FORMATION UPDATE

New Province Formation Director

At the first Provincial Council meeting of the new province administration, Fr. Mark Dean, OMI, was named Director of Formation for the U.S. Province.  He succeeds Fr. James Allen, OMI, who held the position since 1999.

Mark will continue his current ministry as superior of George Sexton House of Theology, the Oblate scholasticate in San Antonio, TX.  Prior to becoming part of the province’s formation ministry, he served in campus and parish ministry in Minnesota; as a parish priest in Sweden for 13 years; and as part of the preaching team at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, MN. 

7 Young Oblates to Enter Pastoral Internship

The United States province is in the process of assigning seven Oblate scholastics to a year of pastoral internship (regency).  Such a pastoral year is required of all candidates for ministry as priests or brothers in the United States.  The year of internship is usually entered after the third year of theology studies and prior to perpetual vows.

The situation this year is unusual for the U.S. province because ordinarily there are only one or two scholastics applying for their internship year.  Currently, Brother Jim Chambers, OMI, is sharpening his ministerial skills with the Oblate Delegation of Zambia in Africa.

The purposes of the internship are to give the young Oblate the opportunity to immerse himself in a supervised ministry with his brother Oblates and the laity; to experience a different rhythm of Oblate community life than what he has had in formation communities; to receive timely feedback from his mentors about his ministerial style; and to grow in his commitment to Oblate life and ministry.

One of the key elements of the internship is a cross-cultural experience.  Efforts are made to assign the young Oblate to minister either in one of the international missions of the congregation or, if within the province, in a cultural setting other than the one with which he is most familiar.

During the coming summer, the following scholastics will begin their pastoral internship:

Juan Ayala, OMI: St. Casimir Parish, St. Paul, MN

Quilin Bouzi, OMI: Zambia

Joseph Dowling, OMI: San Juan Parish, San Juan, TX

Porfirio Garcia, OMI: St. Jude Parish, New Orleans

Francisco Gómez, OMI: St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, International Falls, MN

Antonio Ponce, OMI: Iglesia San Eugenio de Mazenod, Tijuana, BC, Mexico

Fernando Velásquez, OMI: Province of Brazil

Juan Ayala, OMI

Quilin Bouzi, OMI

Priestly Ordination Date Set

Oblate Deacon Karl Davis, OMI, will receive the Sacrament of Priesthood at St. James Cathedral in Brooklyn, NY, on Saturday, August 13, 2005.  The ordaining bishop will be Most Rev. Pierre-Antoine Paulo, OMI, Co-adjutor Bishop of Port-de-Paix in Haiti.  Deacon Karl expects to graduate from Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio in May, with a Master of Divinity Degree.