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SVD Neomissionaries Meeting in Brazil Strengthens Formation and Missionary Integration
Fr. Wendelinus Sowe Teluma, SVD
(BRS Communication Coordinator)
Neomissionaries are Divine Word Missionaries who have between zero and five years of missionary experience in Brazil. The meeting was designed to support their integration and adaptation to the Brazilian context while deepening their understanding of the identity, spirituality and mission of the Society of the Divine Word.
Formation for Missionary Life and Ministry
Over the two-week programme, participants explored a range of themes related to missionary life and ministry, including Brazilian society and culture, inculturation, adaptation and integration, community life, spirituality, parish ministry and the Four Characteristic Dimensions of the Society.
The formation programme involved the collaboration of Divine Word Missionaries, members of the Arnoldus Family and invited professionals, providing participants with perspectives from both missionary experience and professional expertise.
An important part of the programme was a dialogue with the Provincial Superiors and the Regional Superior. They presented the diverse missionary realities, priorities and major challenges facing the Provinces and Region that make up the Brazil Subzone.
The dialogue enabled the neomissionaries to gain a broader understanding of the SVD presence in Brazil and to reflect on how each missionary can place his gifts and abilities at the service of the mission in the context where he has been called to serve.
Encounter, Prayer and Cultural Exchange
Beyond formal formation, the programme included opportunities for prayer, fraternity, sharing and cultural exchange. During the two weekends, participants visited Curitiba and surrounding areas and celebrated Mass in four parishes and communities in the metropolitan region where Divine Word Missionaries are engaged in pastoral ministry.
These experiences allowed the neomissionaries to come into closer contact with local communities and to experience more directly the pastoral realities in which their confreres carry out their missionary service.
The meeting concluded on 8 September, the day the Society of the Divine Word celebrated the 151st anniversary of its foundation. The celebration brought together the neomissionaries and confreres from the SVD districts of Curitiba and São José dos Pinhais, making the conclusion of the programme especially meaningful.
During the homily, Fr. Denzil Crasta, SVD, Provincial Superior of BRN, reminded the participants that God continues to act throughout history and to call people to collaborate in his mission. He emphasized that the Word of God, when truly welcomed and meditated upon, becomes mission.
“God calls, welcomes and sends.” This conviction, he said, invites every missionary to look to the future with hope and to embrace his responsibility in proclaiming the Gospel.
The neomissionaries were also encouraged to be light wherever they are sent and instruments of peace. After two weeks of formation, fraternity and missionary encounter, each participant returned to his respective mission strengthened and renewed to continue walking with the people and placing his gifts at the service of the Divine Word mission in Brazil.
