Cardinal Quevedo's message on OMIs 200 year

ARCHDIOCESE OF COTABATO Archbishop Mongeau Center141 Sinsuat AvenueP.O. Box 186Cotabato City 9600, Philippines M E S S A G EWe celebratethis yearthe 200thanniversary of the Missionary Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.This Second Centennial is a call to thanksgiving and commitment.Praised be Jesus Christ. And Mary Immaculate! Laudetur Jesus Christus. Et Maria Immaculata! Every Oblate of Mary Immaculate prays this invocation daily.How true it is to give praiseand thanksto the Lord Jesus and to his Blessed Mother, Mary Immaculate!Countless blessings have been poured by the Lord through the intercession of Mary Immaculate for the past 200 years on thousands ofOblatePriests and Brothers and on the millions of people to whom they were sent as missionaries by the Holy Spirit.We work in all the continents of the world. In the Philippines, our small contingent of missionarieswork among Christians, Muslims, Lumads, and peoples of other faiths in the Dioceses of Kalookan, Novaliches, Quezon City, Kidapawan, and Marbel.But our pastoral and missionary presence is most significantly felt in the Archdiocese of Cotabato and inthe Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo. In these two places of southern Mindanao we are with our Christian brothers and sisters, likewise with peoples of other faiths. But in a special way we are with people in the peripheries of life and society, with our Muslim and Lumad brothers and sisters.We have embarkedon a mission of love and justice, of dialogue and peace, of religious harmony and integraldevelopment.Inspired by the Good News of the Lord and guided by Mary Immaculate, we wish to accompanyeveryone, especially the poor and the needy,on the common journey to the Kingdom of God.We wantto follow in the footsteps of our Founder, St. Eugene de Mazenod, who desired all his missionary sonsto befull of love, faith and hope, who are courageous, innovative, close to the people, especially the poor, andwho leavenothing undared. We thank all the people we are serving. We thank all our collaborators and mission partners -- diocesan priests, religious brothers and sisters, and lay faithful. We charish and treasureyoudearly in our hearts and in our prayers.Thanks be to the Lord! And to Mary Immaculate. God bless everyone.+Orlando B. Cardinal Quevedo, O.M.I.Archbishopof CotabatoJanuary 2016