Promoting ‘Integral Human Development in a Fragmented World’ calls people to listen to the cries of the vulnerable and to engage in respectful creative dialogue and cultural renewal, said the speakers in the second instalment of the SVD Australia Province’s 2026 online lecture series.

Looking at the theme from the Magisterial and Interreligious Perspectives, the presentation featured distinguished scholars, Fr Sebastian M. Michael SVD and Fr Wilibaldus Gaut SVD.

In the coming week, from August 2-9, the Catholic Church in Australia is celebrating National Vocations Awareness Week.

A Vocation is first and foremost a gift from God. It guides us in how we respond to God’s love and live that out in our life. For many, God leads us to marriage and family life. For others, it may be single life, while some are called to the vocation of priesthood or Religious life.

The parish of St Clement Catholic Church in Chum Phae, in Thailand’s Khon Kaen Province is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year.

Parish Priest, Fr Ben Bella SVD, said the relatively small parish is located in a rural area, surrounded by several villages with the church an important centre of faith and fellowship for the local people.

SVD seminarians at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne have put aside their textbooks for the winter academic break and have begun a program of formation workshops alongside parish pastoral placements.

The students, who come from a variety of different countries, say the workshops and practical pastoral experience is helping them to discern and prepare for life as a Divine Word Missionary.

The second presentation in the SVD Australia Province’s online lecture series for this year, exploring the theme, ‘Integral Human Development in a Fragmented World’ will take place on Thursday, July 16.

Exploring the theme from the Magisterial and Interreligious Perspectives, the presentation will feature distinguished scholars, Fr Sebastian M. Michael SVD and Fr Wilibaldus Gaut SVD.

Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD has bid a fond farewell to the parishioners of Emerald Parish in Queensland’s Central Highlands to move to Sydney and take up the role of Mission Secretary for the SVD Australia Province.

Fr Truc has been Parish Priest of St Patrick’s Parish in Emerald and its surrounding communities for six years, with his farewell Masses across the vast rural district having seen him drive a total of 900km.

Alice Springs and the smaller Central Australian communities of Harts Range and Santa Teresa rolled out their warmest welcome mats recently to cheer on Roby Curtis, from Brisbane’s Emmanuel City Mission, as he completed his epic walking pilgrimage from Brisbane.

Roby walked 2500km over nine weeks with his friend and colleague Jeff Hoffard, raising just over $1 million for people in Brisbane experiencing homelessness and helping to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of St John Paul II’s landmark address to First Nations peoples in Alice Springs.

Greetings from Nemi, in Italy, where I am attending a workshop for 35 newly elected Provincial, Regional, and Mission (PRM) Superiors of the Society of the Divine Word.

So far, it has been an inspiring and invigorating gathering, under the theme of ‘Synodal Leadership in Service of Missio Dei’.

On April 21, 2001, the Arnold Janssen Chapel in Marsfield, NSW was blessed and officially opened by Bishop Peter Ingham, then Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney.

Twenty-five years later, this milestone was celebrated by the community that gathered for Mass on April 26 this year, Good Shepherd Sunday, writes Pia Tenedero.

The SVD missionaries in Thailand and Myanmar are well-loved and appreciated by both the local bishops and the people, reported Fr Boni Buahendri SVD, after his first visit there as Provincial.

Fr Boni began his trip in Myanmar, before moving on to Bangkok and then the Diocese of Udon Thani in Thailand.