After a long time absent from the “scene” of the province I decided to share with you all my pastoral experiences of the school year that just ended.  I spent my first two years at Italy in the Italian scholasticate and only since last September I joined the International scholasticate in Rome. Nonetheless, I continue to participate in some of the youth ministry of the Italian province. Since my arrival in Italy June of 1999 I have been much impressed by the youth ministry carried out by our Italian brother Oblates.  The original charism of our founder that consisted in preaching missions is still much alive in the Italian province and thank God I have participated in this ministry as a scholastic. Most Italian scholastics participate in at least one sometimes two missions a year. I will share a bit of the last two missions I have participated in this past year.

 The week of March 17 through 24^th ten Missionary Oblates along with 24 other lay and religious missionaries carried out the “pre-mission” at our only roman parish “Santissimo Crocifisso”. Together we planned and prepared the first part of the mission consisting in the difficult task of door-to-door house visits of the parish territory. We were ten missionary couples and in four days we visited more than one thousand youth in their homes. The youth that accepted the invitation to participate in the mission activities found themselves doing things not thought of before, such as preparing a show from scratch for the youth party at the end of the mission. Some danced, some sang others painted the background and so forth. Many young people were surprised to see how easy it is to discover new talents and gifts when you are living not for yourself but for the other. We missionaries together with all the youth that participated enjoyed sharing the hard work of putting the show together, the tension during the show and the joy of seeing people enjoying our hard work at the end. This was only the first part of the mission, which will continue for two weeks in October with many more activities.

 The second mission was in the city of Ascoli Piceno during the weeks of April 6-21^st . A very different experience from the first mission not only because in Rome we only had a parish territory to cover this time the bishop trusted the Oblates with the youth of the Diocese. Not a small challenge at all. To prepare a mission like this, Oblate missionary Fr. Francesco Volpintesta, who served as mission director began meetings and preparations two years before. This time over fifty missionary Oblates participated, some for one week, others for two weeks of mission together with an uncountable number of young people who form part of the Italian youth movement and other religious. An awesome contribution came from the young people who form the Oblate youth ministry team for the diocese. The missionaries visited youth in their homes, schools, hangouts such as arcades, bars, and street corners. The major factories, and even the city jail were part of the mission. I  had a part  in the novelty for this mission: the Gazebo, a large carnival type booth that we set up at one of the university campuses and in the major piazza of the city. The gazebo on the main piazza was a huge success even though it rained most of the first week. We were on the street mostly frequented by youth coming and going to school.  The piazza next to it was the major hangout in the evenings.

 This type of missionary presence on the street had a value as witness of its own. Slowly but surely young people who saw me there everyday started saying hello to me calling me by my name and especially after the interview that I gave to the local radio station (who gave us two hours of broadcast time a day) many young people came looking for the “American” missionary and, yes, every dialogue started out by me having to explain why on earth I left such a beautiful place like California, its sunny beaches and things like that to come to Italy??? An opportunity any missionary will take to talk about life, real values, culture and God’s love which is overly more beautiful than anything imaginable, even more beautiful than the California beaches! Most young adults are not captured by the activities and group meetings that are held though they are appreciated because for many of them it is the only time to relate to other people their own age. Most young adults are astonished and surprised by the unity lived by the missionary Oblates themselves. All the mission activities are done only after being assured of the reciprocal love for each other that the founder called charity. This is mission; being with the Lord and sharing this presence of God with others. Living and working with the presence of Jesus in our midst is what young people remember and it is this same Jesus whom they want to follow.

Salvador Gonzalez, omi

E-mail: chavaomi@yahoo.com

Rome, Italy

July 25, 2002