Yvon Beaudoin continues to explain the Oblate involvement, as professors, in the major seminary of Marseille.
Admittedly, the greater number of directors accepted this task only out of obedience. Nearly all of them wanted to be preachers and missionaries. With reason, therefore, the Founder and the few Capitulars of 1850 who were to formulated the articles of the Rule on seminaries sought to underline the greatness of this work and its close link to the main end of the Institute. Article 1 reads:
After the missions, the most important work of our Congregation is undoubtedly the direction of seminaries, in which clerics receive their own special training. For it is in these seminaries, in the seclusion of God’s house, and under the protection of the Most Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary, that formation is given to those who are to teach sound doctrine to the people, and to guide them along the way of salvation. In vain would the missionaries labor for the conversion of sinners, if the parochial clergy were not men filled with the Holy Spirit, earnestly following in the footsteps of the Divine Shepherd, and feeding with watchful and constant care, the sheep that have returned to Him…
Rule of 1853
This was an urgent invitation and effort to make it understood that professors were as much missionaries as were their brothers who were preaching, for by forming zealous priests professors were at least indirectly contributing to the maintaining and propagation of the faith.” 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
“Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.” Solomon Ortiz
At a recent Oblate gathering I heard an Oblate refer to one of his brothers as a true missionary because the other had been sent to a distant country to preach, this in the midst of a room of Oblates, many who had and still do serve as administrators, teachers, professors, parish priests, etc. And as I sit here and share my thoughts I look up to see a small prayer card with a picture of Thomas Cassidy, OMI who died almost two years ago and who was a wonderful friend. He was a canon lawyer, a diplomat, a teacher, a historian, a professor and a dear friend to many. He did not know the impact he’d had on his brothers, his students over the years, his friends in the parish and the many he’d met. He was a great a missionary.
Oblate professors (I know a few professors who are not Oblate) but here in this place and at this moment I think of some of the Oblate professors who, as Frank has said, are every bit as much missionaries as those who preach in distant places. Even Eugene, who spent years as an administrator, as Vicar General to his uncle, and then as Bishop of Marseilles and as Founder and Superior General of the Oblates was a great missionary.
God sent missionaries such as Tom and Frank and Normand, Kay and Sr. Mary Catherine and a host of others who taught (their teaching was they way they had been sent to preach) – they gave me so much and helped fan the flames of the fire that burns within me. And I in turn will go and share in very small and ordinary ways all that I have been given and know. Some have to first parent, some have to first teach, some have to first feed and support others so that they too can go out to where and what they have been sent. It is not just the fact of what and where they are doing but also the spirit and the heart that they are moving from and with. Now I begin to feel as if I am preaching and that is not my job. I find myself filled with gratitude for the many who have been sent, as missionaries to me and to my brothers and sisters. Thank you God for each one of them.