Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - “Witnesses of Hope: a call, our mission” is the theme of the 34th general chapter of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate which starts today, Monday 30th August. The Chapter, which will last for four weeks, is being held at the General House of the Brothers of Christian Schools in Rome. It is attended by 97 Oblates all over the world: 32 from Europe, 23 from North America, 18 from Africa, 14 from Asia - Oceania, 10 from Latin America. The average age of the chapter members is 55.2 years. Today there are 4,500 Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate working in 70 different countries.
The main topics for discussion include: demographic change in the Congregation, formation and international nature, election of a new Superior General and General Administration. On 21 September the chapter members will be joined by Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago (USA) since1997.
Cardinal Edoardo Martinez Somalo, until recently Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, addressed a letter for the occasion to Father Guglielmo Steckling, Superior general, in which he said: "May you experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in your midst as you reflect on the most urgent needs of the Church today and how best to use your resources to meet these needs with the same missionary zeal as your Founder Saint Eugenio De Mazenod".
In an interview which can be found on the OMI web site, Omiworld, Fr Steckling Superior general at the end of his six year term says, “evangelisation of the secularised world is one of our major missionary challenges”, the second priority is interreligious dialogue which “in some countries proceeds in a serene way in others it must face the problem of fundamentalism”. Father Steckling recalls in this context that in the past seven years two of the OMI missionaries working among Muslims in the Philippines were murdered. New fields in which the OMI are active are reconciliation and healing of wounds inherited from the past, in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Guatemala for example. The Oblates are concerned about the increase in poverty in Latin America and Africa, due to various factors besides war and AIDS. “Many of our brothers are serving quietly in such contexts. However, they no longer want to remain quiet before such situations. This affirms the need to work for justice, peace and the integrity of the planet, making the voice of the poor heard where the decisions that affect them are being taken. The Oblates were recently recognised as a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) by the United Nations, and thus we will have a way to intervene on these subjects..” As a fifth frontier I would mention the new and special mission opening in the communist and former communist countries: Romania, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam.... We are already present in these countries, and there is so much missionary work to do. There is also much openness on the part of these peoples. It is often a mission of first evangelisation” Fr Steckling concludes. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/8/2004; Righe 35; Parole 477)
