RAISING THE INTELLECTUAL LEVEL WITHIN THE CONGREGATION

Eugene writes about Father Albini’s appointment to the seminary :

Be well aware that were he to fall ill again and I am unable to employ him in the post which I have in mind for him…

Letter to Jean Baptiste Honorat. 23 August 1827, EO VII n 275

“From 1827 to 1862 the seminary had only two Superiors, namely, Fathers Tempier and Joseph Fabre; but that same period saw forty-three directors pass through the seminary: on the average each served there for two or three years… Besides Father Albini, several other directors were looked upon by the Founder and his contemporaries as persons who, if not saints, were nevertheless men of great virtue… When he accepted the direction of this seminary, the Founder no doubt had in mind the good that would result therefrom, namely, raising the intellectual level within the Congregation. Article 7 in the paragraph of the Rule on seminaries expresses this objective in these words: “Our Congregation would gain considerably if some Fathers who had dedicated themselves for many years to the formation of clerics were assigned to other Houses in view of the greater promotion of doctrine and regular observance.”   Beaudoin, “Marseilles, Major Seminary (1827-1862)” in the Oblate Historical Dictionary, http://www.omiworld.org/dictionary.asp?v=5&vol=1&let=M&ID=814

Today, our Rule of Life insists on ongoing formation for every Oblate:

Ongoing formation encompasses all aspects of our development. It renews and develops our spiritual life and its inner resources and favours our growth in emotional and affective maturity. It increases our pastoral skills. It enables us to be critically aware of the integration of our life and mission at all stages of our development.” CC&RR, Constitution 69

 

“The teacher who would be true to his mission and accomplish the most good, must give prominence to moral as well as intellectual instruction.”   Sheldon Jackson

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1 Response to RAISING THE INTELLECTUAL LEVEL WITHIN THE CONGREGATION

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Oblate Associate says:

    Ongoing formation – it is really a part of life, of healthy life. I find myself thinking of the poem Ulysses by Tennyson: “I am a part of all that I have met;
    Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
    To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! As tho’ to breathe were life!” Never will I be able to say “I know it all”, “I’ve experienced it all”. Both formal and informal education helps us to discover the richness that is to be found in life, in God and in the universe, in each other. IT does not make any of us better than the other, but rather gives all of us the opportunity to share with another. I think that is what Pope Francis is trying to say to us.

    Constitution 69 says it so well for all of us. God has given each of us many gifts and it cannot be one sided. Intellectual, moral, emotional – all of these areas must be attended to in order for us to be rounded-out. Faith and love does not preclude any of these – actually they all help us to live deeper and fuller lives.

    I will never personally be a great intellectual but I am so grateful that there are those who are and who have shared their knowledge and learning with those such as I – they help to balance me out and encourage me to learn and experience more.

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