As from today, the new home of “Eugene de Mazenod speaks to us” is the Oblate School of Theology, founded in San Antonio in 1903.
You can find out more about this exciting Oblate missionary outreach at http://www.ost.edu/
“….Oblate School of Theology has remained solidly rooted in its original mission.
It is still concerned with reaching out in a special way to the poor;
it is still concerned about creating new church life and not just in sustaining what is;
it is still concerned about who is falling through the cracks in our society;
and it is still concerned with giving witness to simplicity of life.The words that undergird the charism of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate also undergird the ethos of the Oblate School of Theology: We are missionaries for the poor, particularly sensitive to the struggles of those who are being excluded, all the while trying to witness to simplicity of life.”
Ron Rolheiser, OMI, President
Ooooh! As seems to happen often enough, on first reading this I thought this was “nice”, and then of course I almost allowed myself to become overly concerned (perhaps a better word might be distracted) with the repetition of the phrase ” it is still concerned…”. Then I was able to just sit with it. Nothing to prove or challenge, just an openness to what is and finding the ordinary goodness in it.
I recognize the ‘daring’, the ‘risk, in “creating new church life and not just in sustaining what is”. I respond to “giving witness to simplicity of life” because this is how I choose to live my life. How can I live and give witness? How can I serve, not just to be able to say I am serving and doing good, but rather so that others can have the freedom and joy and life that comes with living in God? How shall I ‘include’ today as I do whatever I do and say? How shall I allow myself to be a reflection of the life and love of God? How do I live these out in the ordinary of my daily life?
Welcome Frank to the City of San Antonio Texas, OST and the Oblate Family found in the South West. And we and many more are looking forward to conti
Welcome to the “River Walk City of San Antonio” Texas and the Oblate Family in the South West. We are looking forward to ongoing insights and challenges as the charism of the founder calls us to a life of relationship in community – for mission.
Welcome to this “new world” – though I know that you yourself have “visited” before. I don’t have Jack’s reason for not being present on line as much, but know that there are many of us who read and contemplate… but who perhaps do not have the words with which to comment. As I do periodically, I am dealing with the angst of “church life … sustaining what is” and being in a position where that is eactly what I must do. And so cheers to “church life and not just in sustaining what is”.
Blessings on your ministry in this new setting, Frank. Thanks for all you give us!
Good for you, Frank!
With your animation and unequalled knowledge of Eugene and what he was all about, I think this is the perfect place for you – to share all you have.
My fiancée lives in Princeton, Indiana. I visit there and will eventually move there. While it is a 1000 mile trip, we talked, just this morning, about taking a week and visiting OST and you – we would love that.
All the best in your new life, Frank.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
How do I experience Eugene speaking to me? Where do I experience him? Who does he speak through? I think of the many Oblates I have met over the years – I did not seem to hear Eugene speaking, but then – well the truth of it was that I was not really listening either. I was far to busy shielding myself from further pain, far to busy blaming some for what had been done by others. And the church – well I blamed “the church” (read here the clergy and the hierarchy as well as the sisters for they were easily identifiable with “the church”), I blamed the church for being a part of it all, for being apart from it all – for taking part and for allowing, for not stopping it, for ignoring it as if it did not matter or even happen. I have to say that I did not listen for I was consumed with blaming and although I did not necessarily shout out the words I lived them out.
I have become used to hearing Eugene speak, here on these pages, through men like Frank and Andy and many others, much of it through their very lives, not just spoken word. I heard him speak this past week, I heard his spirit speak. I think of Eugene and his great love for the Church. I heard the Church speak this past week and it enveloped me within an embrace that was both tender and sweet. I felt as if a great weight that I had allowed myself to be buried under was lifted off of my shoulders, allowing for what can only be described as a freedom. I saw and heard the voice of God, I experienced God directly and through another. through the Church. As we listened and wrote notes trying to capture all that we could I felt my poor heart gently opening and all the hurt that I thought I’d hidden away in there gently flowed out in the tears that flowed silently down my cheeks.
Yes I have heard the voice of God speaking directly, through the Church, through Eugene, through one of his bishops, through a man. I have been given much. Today I will walk with those in the pride parade, just as the women walked and followed Jesus on the road to Calvary, just as Eugene walked with the condemned prisoner, the sick and the poor, as Martin Luther King and hundreds of others walked for civil rights. St Paul says; “As indeed he says in Hosea: ‘Those who were not my [people I will call my peopl, and her who was not beloved I will call my beloved…’ I cannot just pray for them, I must take their hands and walk with them.