WHAT MAKES A PARISH OBLATE?

On the subject of being at the service of the Catholics of Bytown, we know it is quite repugnant to our Fathers to serve in a manner too similar to the parish ministry. They have been known to say on other occasions that they were made to be missionaries, not parish priests.

One should be able to organize their service as a kind of mission but in such a way that our Fathers might never be less than two together with a brother to cook their food; if they could be three or more, that would still be better; let us not overlook that the members of our Society wish and ought to live in community… we do not lack members but we must always take care to employ them in a manner consonant with their vocation.

Letter to Bp Bruno Guigues, 26 September 1848, EO I n 103

REFLECTION

Bytown was the first place where the Oblates actually began a diocese and had to staff its parishes. They complained that the Oblate vocation was to be missionaries, not diocesan pastors. Eugene’s response remains pertinent today: Oblates in diocesan parishes approach it as missionaries, with the flavor that the charism gives it.

How sad it is to meet many people in Oblate-run parishes who do not even know that there is a difference between their pastor and other pastors – where OMI means little to them except that it always appears after their pastor’s name and nothing further. As members of the Mazenodian Family we have an identity to be proud of, to invite others to participate in and to give a missionary flavor to  all we do in our parishes.

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2 Responses to WHAT MAKES A PARISH OBLATE?

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate Associate says:

    Sadly I have heard a couple of Oblates speak about how they were sent to be missionaries and not work in a parish setting. It has been a while since I heard that which is a good thing, only because I remember feeling less than others who might be more worthy of getting to know God.

    I am so blessed to have been introduced to the OMI Congregation and family. For me this has been the greatest ongoing gift of life that God calls and sends me to…

    Yesterday a friend from my Oblate parish dropped by with some food that would be easy for me to keep down. She was angry at what she sees of my life which she believes the parish and the Oblates demand of me. It is not the parish or the Oblates – it is who I am with God. I have been given and blessed so much that it is no longer a duty but rather a flow given birth by love. It is a gift of freedom given to me when I made my oblation.

    This is who I am called to be, to love and to receive much more than I on my own can give.

    Our journey of being sent is not always a straight line and while we might not always recognize it as a call from God, it is the Spirit who guides and leads us as we walk with Jesus. Looking back on our journey we might think that we had gotten lost in the maze of life – perhaps many times…

    We are all called and sent – to each other – and then to those who live on the very edges of life…

    What makes a parish Oblate? Let me begin to share with you the ways…

  2. Becky Rocha says:

    Eleanor,

    What a beautiful response to an Oblate community.

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