Province Assembly
There have been two gatherings of professed Passionists over the past two weeks,
both with over 30 participants. Thirty-one of us gathered at Holy Cross last week to
explore our life and mission, as a step in preparation for our Provincial Chapter in
July next year.
Provincial, Denis Travers gave an extensive report that highlighted the development
and growth over the past few years and the
projected growth over the coming five years.
It was recognised by the Assembly, that one
need as a result of this group will be effective
mentoring of our young Vietnamese and
Papua New Guinean men as they move into
full-time ministry. Possibilities of new ministries, not bound by tradition but shaped
by it, and responding to ‘the signs of the times’ were central in our sharing. Already
our communities are multi-cultural, but there remains much to learn about one
another’s cultures so as to live and minister together with respect and appreciation,
not as seniors and juniors.

Province Assembly
Thirty-two professed Passionists gathered at Holy Cross this week to explore
our life and mission, and look ahead to our Provincial Chapter in July next
year. In 2027. These Chapters are held every four years to make decisions
around the issues we face, and to elect a Provincial and Council to respond
to initiatives mandated or advised by the Chapter.
There have been massive changes in recent years, and this is highlighted by
the fact that there are 22 ordained Australian Passionists and 20 (plus one
deacon) ordained Vietnamese Passionists. This is not to mention the number
of Vietnamese in formation. Any projection of five years from the time of 2031
Chapter will see a very different make up of our membership. To achieve
what is required will involve suitable mentoring, financial resources that at
this stage beyond what we at this stage, as well as brave thinking, planning
and action.

Words of encouragement
Pope Francis offered words of encouragement in November 2013 in his Apostolic
Exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’. There are many laity who are in a position to
encourage family members and friends with this instruction.
“Pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their
brothers and sisters in faith or on a journey of openness
to God must always re-member what the Catechism of
the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly: 'Imputability
and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even
nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit,
inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social
factors'. Consequently, without detracting from the
evangelical ideal, they need to accompany with mercy
and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as
these progressively occur.

Disarming technology: the verb governing Leo’s pontificate
Antoio Spadaro SJ…..August 13th, 2026
The theme Leo XIV has chosen for the
sixtieth World Day of Peace is “Disarming
Technology, Serving Peace: Politics as
Preventive Responsibility.” Paul VI establis
hed the day, and it was first observed on
Jan. 1, 1968. Sixty years later, the object in
need of disarmament has shifted once
again: no longer the arsenals alone, nor the
passions alone, but the technical apparatus that has been quietly taking over the
space where decisions are made.
The continuity with last year’s Message — Peace Be with
You All: Toward a Disarmed and Disarming Peace — is plain
enough, but the grammatical shift says more than most
commentary will. There, disarmed was an adjective
attached to peace: the quality of a style, an interior form.
Here, ‘to disarm’ returns as a transitive verb, and it has
been given a specific object. It is the verb that has governed
this pontificate since May 12, 2025, when Leo XIV told a
journalists’ audience, “Let us disarm words, and we will
help to disarm the earth.” Words, then hearts, and now machines.

The Canaanite woman (last Sunday’s gospel)
Each of the four gospels is a distinct portrait of
Jesus and his mission, written to different
communities several years apart. between 70-
100CE. Some stories were changed or details
excluded depending on the audience. The gospel of
the ‘Canaanite woman’ makes clear that Matthew
who was writing for a strong Jewish community,
did not have a positive opinion of Canaanites. That
reflects a long history of the two peoples.
The account not included in last Sunday’s reading, begins with
some teachers of the law and Pharisees travelling from
Jerusalem to Galilee (a trip of four or five hours) to challenge
Jesus’ teaching. They ask Jesus, “Why do your disciples break
the tradition of the (Jewish) elders by don’t perform the ritual
washing of their hands before they eat!” It is a long journey to
make to express concern about rules such as this. Of course,
such issues were concerns in the community to whom
Matthew addressed his gospel.

Community news
Jerome will celebrate 60 years as a professed Passionist on Thursday 20th. It is well
known that after so many years of devoted missionary life, Jerome is not
experiencing the best of health, but we have much to be grateful for and to
celebrate about who he is and what he has contributed to our Province, especially
though his years in PNG. This was highlighted in the interviews Erick and Tri did for
the weekly newsletter in May and June. The community will celebrate with him and
we will acknowledge this milestone at Sunday Mass on August 23rd
Brother Jerome Dunn C.P.
Jerome is a proud Victorian, from Highett, Melbourne. When he left school he
worked as an apprentice printer for the Herald and Weekly Times and gained his full
qualification. He was actively involved in the YCW movement and was inspired
through that to volunteer as a lay missionary in Papua New Guinea and in 1962 he
was the first lay missionary to arrive in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, where the
Passionists had a foundation Jerome spent over fifty years in PNG as a missionary.

Technology must serve truth and the common good (Giovanni Zavatta)
Pope Leo XIV encourages communicators at a seminar in Chile to promote communication that, in “the face of the new opportunities offered by technological development, knows how to safeguard the dignity of the human person."

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged communicators to ensure that every technological tool is placed "at the service of truth and the common good," as the Church reflects on the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence. His message, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, was sent to participants in the Seventh International Seminar on Church Communication, taking place on 27-28 July at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago.

The seminar, entitled The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, brought together communicators, pastoral workers, academics and Church representatives from across Latin America and the Caribbean to reflect on the ethical, cultural and religious implications of artificial intelligence in light of Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical Magnifica humanitas.

Greetings,

I had an unexpected experience on my visit to Vietnam. When I got to Tullamarine airport I opened my bag and realised I had left my computer at home!

So for seven days there were no emails sent or received, and that made for a very different way for me to spend my ‘spare’ time, which I came to really appreciate. I did not hear or read any world news or see or hear news from Australia until the sixth day I was away, and that news was not only minimal but nothing different or important.

I was a bit concerned that some people would wonder why I had not been in contact, but I couldn’t do anything about that, so I did more reading than usual and more relaxing. Of course the four days of meetings were intense and immensely beneficial, but I wasn’t rushing to my computer during breaks or starting the day with a news check, and I enjoyed that different experience. Hopefully I can retain some of that ‘practice’ now that things are back to normal.

Synodal discussion on the family
Pope Leo XIV has convened the presidents of the world's 115 episcopal conferences,
to gather at the Vatican in Rome from October 7 to 14, 2026. This summit will focus
on new pastoral methods and the impact of rapid changes on families worldwide. It
will consider how to support families facing contemporary challenges in light of the
10th anniversary of Pope Francis exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
In the light of this upcoming meeting, it might help to have some ‘background’ on
Amoris Laetitia.
Plans for 'Amoris Laetitia' meeting (Sean Winter)
We learned more about how Pope Leo XIV intends to
implement the reforms his predecessor introduced when
the Vatican released a "thematic framework" for the
meeting this autumn of the presidents of the world's
episcopal conferences, as well as their Eastern rite
counterparts. They will discuss the reception of Pope
Francis' 2016 post-synodal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.

Pope Leo’s strategy for overcoming a binary world (Joseph Borg)
Philosophically, a binary world refers to "binary thinking"—the human tendency to eliminate grey areas and split complex ideas into rigid opposites Pope Leo urges the world to move beyond binary readings of history and social realities, advocating a culture of dialogue and relationship-building as the path to peace and shared prosperity. July 9, 2026
From migration to governance, from national memory to the daily ethics of public life, from armed conflicts to appeals for peace, from racism to multiculturalism, from conservative to liberal positions, the world is confronted by questions that defy easy answers. The ethnocentric and nativist right-wing forces – often, unfortunately, masquerading as the paladins of Christianity – battle against a “woke” mentality that generally treats tradition with disdain and often scapegoats Christianity in a reductionist reading of history. Populism is the ever-growing solution many political leaders offer.