publication since my appointment took effect on January 1.

Having spent the last several years as parish priest of St Mark’s Parish, Inala, in Brisbane, and before that, being assigned to formation ministry at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne, I am aware that my first task in these early days as Provincial, is to listen and learn as I make my way around the Province.

As the Vatican Christmas tree and Nativity Scene adorned a St Peter’s Square filled with faithful this week, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the importance of Advent as a time of preparation to welcome the birth of Christ.

He offered the encouragement in his various greetings to pilgrims from different language groups during the Wednesday General Audience on December 17.

Advent and Christmas have been celebrated in a variety of different ways across the SVD Australia Province, from multicultural carols to Christmas lights, concerts to shared meals and gifts – all with the common theme of highlighting the nativity of Jesus Christ.

From the Indigenous communities in the Tiwi Islands, Central Australia, and Balgo to city suburbs in Australia and New Zealand and across to villages in Thailand and Myanmar, the Province has expressed a range of different cultural celebrations of Christmas.

The SVD Queensland District gathered recently for its annual five-day retreat — described as a precious time of spiritual renewal, reflection, and fraternity.

The retreat took place at the Santa Teresa Retreat Centre in Brisbane last month under the theme, ‘SVD Mission Collaboration’.

The Divine Word Missionaries played an active role in the recent Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Melbourne by sharing the SVD missionary charism with young Catholics, promoting vocations, and gaining inspiration from them, as well.

Province Vocations Director Fr Yon Wiryono SVD attended with seminarians from Dorish Maru College and for the first time, the SVD collaborated with the Indonesian Catholic Community in Melbourne, highlighting the value in lay people and Religious working together to promote vocations.

The SVD Australia Province has a new Provincial Council to help provide collaborative leadership over the next three years.

The new Provincial Councillors were recently appointed by the SVD Generalate in Rome, following their nomination at the local level.

As Advent draws us onward towards the coming of Jesus at Christmas, I take this opportunity to wish everyone the hope and much-needed peace of the season.

And, as this will be my last message as Provincial, I also wish to thank everyone who journeyed with me and supported the Divine Word Missionaries over the last six years. I have been reminded again and again that we never walk alone when we walk in faith.

At the beginning of Advent, as Christians prepare to welcome the Prince of Peace at Christmas, Pope Leo XIV has called for prayer that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation and hope.

As we enter our Advent reflection, may we join with the Pope in offering a prayer to the God of Peace that Christians surrounded by pain may feel the “gentle kindness of your presence and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith”.

Two young men from Vietnam have made their first profession of vows in the Society of the Divine Word following their postulancy in Thailand and a year-long novitiate in the Philippines.

Hung Dinh Nguyen and Joseph Pham Van Thong joined the SVD Australia Province in Thailand and will now prepare to undertake their seminary studies and formation with the SVD Australia Province at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne.