What’s the difference between a parish and a faith community in modern Australia? It’s a question worthy of consideration, writes Bishop Tim Norton SVD for the Brisbane Archdiocese.

Vatican documents around themes of ministry and community have a central focus on parish life. In Evangelii Gaudium (the Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis writes that the parish “is not an outdated institution”. For Francis, the parish is a wonderful environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration. “It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach (EG 28). Curiously, this description applies very well to some of our Archdiocesan faith communities.

The SVD’s Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation coordinators from across the Asia Pacific region met in Bangkok recently to share their work and resolved to further step up their commitment to collaborative efforts and sharing resources across the ASPAC Zone.

Vice-Provincial for the SVD Australia Province, Fr Albano Da Costa SVD attended the meeting which was being hosted by the AUS Province in the Thailand District.

Internationally renowned theologian and missiologist Fr Roger Schroeder SVD was in Australia recently, presenting a range of workshops on interculturality and spending time with a diverse range of people in SVD ministries in Sydney, Alice Springs, the Tiwi Islands and Brisbane.

During the first half of his time in Australia, he gave two talks and a day workshop around the theme of interculturality, which has been the central theme for the SVD and SSpS since their General Chapters of 2012 and 2018, respectively.

Fr Anton Bulla SVD has been remembered as a faith-filled and joy-filled person, a committed priest and missionary, both during his years in Papua New Guinea and later in his ministry of healing through the marriage tribunal in Sydney.

Fr Anton died at Marsfield on July 11, just shy of his 89^th birthday. His requiem Mass was held in the St Arnold Janssen Chapel and was attended by confreres, friends and fellow members of the canon law community of which he had been an active member. Members of his family overseas were able to watch by video.

The SVD Australia Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass, has been appointed to take part in the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October, an opportunity he describes as both humbling and exciting.

Fr Rass was named as one of the expert facilitators from the Oceania region to attend the Synod, following his role as a facilitator of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO) gathering in Fiji earlier this year.

Next week, from August 7-14, the Church in Australia will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week, a time to shine a spotlight on how we choose to respond to God’s call in our life.

We all have a vocation – that is a path to knowing, loving and serving God in our life. Whether it be marriage or single life or a vocation to priestly or religious life, each vocation, given to us by God, is precious and to be valued.

At Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand, I once saw some boys and girls holding some paper and being asked to answer some questions, but in order to do that they had to run and find the answers located in different exhibitions all over the museum.

As the Society of the Divine Word prepares for the 19^th General Chapter as well as its 150^th anniversary in 2025, the theme that has been chosen for reflection is, “Your Light Must Shine Before Others” (Mt 5:16): Faithful and Creative Disciples in a Wounded World.

As is indicative from the theme, there are many elements brought together to constitute the reality of today’s mission. How does this theme apply in our own Australian context? In this reflection, I would like to outline how the theme could be understood locally.

Building healthy parish communities is crucial if the Church is to become truly missional in today’s world, Fr Albano Da Costa said in his presentation for the first of the Divine Word Missionaries’ online lectures on mission.

The six-part ‘Mission and Dialogue Today’ lecture series is an education and ongoing formation initiative of the SVD Australia Province and attracted participants from around the country and around the world.

Well-known priest, lawyer and advocate, Fr Frank Brennan SJ visited Townsville and Palm Island recently and while there, presented information sessions to the local people about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Fr Manh Le SVD, parish priest at St Anne’s Parish on Palm Island, said Fr Frank’s visit, while primarily to attend a funeral for a local leader, was a great opportunity to share information on the Voice with the local Indigenous community.