Every form of life begins small. This being
the case, the life of each individual, community or a nation
begins in a very small way.
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is
a congregation that began small in 1816 and today is present in
about 67 countries worldwide. It is in this expansion that we
locate the 2006 Formator’s Session that took place in Aix en
Provence, the birth place of the congregation.
The 2006 Formator’s Session organized by
the General Administration under the leadership of Fr. Paulo
Archiati, OMI, brought together 20 formators from different
parts of the Oblate World. The purpose was to reflect together
on the current and future of our Oblate Formation dynamics.
Fr. Mike Morrissey, OMI (former provincial of
Central Province-South Africa) facilitated the first session on
Human growth and its implication on formation. Fr. Frank
Santucci, OMI spoke on the Oblate Charism and how to transmit it
to those who join us. He also walked us through the footsteps of
St. Eugene de Mazenod and helped us see how the socio-religious
situation of France by then led the young Eugene de Mazenod to
find a missionary congregation.
Fr. Oswald Firth, OMI gave a talk on Oblate
Mission and how this understanding of mission should inspire
both the formators and the formandi and move into action. On the
very last day the Superior General presented a picture of the
Congregation today. His main focus was twofold: The present
reality of Oblate personnel; and the number of those in
formation in the different Oblate regions.
From the Superior General’s presentation,
it was clear that in the northern hemisphere the numbers are
declining while in the Southern hemisphere there is an increase
in personnel. With all these presentations, the questions that
remained in most of the formators are ; “what are we preparing
our young men for? How are we preparing our young men to embrace
the Oblate Charism and prepare them for the future?”
As formators, we shape the future of the
congregation in many ways. We do this by the quality of
formation programmes and the quality of time we spend with those
in formation. One facilitator remarked that as formators we “waste”
and kill time with our formandi. The role of formators is to “give
birth” to the life of the congregation. It is for this
challenging reason that the formators were called to do their
job well.
The Oblate world is becoming a small village,
yet there is still some resistance from some Oblates to cross
borders and meet the other. The formators were challenged to
cross borders. In order for this to take place, formators are to
learn new languages in order to enrich their formation
ministries. This was evidenced by the fact that some formators
were only able to speak one language and did not help in
reaching out to others of who could not speak their language.
From the presentations, it was clear that the
Oblate world is revolving not only in ministries but there is
also a change in those who are doing ministries. Besides the
demographical transformations that are taking place in the
congregation, there are also the changes in the ages of those
who are doing formation ministry. With the exception of four
participants, the rest of the formators were under 40 years old.
The youthfulness of the formators is yet another one of those
shifts that are happening in the congregation.
All in all, the Formators’ Session of 2006 in Aix en
Provence was a life giving experience in many ways. It was a
session that helped each one of us understand our humanness,
then understand our Oblate Charism (and how to share it with
others) and lastly go into missions as fully humans and fully
Oblates
