OMI Jubilee Assembly 2014: Remembering...Reliving...Hoping
• 18:48 PM Thu Oct 23, 2014
2,194
By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Oblate priests and bothers pose after the OMI Jubilee Assembly 2014 in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine in Barangay Binoligan Kidapawan City
BINOLIGAN,
Kidapawan City – More than 60 Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) priests and
brothers gathered here on Monday until Wednesday to celebrate its 75th year of
missionary works in the Philippines.
With Rev. Fr.
Heinz-Wilhelm Steckling, former Oblate superior general, as speaker, the
gathering was aimed at providing them with a venue and opportunity for
fraternal gathering and sharing among OMIs in the Philippine province through
communal fellowship.
Fr. Francis
Zabala, OMI, provincial councillor and OMI provincial assembly chairperson of steering
committee, said the OMI Jubilee Assembly 2014, with the theme Remembering…
Reliving… Hoping…” was also an opportunity for Oblates to update themselves on
status and prospects of the OMIs in the Philippines and revisit the Acts of
Congress 2013 towards a province-wide inter-ministry pastoral plan.
The annual
event also served as an opportunity for the OMIs to continue thanking God for
learning from and celebrating the gift of the Diamond Jubilee last month.
Held at the
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Shrine in Barangay Binoligan, Kidapawan City, the
assembly was highlighted by the State of the Province Address (SOPA) of Fr.
Larry de Guia, OMI, the Oblate provincial superior and input from Fr.
Steckling.
Oblates also
reviewed of the 75th jubilee year celebrations in Notre Dame of Midsayap campus
last month, expressing appreciation to the men, women and organizations behind
the successful event.
Oblates
priests and brothers also had sharing and discussion on the OMIs 75 year of
daring missionary presence in the Philippines and beyond.
Looking
forward, the OMIs had prepared the Oblate Pastoral Plan Assembly for 2015 and
meeting of the inter-ministry council.
Majority
working and serving in communities to be covered by the upcoming Bangsamoro
government, the Oblates took time to listen and discuss the opportunities of
the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).The hectic
three-day gathering was capped by a friendly basketball game between Oblate
missionaries and Diocesan Clergy of Kidapawan and seminarians.
It was aimed at
strengthening camaraderie between OMIs and DCK priests who ended up winning the
game by three points.