{"id":5790,"date":"2024-06-28T01:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T23:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2024-06-23T12:08:48","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T10:08:48","slug":"all-our-missionaries-without-exception-had-lost-their-wits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/?p=5790","title":{"rendered":"ALL OUR MISSIONARIES WITHOUT EXCEPTION HAD LOST THEIR WITS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bishop of Montreal’s diocese was enormous, leading him to the decision to ask for a part of it to be cut off to form a new diocese: the Diocese of Bytown (today Ottawa). To lead this new diocese he had suggested the name of Father Guigues, who had proved himself a capable superior of the Oblates in Canada. Initially, Eugene was against it because he relied so heavily on the leadership skills of Guigues to maintain unity of life and mission amongst the Oblates. Eventually Eugene saw the possibility of Guigues continuing to be the Oblate superior while being bishop. In this way the tradition of the Oblate bishop being the “provincial” superior of the Oblates began – a practice which was to last around a century.<\/h3>\n

The Oblates were unhappy about this course of events, as Eugene\u2019s letter to Bishop Bourget shows:<\/h3>\n

Do you believe, Monseigneur, that I need not even the briefest letter from you after you have seen the storm which struck me as the aftermath of the resolution you had taken and which my confidence in you had induced me to second? I have had a very bad time because of the kind of vortex which seems to have had everybody\u2019s head whirling. I shall not characterize the conduct of your clergy for to express what I thought of it would perhaps grieve you but I will tell you that all our missionaries without exception, seized by I know not what obsession, had lost their wits… The fact is that in the end I was obliged to write a most severe letter in order to put an end to all this turmoil.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Finally, Eugene reminds Bishop Bourget that he has a special role in the life of the Oblates and calls on him to reassure the Oblates that the appointment of Guigues as Bishop of Bytown would be a positive step and would not signal the destruction of the Oblate mission..<\/h3>\n

I need not remind you that more than ever you must be the Father of our Oblates of Mary. They feel weakened by the election of their superior to the See with which you have entrusted him. Help us as well as him to pacify them and reassure them as I have not ceased to do from this side.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Letter to Bishop Bourget of Montreal, 12 February 1848, EO I n 93<\/em><\/h3>\n

REFLECTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” (John F. Kennedy)<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bishop of Montreal’s diocese was enormous, leading him to the decision to ask for a part of it to be cut off to form a new diocese: the Diocese of Bytown (today Ottawa). To lead this new diocese he … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eugenedemazenod.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}