DownloadLATIN AMERICA
Deadline for JOMI registrations: 17 May 2013“There is a time for everything ...” (Eccl. 3:1) We learn this from the Word of God which, in a special way, serves as a source of inspiration for this mission and also the future commissioning at the end of the OMI Youth Days (JOMI): “Go and make disciples ...” (Matt. 28:19). The initial time for inviting all to be present at JOMI 2013 began in January 2012, with the sending of the first letters and images of Our Lady of Aparecida to the countries of Latin American and to the continents where the Oblates are present.
Since then, much preparation was needed, but during this period, essential was prayer, individual and communal, which must continue so as to ensure that all future events in Aparecida, São Paulo, might be successful, for the good of the Church and for a significant increase in the commitment of our youth to a life project in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, following the admirable path our patron, Fr. Maurice LEFEVRE.
At this moment, “a time for everything” invites us to close the entire process of admitting new members at the event. On this coming 17 May, registrations officially close for everyone everywhere and the time begins for scheduling arrivals, the welcoming process, the arrangements for buses from the Guarulhos-SP Airport, the general organizing for hotels, etc..
Remember that all those registered will be recognized as such only upon the official payment of the registration fee through contacts available in each country concerned. Arrival is scheduled for this coming 18 July and the closing of JOMI is on the 22nd. For those who will go to Rio de Janeiro with our beloved Pope Francis, that event will start the next day; all registrations for that event should be handled separately.
May everyone feel very welcome, but with a special welcome for our beloved Superior General, Fr. Louis LOUGEN, who will share with us the opening of the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the activities of St. Eugene de Mazenod with youth, in what will be mainly a big Oblate family celebration in the house of Our Mother of Aparecida.
For more information: www.jomibrasil.com/en (Fr. Rubens Pedro CABRAL)
Excerpts from a letter from the Provincial of the Mediterranean Province, Fr. Alberto GNEMMI, after a visit to the Oblate Delegation of Uruguay.
For us Oblates, it all began in in October of ‘29, when Father Theodore LABOURÉ, superior of the Province of Texas, which then also encompassed the territory of Spain, and future Superior General of the Congregation (1932–44) traveled to Uruguay to assess the possibility of an Oblate presence that could especially involve the Spanish Oblates. He remained there for about a month, living at the bishop’s house in Salto, capital city of the northwest region of the country, home to one of three dioceses that then existed in Uruguay ... In the report which Fr. Labouré wrote for the General Chapter of 1932, he states: “The result of my observations was that Uruguay is what our missions of the Rio Grande (the border between Texas and Mexico) were thirty years ago: a shortage of priests, the situation of the country folk is miserable to say the least and we could hope for a work more consistent with the spirit of our Venerable Founder.”
In 1935, partly as a result of difficulties in the work of evangelization, some Oblates moved to Argentina, finding a religious and cultural context favorable to the Church. In fact, back in ‘56, Argentina, together with Uruguay, became a vice-province, thanks to the growing number of Oblates active in apostolic ministry, while the Uruguay, few Oblates remained. …
On October 30, 1971, the General Administration, in response to a request from the Provincial of Italy, Father Remigio SALZILLO, to be able to establish an Oblate mission in Uruguay, issued a rewhich welcomed this proposal.
The birth of the Italian Delegation of Uruguay began officially on December 12, 1977, after the arrival of (several) Fathers… In that year the Spanish Oblates left Uruguay.
Since then, about 30 Oblates have passed through this mission, even for a brief period of ministry or for regency, as happened for a number of Italian scholastics.
The Delegation has just turned thirty five years of age. That is not insignificant, nor is the work done by our men in the ministry of evangelization insignificant. Without a doubt, the two-centuries-old process of secularization of this country makes it different from any other Latin American country and makes society particularly headstrong vis-à-vis the pastoral and missionary activity of the Church. To be commended are the spirit of unity of the Oblates and their fidelity to the Gospel, as they never cease to give witness with their lives and their ministry. One Oblate of the Cerro told me: “Not many people come to church, but many people know that we are here, and we are here with them and for them, available, ready to welcome everyone to experience the adventure of faith. Here there is a lot of violence and a lot of poverty, but there are also many good people who know how to live in hope, how to give hope.”
Indeed, the mission feeds this spirit, it sustains the journey of so many, practicing and non-practicing; it becomes a beneficial presence for all. Of course the Delegation, numerically speaking, has not grown in recent decades; it has always remained modest in size (10 Fathers), although the presence of a novice and two scholastics give us hope for the future.
