Annual autumn meeting
Annual autumn
meeting
The new provincial administration used his year?s autumn meeting (held at Crewe, 6-8 November) to name the challenges and options facing Oblate mission in Britain and Ireland over the next three to six years. It was a frank and open conversation that went beyond ideas and analysis to address the practical issue of the kind of resources and expertise required if we are to move forward with the programme.
In his response to the meeting, Oblate Superior General Fr Wilhelm Steckling reminded us that the changes coming our way are fundamentally about our mission, a mission that will continue. We are not a business. It will, of course, be necessary to close some places. Change is a necessary part of life if we are to remain faithful to our missionary calling. He asked our province to consider receiving and welcoming here Oblate missionaries from other cultures. They could contribute in these countries just as missionaries from here do in the developing world. He spoke of the province?s financial assets as the ?patrimony of the poor? and the financial challenges facing the Oblates in countries where our numbers are growing.