OBLATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY RECEIVES GRANT

The Lilly Endowment, Inc., has awarded Oblate School of Theology (OST) in San Antonio a grant of $1,053,141 as part of its Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Initiative.

Commented Fr. Bill Morel, OMI, President of Oblate School of Theology, “We’ve had other grants of $1 million for the institution itself, but this is the largest we’ve ever had for a program, and programs are what give an educational institution its life.”

In cooperation with the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the Mexican American Cultural Center, the award will create the International Priest Intrnship program at Oblate School of Theology.

The Initiative focuses attention and energy on maintaining the highcaliber of many of the country’s pastoral leaders.  Additional goals of this Initiative are to create environments for ongoing biblical study, theological reflection and spiritual renewal, as well as the development of sustained friendships and systems of support.

Oblate School of Theology will use the funds to create and maintain the Internaional Priest Internship.  The program will provide an innovative educational environment specifically to address the needs of priests from abroad who are serving as pastoral leaders in the United States.  The priest-interns will spend seven nonconsecutive weeks on the OST campus as part of the year-long program.  For the remainder of the year, they will remain in their sponsoring dioceses while completing assignments via the internet.

The move away from family, traditional peer support and their own cultural environment can create stress that inhibits ministerial growth and leadership.  “with the increasing shortage of U.S.-born priests, the Catholic Church in the United States is recruiting many priests from abroad.  Often they are ill-prepared for the enormous challenges of ministry in a cultural environment that is vastly different from the ones they came from,” noted Fr. John Kemper, vice president for Administrative Affairs and Project Coordinator.

The Lilly Endowment’s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Initiative awarded 47 grants ranging from $242,377 to $2 million to groups and agencies across the United States.  Oblate School of Theology’s proposal was chosen from a pool of over 700 submissions.  The award represents the largest gift made directly to a program.

OST was founded in San Antonio in 1903 to form young men to serve as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mexico and the Philippines.  Since 1981, it has contributed to the renewal of the church’s ministers through numerous programs.