Bishop Tony Burgess, recently retired as the Bishop of Wewak in Papua New Guinea, has died after a battle with cancer.

Bishop Burgess died on Wednesday, October 23, having returned home to Australia in September because of his illness, to be nearer to his family and medical needs.

Despite poor internet connections and challenging physical terrain, social media is emerging as a new tool of communication, mission and evangelisation in Papua New Guinea, and young people are leading the way.

Fr Giorgio Licini PIME, is the Communications Secretary for the PNG and Solomon Islands Catholic Bishops Conference, and is also the chaplain at Divine Word University, Madang. 

He says while resources are few, social media is opening up new avenues for communication across PNG.

Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD is Brisbane-bound after spending more than six years in parish ministry in north-eastern Thailand – a time, which he says was “a blessing”, despite the many challenges it presented.

Fr Truc, who is Vietnamese, will take up the role of assistant priest at St Mark’s Parish, Inala and assistant priest to the Vietnamese community in Brisbane. It will be his second assignment as an SVD missionary after completing his formation in the AUS Province.

World Mission Sunday, which we will celebrate on October 20th 2013 is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit ourselves to the Church's missionary activity through prayer, sacrifice and personal involvement.

In collaboration with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and with our lay partners in Mission, we as SVD members support and celebrate with the local and worldwide Church our unique calling to God’s Mission.

"This year, as we celebrate World Mission Day, the Year of Faith, which is an important opportunity to strengthen our friendship with the Lord and our journey as a Church that preaches the Gospel with courage, comes to an end.

"From this perspective, I would like to propose some reflections."

Is your parish community looking for a liturgy resource for the celebration of World Mission Sunday on October 20?

The Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province is delighted to share the following resource. May God bless your Mission Day celebrations.

Paulo Vatunitu SVD was ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, October 5 in a ceremony infused with all the colour, prayerfulness and beautiful song of his homeland, Fiji.

Fr Paulo was ordained by Bishop Peter Elliott, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, at St Paschal’s Chapel, Box Hill.

Bishop Elliott told the congregation that when he asked Paulo what a priest is, Paulo’s quiet reply was: “A servant”.

Ten years ago, on October 5, 2003, we celebrated with great joy the canonization of our saints Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademetz .

Today, we want to recall anew the deep faith reflected in their lives and their commitment to mission among the poor and the unevangelized .

Mission does not always involve going to foreign countries and spreading the Good News to the ends of the earth – rather, it is a call for each one of us to reach out in love to the people in our own lives who are in need of care, concern and compassion, Fr Jacob Kavunkal SVD says.

Fr Jacob, a leading missiologist, who teaches at the Yarra Theological Union in Melbourne, says World Mission Sunday reminds us primarily of our Christian call to be collaborators in God’s mission to the world as manifested in Jesus Christ.

Four young men took important steps forward in their lives as Divine Word Missionaries recently, with Bernadinus Asmon, Prakash Menezes and Trien Nguyen beginning their formal preparation for final vows, and Paulo Vatunitu receiving his Mission Cross, ahead of his first assignment.

These signs of commitment were made during a special Eucharistic celebration at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne, during which the men were urged to base their missionary life on their personal encounter with Jesus.