Ending an MSC era

Tiwi Islands and Daly River get new missionaries, Divine Word Missionaries.

Bishop Francis Xavier Gsell MSC, founder of MSC presence in the NT from 1996.  His story as the bishop with 150 wives is well-known. See next photo.

From the SVD information:  In the Word

The Divine Word Missionaries have accepted an invitation from Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci to take up the pastoral care of the people of the Tiwi Islands and Daly River. Source: In the Word.

The SVDs are already active in Darwin Diocese, having been present in Central Australia for the last 20 years in Alice Springs, Santa Teresa and in the Aboriginal Catholic Chaplaincy.

Provincial Fr Asaeli Rass SVD said it was this existing relationship which fostered the invitation to take on the ministry in Bathurst and Melville Islands, off Darwin, adjoining the Timor Sea, and Daly River, which is near Katherine in the Northern Territory.

“Bishop Charles invited us on behalf of the Tiwi people, to take on this ministry,” Fr Rass says.

“It is part of our very strong commitment as a Province to addressing the ongoing plight of Indigenous people in this country.”

Fr Rass says the SVDs will be building on the legacy of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who are withdrawing from ministry in the Tiwi Islands after more than 100 years.

“The MSCs have been in the Tiwi Islands since 1910-1911, since the time of Bishop [Francis Xavier] Gsell and now they are finishing their mission there. We will definitely be building on their legacy and the strengths they brought to the ministry there for more than a century, as well as bringing our own SVD charism and willingness to take on another challenging ministry,” he says.

During a visit to Bathurst Island, Fr Rass met the elders and key leaders of the community.

“They are feeling sad because the MSCs are leaving, but also they are very welcoming to the SVDs coming to work with their people,” he says.

Last MSC parish priest, Pat Mara

Wishing the SVDs every blessing