Divine Word Missionaries who arrive in Australia from overseas countries soon find themselves plunged into an acculturation program that aims not to strip them of their own culture, but to immerse them in the Australian culture, while confirming them in their own.

The programs have been carried out in the Australian Province for about 30 years and in recent years have also been in demand beyond the Province, with dioceses and other religious orders who are inviting overseas priests and religious to serve in Australia.

As the excitement of World Youth Day in Rio begins to recede, Fr Stephen Pilly SVD reflects that the pilgrimage was a time of great grace, joy and friendship for him.

Fr Stephen, from Sacred Heart Parish, Preston, VIC, was part of a large group from the Melbourne Archdiocese to make the pilgrimage.

"I, along with the youth, experienced Christ the Redeemer," he says.

Fr Henry Adler SVD has been appointed as the Provincial-Elect of the Australian Province of the Divine Word Missionaries.

Fr Henry, who is currently the Mission Secretary for the Province, will take up his three-year term as Provincial in January.

Outgoing Provincial, Fr Tim Norton SVD, said Fr Henry was elected to the position in a vote of his provincial confreres and the appointment was formally approved by the SVD Generalate in Rome.

I am most thankful for the Lord’s steadfast love in my life. He has led and guided the journey of my vocation, and strengthened me to be able to walk this special path. God holds me up when I experience difficult times. I am blessed in my vocation by the joy of his great love. He has always been with me in my journey as a seminarian. This teaches me to totally surrender to God, and understand that being a religious missionary is such a huge blessing for me.

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Mumbai-based sociologist, Fr Joseph Mundananikkal SVD will visit Australia in September to carry out a number of speaking engagements in which he will explore different aspects of India’s social and religious culture.

Holding a M. Phil in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and a PhD from the same university, since 2009 Fr Joseph has been Director and Superior at the SVD-run Institute of Indian Culture, a post-graduate research centre in Sociology and Anthropology in Mumbai and since 2012 has been assistant professor in Sociology at the State University of Mumbai. He is the National Co-ordinator for India of Mission, Education and Research of the SVD.

Among the million or so pilgrims at World Youth Day in Brazil, is Fr Stephen Pilly SVD of Sacred Heart Parish, Preston, in suburban Melbourne.

Before he left, Fr Stephen said what he was most looking forward to was to walk in faith with the young people he is accompanying, and to enjoy his own deep encounters with Jesus.

It is important for the Church to delve more deeply into the history of the indigenous communities it serves, and to listen more deeply, in order to fully understand and adequately respond to the present reality of the Aboriginal people, says Fr Jim Knight SVD, who lives and works in Central Australia.

Fr Jim, who joined the Divine Word Missionaries in 1957 in Marburg, Queensland, has stepped down now from his role as Parish Priest at Santa Teresa, an Aboriginal community about 80 km from Alice Springs. But he will continue to live and minister in the community, while also exploring the history of the Arrernte people of Central Australia and their contact and growing relationship with European people over the decades.

The danger in talking about migrants and refugees is that we always talk about statistics, rather than focusing on the real people, with real faces and real names who lie behind the statistics – people who are all made in the image of God, says Fr vanThanh Nguyen SVD, a visiting Scripture scholar.

Fr vanThanh is Associate Professor of New Testament Studies at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union. He was in Australia recently to teach a course for The Broken Bay Institute entitled ‘Strangers, Migrants and Refugees in the Bible’, as well as give a series of talks and retreats around the country.

The Divine Word Missionaries will say a fond farewell to St Cecilia’s Parish, Hamilton in Brisbane in early August, after almost 20 years of pastoring to a community that is renowned for its warmth and for the long-term commitment of its members to parish life.

That commitment can be seen in 99-year-old Gwendoline Gleeson who operates the overhead projector at weekend masses, along with her sister Viv, aged 90, who is the organist, as well as many other parishioners who have been involved with various ministries for decades.