Newsletter of the U.S. Province of the OMI USA Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Volume 14 No. 3 May 2011 “I am humbled by the respon- Fr. Small named to new post sibility entrusted to me, one that once r. Andrew Small, OMI, director burgh who has headed the four orga- belonged to the esteemed Archbishop of the U.S. bishops’ Office for the nizations that make up the pontifical Fulton Sheen,” Fr. Small said. “I look FChurch in Latin America, has been mission societies in the forward to working with the named national director for the Pontifi- United States since great mission family in the cal Mission Societies in the United States. 2001. United States, whose love The five-year appointment was “With Father for the church is both wide announced April 7 at the Vatican by Car- Small’s missionary and deep.” dinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congre- priestly formation and The Pontifical Mission gation for the Evangelization of Peoples, pastoral experience, Societies consist of the So- which oversees the work of more than and his extensive edu- ciety for the Propagation of 120 national mission societies world- cational attainments, the the Faith, the Holy Child- wide. national direction of the hood Association, the Soci- The national director heads the Pontifical Mission So- ety of St. Peter Apostle, and four New York-based societies in the cieties will be very well the Missionary Union of United States and oversees the World served,” Msgr. Kozar said. “His dy- Priests and Religious. Their purpose is Mission Sunday collection, taken up on namic leadership and warm personal- to promote a universal missionary spirit the third Sunday in October each year. ity will endear him to both those en- among all Catholics. (From the CNS news Fr. Small succeeds Msgr. John trusted with mission animation in U.S. release) E. Kozar, a priest of the Diocese of Pitts- dioceses and the poor of the world.” alendars can be our friends; but not without occasional Buffalo, NY. With 6 young men attending, it was just the “taming” sometimes. Often they are wild. A glance at tip of the iceberg, a visible sign of very encouraging growth Cmy calendar for the last 3 months shows a wild prolif- Continued on page 2 eration of meetings, assemblies, get-togethers, and conferences. It reminds me of an important taming technique: make friends with meetings. Profitable and enjoyable meetings make for friendly calendars! At least, they do for me. Over the last couple of months I learned even the friendliest calendar cannot include all rovincial worthwhile Oblate meetings. Two late winter-gatherings I could not attend stand out as examples of this. Both have to do with the very life of the province: who we are and what we do. At first, these two meet- ings would seem unrelated. Yet, if vitality is a binding force in itself, the vitality of such gather- om the P the om ings somehow makes them related. F I missed the “Come and See” pro- Fr. Morell (far r) at a meeting with Fr. Ron Rolheiser, gram on the first weekend in March at the pre-novitiate in OMI and Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS. May 2011 -1 From the Provincial Continued from page 1 in the province vocation efforts. Lately, I’ve heard much of men and meetings that show how our affiliate programs are expanding from one end of the prov- ince to the other. Success begets suc- cess. The more we come to realize the “do-ability” of such gatherings, the more we are encouraged to initiate and sus- tain them. Vocation consciousness can impact the extent of province’s pastoral commitments. We know the province’s An Oblate meeting Fr. Billy did not miss: CROCUS, last March in shrinking numbers strain our pastoral Vancouver. Standing, l-r: Frs. Gil Mason, John Malazdrewich, Henri commitments. We have relinquished Baudoin, Marian Gil, Jacques Laliberté, Jean-Claude Gilbert, Billy Morell, about 26 parishes in the last five years, Warren Brown; kneeling, l-r: Frs. Janusz Blazejak, Luc Tardif, and the as well as a retreat house, a formation pastor of the Vancouver parish. house, and other ministries. Relinquish- occasionally in Buffalo, NY and other The conference was a mis- ing parishes is often introduced by put- places for a deeper experience of our sionary dialogue on the reality of the ting a parish into the ad personam cat- Oblate reality and vocation program in Catholic Exodus. The fact of great egory (when the incumbent Oblate is Come and See experiences. I wish I numbers of departures from the transferred, the parish reverts to the dio- could have been at the one in early Catholic Church in the US touches al- cese). Often this happens even when March to experience firsthand some of most all our ministries. In some ways the parish has many of the characteristics the vitality of our vocation efforts. it frames our mission in the US – we seek in Oblate parochial ministry. Seemingly unrelated to bringing the Gospel and its values Presently, there are a number of what was going on in Buffalo, the sec- to abandoned folks, to those who Oblate parishes in this category. One ond annual DeMazenod Conference, find themselves on the fringe of has been on the ad personam list for a Missing in Action, gathered in San An- society as well as those who choose number of years... or, it was, until the tonio a month later. Artie Pingolt, presi- to place themselves on the fringe vocation department pointed out the dent of the Oblate Missionary Partner- of the Catholic Church. level of dedication this parish had given ship, organized it with funding from a In the US, there are increas- to Oblate vocation efforts. This com- number of grants. Sadly, it was another ing numbers of people who have munity, which has so long and so meeting I missed - - it certainly would ceased to see in our Catholic expres- well been served by Oblates, under- have made my calendar friendlier. sion of the Gospel a source of life or stands the importance of their par- The list of participants included truth. 22.8 million of them have given ish in our vocation efforts. Its affili- 43 — Oblates and other dynamic folks up on what they once believed. Ex- ate program regularly involves 5 — from across the US and from an in- Catholics far outnumber the largest young men, and the parish has sent teresting diversity of backgrounds. The protestant denomination, Southern members to almost every Come and conference’s vitality did not come just Baptist, which claims 16.2 million ad- See program over the last couple of from those who were involved; it came herents. One fifth of those who have years. from the theme as well. The articles sent left the Catholic Church left after turn- At latest count, the province has out to prepare the participants for the ing 24. A large majority (71%) of 12 active affiliate programs, which bring conference outlined a topic that is en- former Catholics are now unaffiliated. together 73 young men from 19 minis- gaging and challenging... and very much They say their move from Catholicism try sites across the province. From “on target” for missionaries in the First occurred as a gradual turning away these efforts, groups of affiliates gather World, as we Oblates are. from the Church. Continued on page 12 OMI-USA - 2 Fr. Harding makes final profession n May 22, Fr. Nick Harding, OMI, is scheduled to take his Ofinal vows. The ceremony will be at La Morita, Baja CA. Fr. Bill Antone, OMI, will receive the vows. Fr. Harding came to know the Oblates in Lincoln, NE through Frs. Dale Hardes and Gerry Kaputska. He has an MPH degree from Harvard University and had been a legal services attorney serving low income persons for seven years. He entered the novitiate in Fr. Harding with some of his parishioners in Tijuana. 1987 and pursued theology studies in Rome, receiving an STB from the ton in 1999, with the expectation of be- Nick says he never doubted Gregorian and an STL from the ing fidei donum to Guatemala. He re- his basic vocation to the consecrated Angelicum. entered the Oblates in January 2007, life. In the diocesan priesthood he He left the Oblates to consider and was assigned to the mission in missed apostolic community, the mis- a monastic vocation and eventually was Tijuana, Mexico where he is still at sionary dimension and the evangeli- ordained as a diocesan priest in Hous- present. cal counsels. Oblate Day celebrated in S.A. dents: Brothers David Uribe, Jesse Esqueda and Lucio Castillo. The early 40 Oblates gathered in OMI, the Southwest Area Councillor, newly instituted Readers are first year San Antonio on February 17 presided at the Eucharist, held in the liv- theologians: Brothers Jason at the Benson Residence to ing room to accommodate the large as- N th Rossignol and Paul Patrick (As- celebrate the 185 anniversary of the sembly. sumption Province). papal approval of the Oblate Consti- Adding to the joy and solem- Fr. Art Flores, OMI, pre- tutions and Rules. Fr. Tom Ovalle, nity of the occasion, during the Mass, pared a meal for the Oblates who had some of the scholastics come to share their common origins from the George Sexton about which the Founder, St. Eugene House of Studies cel- de Mazenod, wrote to the Oblates in ebrated significant steps in France on February 18, 1826: “This their formation process. is not a mere trifle; they are no Bro.