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Introduction:
Honored
guests and my dear brothers in Oblation, I am privileged to have the
opportunity to address you regarding some aspects of the recent history of
the US Missionary Oblates. To say that the world and the Church have changed
over the past years is too obvious for words. Living in the wake of the
Second Vatican Council, we have passed through the experiences of confusion
and clarification, embellishment and purification, creativity and
discernment that usually follow a general council of the Church. For all of
these reasons, I have been asked by the coordinators of our Convocation to
review certain elements of our Oblate history in the US. Before I begin, I
thank all those who assisted me directly or indirectly with this
presentation. I take this opportunity to remember the sacred past, to
celebrate some of the virtues and values that led to our present and to
extrapolate some principles for development regarding our future.
1. The Intention
of the Founder for Oblate Presence in the US
St. Eugene
de Mazenod established the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in response
to a call of the Holy Spirit and the Universal Church. He formed the
Missionary Oblates in answer to the need of the world for salvation and as a
living example of an apostolic communion whose very nature is missionary. To
accomplish this, he perceived the need for a community life that is a
sanctifying prophetic sign, existentially signifying the call of all people,
but especially “the poor and most abandoned,” to find “life in abundance” (Jn
10:10) in Jesus Christ.
Common to
our modern experience, de Mazenod began in small ways to reach out to a
society unaware of its need for missionaries. He inspired followers, but
his earliest supporters were of such diverse temperaments that few of them
envisioned what the Missionary Oblates would eventually become. Within a
short span of 20 years, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate began to
grow at an incredible rate in the Church of southern France.
His
community benefited from three general movements within the French Church.
First, there was tremendous imagination generated around the idea of
evangelization within France and to foreign lands. Second, as the missionary
movement became popularized in the imagination of the French, vocations to
the priestly and Religious life multiplied as expressions of Christian
heroism. Third, financial assistance came from the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith in Paris and Lyons to support this missionary
imagination. Thus, St. Eugene was able to expand his vision of the mission
to include the sending of Oblates to distant Peoples in unfamiliar
territories.
In 1841,
the first Oblate contingent made their way to Eastern Canada. Some of these
Oblates began roaming into the North Eastern United States to offer popular
missions to the French-speaking as early as 1842. Again, in 1845 another
contingent was sent from France deeper into the wilds of the Canadian Red
River Mission. Finally in 1847, a third contingent was sent to establish
themselves in Oregon, in a land that rapidly became a territory of the
United States. Thus begins our American story, as rough and tumble pioneers
surrounded by the cultural movement of American Manifest Destiny and
imperial designs upon the lands of the native peoples with whom we worked as
missionaries.
On January
8, 1847, Eugene de Mazenod shocked an elderly, sickly and tired Fr. Pascal
Ricard, O.M.I., when he wrote of his vision of the call of the Oblates to
take up the mission in the United States in this way,
I say
nothing of how magnificent in the eyes of Faith is the ministry you are
going to fulfill. One must go back to the birth of Christianity to find
anything comparable. It is an apostle (de Mazenod’s word for bishop) with
whom you are associated and the same marvels that were wrought by the first
disciples of Jesus Christ will be renewed in our days by you, my dear
children, whom Providence has chosen amongst so many others to announce the
Good news to so many slaves of the demon who huddle in the darkness of
idolatry and who know not God.”
It is from
this “invitation” that the establishment of Missionary Oblates began in the
United States. Accompanied by three under-educated scholastics and a
frustrated Brother, Fr. Ricard began his mission in a war torn land situated
among alienated natives and conquering Americans. Has anything changed? I
think that this invitation is still offered to an aging, sickly and tired
band of heroic missionaries.
2. The Roots of
the O.M.I. in the U.S.
A. A brief Summary of Early
Oblate Establishments in the U.S.
After
Oregon, three Oblates from Canada attempted to establish themselves in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1848. As a faculty member of Oblate School of
Theology, I’m proud to relate that they intended to establish the first
major seminary in that area. Although the effort failed within a year due to
a lack of resources, this enterprise expresses the early Oblate commitment
to education as evangelization and clerical renewal. Three of the same
Oblates, accompanied by a few others, traveled to Texas in 1849,
illegitimately using the Founder’s permission to establish a province in
Pittsburgh as license to begin the mission in Texas. From this act of
“creative disobedience” flowed much of the earliest fruitful efforts of
Oblate presence in the Southwestern United States. Also, because of their
location on the permeable border between the United States and Mexico, the
American Oblate commitment to Spanish-speaking ministry began.
At the invitation of Bishop Timon, Frs. Chevalier, Soulerin and Corbett
traveled from Montreal arriving in Buffalo on August 21, 1851, to work
predominantly with the largely immigrant Catholic population of the area.
Holy Angels Parish of Prospect Hill began its development as early as 1852
with the purchase of the necessary land. The foundations were laid in 1856
and a permanent Church was established on May 10, 1859. Two years after Fr.
Chevalier began in Buffalo, New York, in October 1853, Fr. Bernard founded
another parish at Plattsburgh, New York. The following year, the Oblates
established themselves in Bishop Goesbriand's diocese at Burlington,
Vermont.
On April 18, 1858, Frs. Lucien Lagier, O.M.I. and André
Marie Garin, O.M.I. arrived in Lowell. The following day they began
preaching a mission in the cellar of Saint Patrick’s Church. It was well
attended by the French-speaking and after a census, they discovered that
there existed a population that numbered about 1,200, including about 600
female factory workers. They collected around 3,000 dollars as a down
payment on a former Unitarian Universalist Church by the second week of the
mission. From this small beginning, they established Saint Joseph’s Church
and the first Franco-American parish of the Archdiocese of Boston. Clearly,
the Oblates worked tirelessly over the period of these early years forming
relationships into a community that could build a Church. Also, this work
of evangelization as community building represents the beginning of
Franco-American and Anglo-American commitments by the Oblates of the
American Catholic Church. The First American Province began to emerge from
this robust effort.
B. The First American Province
and Later Administrative Divisions
In 1883,
Fr. James McGrath, O.M.I., was chosen as the first Oblate provincial of the
United States, his provincial residence located in Lowell. However, physical
distance and differences in the developing internal Oblate cultural
identity, based on the influence of the cultures in which Oblates served,
led to the division of the Southern Province of the United States in 1904.
In the
1920s, the Oblates of the United States were under the sway of internal
cultural concerns that reflected the “ghetto” mentality of the larger
American experience. The Northeast Franco-American Province began in 1921 as
the result of a division between the Eastern “Irish-American” and the
Eastern “Franco-American” cultural groups. The Central or “German” Province
was established first as a Vice-Province on December 8, 1924, constituted
predominantly by German émigrés fleeing the devastation of World War I. The
Southern Province continued to develop within a Hispanic/Latino cultural
context as compañeros of the Spanish-speaking.
Thus, cultural homogeneity was underscored by territorial boundaries:
Eastern (Irish), Northeastern (Franco-American), Southern (Latino), Central
(German).
The
Western Oblate Province of the United States began as an amalgamation of
Southern and Eastern Province personnel on July 10, 1953. However, the
Western Province perpetuated a North (Eastern Province) and a South
(Southern Province) internal division. This indicates the pervasiveness of
this cultural trend, even to the point of influencing the internal dynamics
of forming a new province in United States.
Adaptation
to the cultures with which the Oblates worked exacerbated territorial
considerations, leading to an emphasis on autonomy in the missionary
endeavor within the United States. This approach also had its impact upon
the modus operandi of individual Oblates in the United States,
leading to an individualistic sense of missionary identity. Oblate
allegiance naturally tended to emphasize provincial/territorial
considerations. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that even with
all the internal pressures for cultural homogeneity, foreign missionaries
were sent to Mexico, Haiti, South Africa, Lesotho, Japan, the Philippines,
Laos, Chile, Bolivia, Northern Canada, Scandinavia, Brazil, Puerto Rico,
Tahiti, and Zambia among others. They founded new provinces and provided for
the Oblate future that we celebrate in the present. Thus, the commitment to
missions beyond the boundaries of the United States remains one constant and
essential sign of vitality during our first 150 years.
3. US Provinces Around 50 Years
Ago
In terms
of the Oblates, we were more or less neatly divided into 5 provinces, each
of which had its own Oblate history, culture (language, rituals and dress),
government, formation, finances and missions. While the ideals of Oblate
life were expressed in the desire for a regularity of communal religious
practice and personal devotion that led to personal sanctification, it is
clear from the reports of the Provincials at the time that this was an ideal
not fully realized.
I will not
bore you with statistical information. Everyone already knows that we passed
through a period of rapid growth from the postwar 40s through the 60s, sharp
decline during the 60s and 70s and a gradual leveling off up to the present
in terms of personnel. I have to be honest; in my mind this roller-coaster
ride concerning numbers of personnel reflects an anomaly in the broad
development of the Oblate Congregation in the US. In other words, the
numbers inflated and deflated so rapidly that they may indicate more of a
cultural phenomenon than progressive growth. Nevertheless, it cannot be
denied that the decline of the 60s through the 70s seemed to leave the US
Oblates with a missing generation.
As I noted
in my talk on Oblates in Parishes, a second, but related development
occurred during the late '40s through the early '60s when priestly vocations
of all types were numerous. It became easier to take on assignments normally
reserved for diocesan clergy then to figure out what role missionaries would
play in the Church of an economically developed society. This had its effect
on why people joined the Oblates. It would appear that a number of US
Oblates of the generations just before the establishment of the national
novitiate joined to be priests who happened to be Oblates. This is one of
the reasons why the missionary identity of the Oblates began to take on a
more abstracted character.
A. Five Institutional
Commitments
I want to
say that this attempt to
cover the more recent history will be inadequate. I had to be selective for
three reasons. First, there is simply too much information to cover. Second,
accompanied by the inherent diversity found in and among Oblates, we ran in
many directions at one time. Third, Oblates did everything that can be done
in the American Church, serving in every official or unofficial capacity,
movement or task from Cardinal to janitor. For these reasons, I had to limit
my brief reflections on the lives of five Oblate Provinces within US. I
chose to focus on ne missionary commitment to represent the work of each
Province. These are offered as vignettes. I recognize that these are merely
representative of commitments that were also made in other provinces as
well. This is my history and your history, these raise our questions and
pose our challenges.
1. The Eastern
Province and the Oblate World and Voice of Hope
In the
Eastern Province, I will focus on the publication of The Oblate World
and Voice of Hope. I have chosen this publication because it is the
most widely circulated one produced by Oblates of the US that has maintained
a clear focus on Oblate themes, events and history. It is, in this sense, a
primary connection between the Oblate Congregation in this Country and the
wider group of laity interested in the Oblates in particular.
The work
of publishing the Oblate World was begun in May 1939, in Essex, New
York by Fr. Thomas Sullivan, O.M.I. It began as a glossy 8 1/2 by 11
magazine that related particular events of importance in the life of the
Eastern Province. After four years, Fr. Richard J. Roche, O.M.I., began as
editor in the fall of 1946. He remained there until the fall of 1953.
He was
replaced as editor by Fr. Thomas J. Reddy, O.M.I., who changed the format of
the publication to a smaller 8 ½ by 6 size. He left the publication in 1965,
at which time Fr. Roche returned for four more years. After the Eastern
Province was officially dedicated to Our Lady of Hope in 1964, the
publication incorporated the devotion to Our Lady of Hope and became The
Oblate World and Voice of Hope. The publication took on its present
appearance as more of a newspaper than a magazine in 1965, in the interest
of cost effectiveness.
In 1969,
Fr. Patrick Brady, O.M.I., became editor and remained there for two years.
Fr. Martin Walsh, O.M.I., was editor from 1972 until 1979, when Fr. Reddy
began his second assignment as editor. During the 1980s, the publication
began to produce three editions, the Eastern, the Northern and the Western,
in order to better tailor its content to a localized readership. Fr. Reddy
retired in 1998 and was replaced by Fr. William O'Donnell, O.M.I., the
current editor. In 1999, when the Provinces united, it went back to one
edition, celebrating its 60th anniversary of publication.
2. The Southern
Province and Oblate School of Theology
Oblate
School of Theology began in 1903 as the San Antonio Philosophical and
Theological Seminary. It was originally located where St. Anthony's High
School is today. The ground was broken at its present location in November
1926 on a site popularly known as "Rattlesnake Hill" and within a year the
main building of the de Mazenod Scholasticate was completed. In 1936, the
new wing was added and eventually became the West Wing of the library that
we know today. Twenty-four years later, the Immaculate Conception Memorial
Chapel was completed, being consecrated on December 8, 1960.
While many
Oblates contributed significantly to the history of OST, like Fr. Fred
Sackett, OMI and Fr. Jan Heemrood, OMI, perhaps no single individual is more
responsible for the present character of the institution than Fr. Patrick
Guidon, O.M.I., who became president in 1970. During his twenty-five year
tenure, the Church went through the tumultuous changes following Vatican II.
Under his guidance, programs reflecting the Church’s changing situation were
begun. The institution broadened its degree offerings, attracted a diversity
of qualified faculty, and achieved accreditation as a graduate school of
theology. This resulted in the need to change the name of the institution to
Oblate School of Theology in 1981. He was also seminal in establishing the
Lay Mission Institute and the Instituto de
Formación Pastoral to certify laity working in ministry settings.
Throughout all of this, he set the tone of the institution as a graduate
theological school that emphasizes a pastoral response to the changing needs
of the Church.
In recent
times, "Rattlesnake Hill" has become "Holy Hill." The property serves many
functions and continues to reach out based upon the pastoral needs of the
Church and the Oblates. In 1996, the Oblate Renewal Center was dedicated to
serve the retreat needs of the area. The Ministry to Ministers Program found
a permanent home in the Pat Guidon Center in 2001. The new Donald E.
O’Shaughnessy Library building was completed in 2003. Thus, it has become a
center of formation for missionary outreach for the Church.
3. The
Northeastern Province, Culture and the Ministry of Proclamation
The story
of the ministry of proclamation in the St. Jean-Baptiste
Province is important because it characterizes processes that happened
throughout all of the US Provinces. This touches on a traditional ministry
central to the Oblate charism. From 1921 through the 1950s, dedication to
the preaching ministry in the form of a preaching band led to the
development of retreat houses and shrines. Given that preaching is a process
of communication, it should surprise no one that culture played a necessary
role in this process. Their mission was characterized by a special service
to the French-speaking community. Because of this cultural connection, the
Franco-Americans held most strictly to the traditional Oblate mode of
preaching popular or parish missions and retreats.
How
serious was the preaching ministry? An example may be taken from the period
between 1953 and 1958. The preaching band had 5 or 6 fulltime members, with
3 part-time members. Between the years 1953 and 1958 there were a grand
total of 34,417 retreats, days of reflection, conferences, etc. given to a
diversity of groups.
The
preaching of missions led to the foundation of retreat houses and shrines.
They founded 5 retreat houses between 1934 and 1960 and established 2
shrines. This shows a most impressive expansion. However, as
Franco-American cultural distinctiveness diminished with the passing of
generations, the preaching ministry seemed to lose direction. They attempted
to adapt from themes of spiritual renewal to themes for the organizational
renewal of parishes in the 1960s. Nevertheless, in the 1960s and 1970s fewer
calls for preached parish missions and retreats seemed to indicate that
their ministry had become less relevant. Further, popular renewal movements
among the laity appeared to satisfy the need that the Oblates perceived as
their own particular function. By the 1980s, the last of the preaching band
was disbanded, retreat houses diversified the topics for retreats to the
point where Oblates became predominantly managers of retreat houses and the
outreach of shrine ministry became ambiguous. With the decline of the
preaching ministry, the retreat houses were diminished given the hard choice
between their importance in the light of the Oblate charism and the need for
personnel in parochial ministry. From this point forward, the preaching
Ministry of Oblates became a matter of individual charism and has remained
so to this day. Thus, while this history reflects a passionate dedication
and effective outreach, it also raises the question of how to adapt the
ministry of proclamation in a constantly evolving situation.
4. The Central
Province and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows
Shrine
ministry is unique in many respects and has been part of the Oblate approach
to home mission from the very beginning of the Congregation. The dream of
the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows began around 1944, specifically as the
dream of Fr. Edwin (Pop) Guild, O.M.I., who was influenced by the
fund-raising expertise of the famous German “Flying Priest” Fr. Paul
Schulte, O.M.I.
It was Fr. Schulte who commissioned the first image of Our Lady of the Snows
for the de Mazenod Scholasticate on Saint Henry’s campus. The first chapel
was erected in 1951 and the Shrine completed in 1952. The first novena to Our Lady of the Snows was held that same year.
Throughout these years the Shrine served as Seminary Chapel for the Fathers
and students alike.
In
December 1957, plans for the expansion and relocation of the Shrine to its
present location were in progress. The first annual Novena began at the new
location on July 28, 1961. Fr. Guild served as the Shrine’s first director
from 1958 until 1969.
With the guidance of each succeeding director, programs were developed to
better serve the needs of the People of God as they developed and changed.
The Christmas "Way of Lights" and "Youth, Sing Praise" are two such events
that sought to broaden the relevance of the Shrine.
It is
important to recognize that popular religiosity is religion that travels. It
reaches places and people beyond the confines of parish walls and official
representatives of the Church. It has the greatest potential to enter into
the secular arena and reinvigorate a faith vision that celebrates life in
every context. Further, the work of Frs. Schulte and Guild endures in the
symbiotic relationship between the Shrine and the Missionary Association of
Mary Immaculate. Since the effort was begun to raise funds in support of
missionary activity, it could be called a resounding success. The financial
support generated for missionary activity by the work of the Missionary
Association remains an essential element of the Oblate ability to maintain
and support projects in the US and the world.
5. The Western
Province and Santa Rosa Church
Santa Rosa
Church began as a mission of Saint Ferdinand Church in the San Fernando
Valley. However, this order of foundation misrepresents Santa Rosa’s
importance. In fact, the Oblates were invited to California in 1923 by
Bishop Cantwell principally to work with a Spanish-speaking of the area. Its segregation from the English-speaking was established in response to the
culture of intolerance which dominated at the time. However, because it
served a group ignored by others, it became the original “mega-parish.”
The
community was founded by Fr. Jean Joseph, O.M.I., in 1923. He was assigned
to serve the Spanish-speaking in San Fernando and Pacoima at the same time.
The church was constructed around 1924 and opened in 1925. It was reported
that the church was too small for the estimated 800 families that it served
as soon as it was opened.
Santa Rosa
is not primarily known for its buildings, but as a social force in the San
Fernando Valley. The founding of the L. A. Mission Federal Credit Union in
the 70s allowed the poor to help themselves by pooling resources and
offering low-interest loans. The establishment of Valley Organized in
Community Efforts in the early 1990s gave political voice to social concern.
Las Comunidades Pequeñas or Small
Communities in Spanish and English became structures for Lay ministry
through evangelization, adult catechesis, social action and liturgical
involvement.
After that
time, much has been done to establish a cross-border ministry between Santa
Rosa and the Oblate missions in Tijuana. In this sense, a circle of the
mission was closed, reconnecting the parishioners to a ministry of helping
those less fortunate than themselves. In each instance, those assigned to
Santa Rosa Church managed an impossible situation of tremendous need,
rapidly growing population and meager resources by developing a
mission-oriented socially conscious laity, united to the spiritual and
social concerns of the Oblate missionaries that served them. For this
reason, Santa Rosa Church may be characterized as a missionary parish.
Conclusions:
The Oblate
World and Voice of Hope as information about missionaries celebrates,
informs and popularizes the missionary movement. Oblate School of Theology
as pastoral formation by missionaries develops a mission-conscious Church
and a renewed pastoral vision. The ministry of proclamation underscores the
importance of growth and development in the spiritual life, offering and
renewing the depth of spiritual and cultural meaning to the structures of
church life. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows celebrates the
devotional life, reconnecting people to religious expressions that can
travel with them into their daily routines of family and work. It also
serves to raise money in support of worldwide missionary efforts. Santa Rosa
Church reinforces the dynamic interplay linking the Church’s missionary
identity, its clergy and laity and the social impact that faith is meant to
have in the communities where people live. Each of these is a true
missionary enterprise in the context of a Church in an economically
developed society. This is my history and your history, these reaise our
questions and pose our challenges.
4. Second
American Province (2000-3) How We Belong in the Context of the US
In 1950,
the Central Province established their novitiate for scholastic novices at
La Vista, Godfrey, Illinois. This act takes on greater significance in the
light of the establishment of the National Novitiate at La Vista in the late
1960s. By bringing together novices from the different provinces, it began
to establish inter-provincial trust.
In a historical sense, this was a first step toward a common vision.
The Oblate
Conference of America (O.C.A.) was a simple sharing across provincial
boundaries among the 5 provincials of the US.
This eventually led to the First United States Regional Congress in
September 1979 in San Antonio. They proposed three ministerial directions:
“Ministries to the Minorities, especially Hispanics;” “Development of Lay
Leadership and Ministries” and; the “Renewal and Reform of Oblate Life.” The
Second Regional Congress, held in Belleville in 1981, established the
participants as a policy-making body over the Region and became known as the
Oblate Conference of the United States (O.C.U.S.). This regional initiative
formalized an ongoing dialogue centered on mutuality in achieving Oblate
goals in the US. They added another ministerial direction, namely, “Peace
and Justice.”
At the
Third Regional Congress in 1984, they moved to cement the new Regional
identity with a committee structure. They also added the new ministerial
direction of “Vocations and Formation.” These were all adopted as Regional
Priorities. The development of Regional Priorities in the early 1980s helped
to clarify what goals best represented an Oblate missionary vision for
activity throughout the Region. Given each of these initiatives, the
National Novitiate, OCUS and the Regional Priorities, it is not surprising
that the movement toward unification of personnel and resources began to
take shape in the 1990s.
The United
States Province of the Missionary Oblates founded in 1999 has begun in a
positive way. Facing the many challenges of restructuring and reorganizing,
it has generally succeeded at beginning a new chapter in the history of the
Oblates in the US. Nevertheless, in the light of present trends in the US
society and the Church, we are left with many serious questions regarding
Oblate missionary presence in the US.
A. Trends in the US Society and
the Church of the Present
1.
War’s
Consequences
In a very
real sense, the terrorists have won. The US is afraid and for this reason we
are willing to jeopardize the world economy, alienate allies, experiment
with new and more devastating weapons and invade sovereign nations. The
consequences of the present War on Terrorism and American military action in
Iraq are not merely international. Within the US, personal freedoms and
rights to privacy have been given away in the interest of security. Racial
profiling, thought to be anathema when applied to people of African descent
driving down the road in Florida, is now acceptable for Middle Eastern types
in every airport. Each of us here is wise enough to realize that fear cannot
serve as the basis of peace and prosperity.
2.
Scandal’s
Consequences
The recent
scandals have muffled the prophetic voice of the Church in every arena. It
is not that the Church fails to proclaim what is right and true, but that
people hear it with incredulity. Financial contributions have been lessened,
so the good work of the Church for the poor and needy is diminished. The
living witness of heroic Christianity and real holiness offered by many
bishops, priests, deacons, Religious and lay people are viewed with
skepticism. Thus, there is a need for renewal in the life of the Church that
animates people to take up their role with a reinvigorated fervor and that
proclaims the truth of Jesus’ gospel for people’s lives.
3.
Spirituality versus Organized Religion
Most
everyone in American society is spiritual and believes in God. The
post-modern culture values a functional spirituality, but denigrates
Christianity as an organized religion and as a viable culture of
spirituality. Thus, syncretism in finding spiritualities that work in the
context of people’s lives is common. People either leave organized religion
altogether or they remain physically present, but disconnected from the
traditions of Christian spirituality. New Age religion, magic and Eastern
religions seem more attractive because they are more amenable to a
privatized practice of spirituality.
4.
The Most
Highly Educated Church in History?
Within the
Country, we live in the most highly educated general populace in the history
of the world. This means that easy answers and simplistic slogans will be
treated with the same respect as TV commercials. It is
paradoxical that the past 40 years have seen the development of a culture of
lay participation in Church life by participants lacking sufficient
catechetical preparation to attain Christian maturity. Many of the internal
problems that the Church faces in this time are the result of this
catechetical crisis.
5.
Temptation to Activism without a Mature Spirituality
The spirit
of the US is a spirit of activism. Americans are truly generous and
positive. We are constantly taking action to fix problems. However, we are
tempted to undertake action without deep-rooted Christian reflection as the
basis for our activity. Presently, this activism is militaristic in
character. Without a firm basis in the values and morality which
Christianity has to offer, we could easily end up in the oligarchic
despotism that governments established by revolutionary movements often give
rise to in the historical search for stability. Of immediate importance is
the growing division between the haves and the have-nots and the lack of
apparent consideration for the rights and dignity of the poor.
The
importance of the present mission of the Church in the US cannot be
underestimated. As the last super-power to survive the Cold War, we have
become the economic and military empire of the present. That means that
missionaries in the US have the potential to provide a new voice, an
alternative vision and a life-giving possibility in a nation of central
importance to the well-being of the world. In other words, we have never
been more important to the survival of a vibrant and healthy Catholic
Christianity, to the social, psychological and spiritual aspects of American
life, and to the welfare of the world than we are right now.
B. Movements to Consider
1. Move from Missionary Activism
to Strategic Missionary Activity
We need to
develop a culture of missionary consciousness among ourselves that can "see,
judge and act" with greater responsiveness to the needs of the American
Church. This requires greater mobility of resources and personnel in favor
of missionary effectiveness. Merely reacting to American trends by first
considering how little we have to offer or how our personal security may be
affected will not achieve the ends we desire. When I reflect on all that can
be done, that should be done and that must be done for the mission of the
Church to advance in American society, one of the questions that comes to
mind is, what is our spiritual capacity for a more defined missionary role
in the US? I think that we have done well so far, considering the challenges
that faced us. However, it is time for the next step. This step may involve
an exploration of the richness of our unique Oblate spirituality and its
concurrent and concentric mission of consciousness-raising to the larger
society.
2. Move from the Operation of
Missions to Cooperation in Mission
We exist
within the Church, as fellow members who share in the mission of Christ to
our society. Bishops and their local churches, fellow clergy, other
Religious and lay people each have their role to play in promoting the
mission of Christ and the Church. Therefore, we are responsible to enable,
educate, facilitate and empower members of the local churches to join us in
missionary activity and to make them conscious of their important
contributions in cooperation with our efforts.
3. Move from an
Indistinguishable Identity with the Local Church to a Missionary Identity
with the Universal Church
We are the
only ones who can reclaim our unique Oblate missionary identity. No one else
can do this for us or offer it to us. We have a singular role to play on the
American scene and within the American Church, but we must be willing to
accept it, promote it and celebrate it. When we live in touch with that
charism that is the Holy Spirit’s gift for our lives united with the call of
the Universal Church, we become something more than lone "voices in the
wilderness." (Mt 3:3) Rather, we become “water from the Rock” (Is 48:21)
who is Jesus Christ. We become a life-giving stream, flowing from no human
source, but flowing through all the hard places of human despair, desolation
and denigration to offer that which, of ourselves alone, we do not have the
ability to give, namely, the wisdom of faith, the light of hope and the
transformative power of love.
4. Move from being Sources of
Missionary Activity in the Church to Signs of Hope in the World
Can we
afford to ask the question: How do we further the frontiers of Christian
consciousness in the secularized society in which we find ourselves as
missionaries? As members of the Catholic missionary Church, we serve best
when we serve nearest to the destructive flames of secularization,
dehumanization and moral compartmentalization. To do this effectively, we
are required work very hard not to perpetuate the very things that we
perceive serve against the cause of human life which God holds so dearly. We
necessarily use a language or the many languages which can be heard by those
caught up in these social processes to bring the clarifying light of the
gospel to the dark flames of self-destruction. Finally, we are compelled to
rejoice and celebrate every positive indication, every good gift, and every
genuine kindness that we find. In these ways, we become disciples of hope,
prophets of hope and signs of hope that reflect the immense hope of God for
the people of the United States.
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