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Volume 25 No. 2 | Winter 2015
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Fr Heinz acknowledges the deep ethnic,
religious and tribal tensions both within South
Sudan and with its neighbours, but says
dialogue is the answer.
“Being close to people means being in
dialogue on a daily basis,” he says. “People in
South Sudan, independent of whether they are
Muslims or Christians, are just tired of war and
suffering. They want to go on with their lives.
“Dialogue is welcome by everybody in South
Sudan longing for peace. And yet, there will
be no peace without justice. As we know, both
are conditions for any positive development
that a country like South Sudan needs so
urgently. There is still a lot of injustice in South
Sudan and yet the process of reconciliation has
started. Without dialogue among the parties
belonging to different faith traditions, this
process will not prosper. Dialogue exists and is
in fact more needed than ever.”
Fr Heinz says that for him, the call of Pope
Francis for people living consecrated life to
‘wake up the world’ begins at a personal level.
“To wake up somebody else, one naturally has
to wake up oneself first,” he says. “Closeness
to the people and being in touch with their
sufferings is more than a wakeup call for our
missionaries on a daily basis.
“The world will wake up seeing religious
missionaries and their mission partners giving
a good example in serving others. That is what
being a missionary in today’s world can be all
about.
“The Gospel invites us to look at life not merely
from the perspective of death, but from the
perspective of life. The joy of the Gospel is
then, a real joy that needs to be shared with
people of all walks of life.”
The Father General concluded with a message
for people living religious life and for the SVD’s
friends, supporters and partners in mission here
in Australia.
“Having visited many different countries in
past months, during the Year of Consecrated
Life, I have come to the simple conclusion that
the world without Religious would be much
poorer,” he says.
“And this is equally true for all the good people
in Australia who are supporting religious
missionaries such as the SVDs; the world would
be poorer without you.”
Thai mission continues to grow, in
response to great need
The SVD AUS Province continues to grow its mission activity in
response to new needs, and nowhere is this more evident than in
the Thailand District.
Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, says the SVD has now been in
northern Thailand for 15 years, providing care for children and adults
with AIDS, or who have been orphaned by AIDS, as well as parish
ministry, youth ministry, migrant chaplaincy, and the development of
health, education and employment initiatives.
“Initially, the mission there was a project of a few confreres who were
passionate about responding to the needs of people living with
AIDS, especially, children, in the developing world,” Fr Henry says.
“So we missioned three of our confreres to go there, and then the
Bishop requested that some priests come, and we now have 12
members in the Thai District, both in Bangkok and working in four
different parishes of the Udon Thani Diocese.
“And now, as our numbers are growing, we are beginning to look at
the needs beyond Udon Thani Diocese.”
Fr Henry is in conversation with Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak
Kovitvanit of Bangkok about the possibility of providing missionaries
to work in formation in Bangkok, especially in missionary formation.
There is also some hope of SVD missionaries getting involved with
other ministries in that diocese, and in other dioceses.
Fr Henry says the needs of people living in more undeveloped parts
of Thailand are great, and there are a number of agencies working
with migrants, refugees and tribal people.
“There are great needs for mission in the northern and eastern part
of Thailand, to work with migrants and refugees,” he says.
“So we are open to new missionary possibilities, excited about
being present there and looking forward to the future of the Thai
SVD presence.”
The SVD Thai District confreres, gathered for a recent retreat with
Fr Elmer Ibarra and Fr Michael Nguyen (centre), from Sydney.