Community Life

In preparation for missionary service, our SVD seminary students live, study and pray in an environment that teaches and honors the rich cultural diversity of both our students and the world we serve. This fosters a lifelong commitment to ministry among God’s people and working together in a religious society centered around diversity.

As a religious order that evolved from a German mission-sending society to an international one with members drawn from many nations, the Society of the Divine Word places a strong emphasis on living community life in a cross-cultural way. An SVD might be assigned to an inner city mission parish where the pastor is from Puerto Rico, and the other three SVDs working in the parish are from Indonesia, Panama and Poland. We consider it one of our special charisms, or “graces,” that our community lives and ministries are lived internationally.

Priests and Brothers in the Society of the Divine Word must be open to leaving their home countries and going anywhere in the world to minister, while living with other SVDs of different ethnic backgrounds and immersing themselves in the cultures of their ministries.

Our emphasis on internationalism, education and professional skills is the foundation of the Society of the Divine Word, enabling us to serve God throughout the world, living and working together in an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding.