Oblates – Pioneer missionaries in Alaska

TIJUANA, MEXICO - Clinica San Eugenio dedicated

Oblates – Pioneer missionaries in Alaska

The first Catholic missionary incursions into the Alaskan mainland were made by members of the religious congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The first Catholic priest to enter Alaska was the 28 year-old Father Jean Seguin.

Facing intolerance …
On Sept. 23, 1862, Fr. Seguin arrived at Fort Yukon – a trading post, at the time, at the confluence of the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers. He dedicated his “mission” to his patron saint, St. John the Evangelist. He spent a fruitless, humiliating winter there. The chief trader at the post did not approve of Catholic activities; and, while he shared his table with the Anglican minister, he relegated the Oblate Father to the servants’ quarters for lodging and meals. The humiliation meant nothing to Fr. Seguin personally, but the effect of this social snub on his relations with the Indians, who judged by appearances, was damaging. He left Fort Yukon on June 3, 1863, to return to Canada.

During the summer of 1870, Fr. Emile Petitot spent some time at Fort Yukon. He, too, met with little success in what was by now Anglican territory. It was in response to a call for priests made by Francois Mercier – a devout French-Canadian Catholic trader from Montreal – that the Oblates first entered Alaska. Mercier feared that Protestant missionaries would soon take over the whole Yukon River country.

Trying again
On Sept. 11, 1872, two years after Fr. Petitot had returned to Canada, Oblate Bishop Isidore GLUT of the Athabaska-Mackenzie diocese, accompanied by future Oblate Fr. Auguste Lecorre, set out from the mission of Good Hope in Canada for Fort Yukon.

One month later, on Oct. 13, and “extremely tired,” they arrived at the fort, where they were cordially received by its officers, most of whom were Catholic. The two spent the winter at the fort, where they devoted most of their time to the study of the Native language. Since the Indians had already been converted to the Anglican Church, there was little missionary work for them to do.

On May 15, 1873, the two left Fort Yukon, with St. Michael as their ultimate destination. On May 20, they arrived at Nuklukayet, today's Tanana, where they spent two weeks instructing Indians and baptizing children. Bishop Glut reported “a great victory” there – the baptism of the children of the two most powerful “chiefs,” plus that of 26 other children.

First pontifical Mass
At Nuklukayet Bishop Glut presided the first pontifical Mass ever celebrated in Alaska. It was celebrated, according to Mercier, “in the presence of several hundred savages, come from everywhere to sell me their furs. My house being too small to hold so many people, this beautiful ceremony took place in open air, in front of my house, on the bank of the Youkon [sic], and produced a strong impression on the spirit of the savages, who had never seen anything so beautiful.”

A tentative permanent mission
In the company of Mercier, and on his boat, Bishop Glut and Fr. Lecorre, on June 4, left Nuklukayet for St. Michael. Along the way they baptized 116 children. On June 20, the party reached St. Michael. Here the bishop spent two weeks. After studying the situation, he concluded that St. Michael would be an excellent place for the establishment of a permanent mission in that part of Alaska. Two reasons in particular were in St. Michael's favor as a headquarters for Catholic missionary activity: there were at the time neither Russian nor Protestant ministers active in the area; and Mercier, as the newly appointed chief agent for the Alaska Commercial Company, would be making St. Michael his center of operations. Leaving Fr. Lecorre in charge at St. Michael, Bishop Glut, on July 7, 1873, departed again upriver for Canada. He was the first Catholic bishop to set foot in Alaska. At the time of his Alaskan trip, he was Auxiliary Bishop to the Vicar Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie.

Fr. Lecorre – at this time still a diocesan priest – spent the winter of 1873-74 at St. Michael. It is reasonably assumed that while there, he made missionary excursions to lower Yukon River and Yukon Delta villages, as well as to Unalakleet. In the summer of 1874, he received letters informing him that Alaska had been placed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishop of Vancouver Island, Charles J. Seghers, and directing him to choose between serving as a priest at the disposal of Bishop Seghers or returning to his own mission. He chose the latter, and sailed for San Francisco. Some time later he joined the Oblates.

Many years later and today
Since the time of those early-day Oblate pioneer Alaskan missionaries, other Oblates have served, in Alaska. From February 1931 to January 1932, Fr. Joseph Allard served as pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Seward. After that he worked with the Tlingit Indian people of Sitka and Hoonah. In the early 1960's, Fr. Henk Huijbers out of Burwash Landing, Yukon Territory, Canada, tended to St. Ann's mission in Northway on a regular basis. Over the years, other Oblate priests have served in Alaska, mostly in the panhandle and for short periods of time.

Today there are still Oblates in Alaska. Roger L. Schwietz has been Archbishop of Anchorage since March 3, 2001. He is ably assisted by his fellow Oblate, Bro. Craig Bonham. Fr. Thomas Killeen is pastor of St. Joseph parish in Cordova, and Fr. Gerald Brunet is pastor of Holy Family parish in Glennallen, as well as Native Ministry Director in Anchorage. Frs. Anthony Dummer and James Blaney are serving in the Diocese of Juneau. Fr. Dummer is pastor of the St. Paul the Apostle parish, Juneau; Fr. Blaney is pastor of the Skagway and Haines parishes. (by Fr. Louis L. Renner, S. J. for OMI USA)

TIJUANA, MEXICO

Clinica San Eugenio dedicated

August 30, 2003, was a “dream-come-true” day for Fr. Robert Callahan. On that day, the Clinica San Eugenio was dedicated at the La Morita “colonia” on the outskirts of Tijuana, BC, Mexico. Fr. Bob was the founder of the San Eugenio Parish next to the clinic. Now retired in nearby San Diego, he crossed the border to preside at the festive Mass and dedication.
 
The three-story building houses a women's cooperative, a computer lab and classrooms for English studies; a clinic, and a convent for the Franciscan sisters who are in charge of the clinic. There are also suites for visiting dentists and physicians.
 
The clinic is just one part of the Catholic Church's presence in the densely populated area whose numbers swelled in the past 10 years with the establishment of “maquiladoras.”
 
“ Maquiladoras” are manufacturing enterprises that have been set up in border towns in Mexico by large companies, not only from North America but also from other nations. The factories are moved from developed nations into poorer ones where worker safety regulations are minimal, pressure from unions is scarce, and wages are often exploitatively low (sometimes less than a dollar per hour)..
 
La Morita is still very much a “shanty town”, with many of the residents living in makeshift homes constructed from garage doors and the walls of mobile homes. Most of the streets are unpaved. When torrential rains come, just getting across the street is a major issue.
 
Currently four Oblates live in the parish center begun by Fr. Bob: Fr. Paul Wilhelm is the pastor. He is ably assisted by fellow Oblates, Fr. Daniel Crahen, Fr. John Curran, and Bro. Peter Vasquez. There are also several communities of Sisters who work closely with the Oblates in the various parish ministries that include a number of “outpost” chapels. Funding for the new clinic came from generous sources on both sides of the US-Mexican border.

ITALY

Fr. Canfora – R.I.P.

For close to twenty years, Fr. Giovanni CANFORA was the Italian language translator for the OMI Information Service. He died August 13 in Tortorici, his hometown, where he had gone to get away from the sultry Roman air of the hottest summer in two hundred years. He suffered from respiratory problems.

Fr. Anatole BAILLARGEON, a past director of the Information Service, describes well the 83 year old Oblate: “He was kindness and courtesy itself. I also marveled at his facility and knowledge of languages, plus a facility in translating, from text in front of him directly to the page in his typewriter (before he had a computer). I never saw the likes of it before. He very rarely resorted to a dictionary.” While pastor, superior and then bursar at the Oblate parish in Rome, Fr. Canfora was always on time with his translations. Two years ago he had to give up translation due to bad eyesight.

Translation work was not, however, his main ministry and service to the Congregation and the Church. As a scholastic he attended the Biblical Institute in Rome and got his licentiate in Sacred Scripture shortly after ordination. He was immediately assigned to teach Scripture at the theological seminary in San Giorgio Canavese (Torino). He was on the staff for twenty-three years. Word of his enthusiasm and love for the Word of God soon spread beyond the seminary walls. In the mid-1950s he was asked to present the Bible to the readers of a Catholic weekly, the Famiglia Cristiana: one page a week from Genesis to the Apocalypse. A local artist was engaged to illustrate the page. His page was a great success and the magazine soon surpassed 1 million copies a week. The Edizioni Paoline (Paulist Press) collected all the articles and published them in a two volume work entitled “The Illustrated Bible.”

Fr. Canfora was a member of the Italian Biblical Association, an organization of Scripture teachers in seminaries and theological faculties. He served as its president for sixteen years, 1962 to 1978. They were intense years organizing summer courses, weekends for priests and religious men and women, writing articles, editing many of the Association’s publications – and all the while continuing to teach at the Oblate scholasticate. His was an outstanding contribution to the biblical renewal in Italy after the Second Vatican Council. (From Missioni OMI)

ANGLO-IRISH

Mission to Secularity

The Anglo-Irish Province has been invited by the General Administration to host a new initiative in mission and evangelizing in western secular society. This is a pilot project involving an international community of four Oblates, missioned explicitly to those who are out of touch with the Christian message.

Background
There was a keen awareness during the 1998 General Chapter that perhaps the most important, and difficult, mission field in the world today is not, as in former times, the mission in the developing world, but in the Western world where secularity is greying and emptying our churches and making it ever more difficult to pass the faith on to our children. How to be missionaries within secularity? Last year the General Administration held two international symposia to reflect on that question. A need was felt to seek new ways, new imaginative models, for entering the culture of secularity as missionaries, as evangelizers called by Christ and our Founder to walk with those who, for whatever reason, are unable to hear the Gospel.

Thus was born the idea of starting a number of “pilot-projects” whereby a team of four Oblates drawn from various countries would be sent into various cities in the Western world to try to minister in a way that is more deliberate in terms of being missionary, i.e. of building Church anew, of going beyond the maintenance of existing ecclesial life.

The vision
This mission will seek to be missionary in all its life and ministry – its prayer life, community life, preaching, pastoral practice, sacramental ministry, hospitality, relationship to the local and universal Church, and in its theological reflection. While seeking to maintain the present ecclesial and sacramental life of the faithful, the mission will try to reach out in new ways to the unchurched, the indifferent, the alienated, those of other faiths, and to those who, while practising their faith, are struggling to pass it on to their children.

The first project
The city of London has been chosen for the first project. Three of the team members have already been chosen: Fr. Leo PHILOMIN (Anglo-Irish Province), Fr. John STAAK (U.S.A.) currently attached to the Zambia mission, and Kenneth THORSON (St. Mary’s, Canada). The fourth member, a brother, is expected to be appointed soon. For the first few months they will use Sacred Heart Church in Kilburn (London) as their base while evaluating possible locations and making the necessary contacts before setting up the mission.

Preparing for mission
Fr. Staak, writing for the Zambia Delegation newsletter says that preparation for the mission will extend over one year, with three phases. “The first phase, which basically runs to the end of December, consists of making a site selection for the new pilot mission to secularity followed by initial contacts in that area with various people, groups and institutions. The second phase will be the De Mazenod Experience in Aix-en-Provence which will run until the end of March. The third phase will involve some months of missiological reflection for the members of the team.”

While awaiting the appointment of the fourth member, the team which has already arrived in London has begun discussing the criteria to use in selecting a site, and drawing up a first draft of a working covenant between the entities involved in this collaborative Oblate mission. (From Zambia Delegation Brief and Anglo-Irish Provincial Council “Community Notice Board”)

FRANCE

A missionary presence at Aix festival

Each year in July the city of Aix-en-Provence hosts a month-long Festival of Lyric Art – a music festival. In ordinary times the beautiful city attracts many tourists, even more during its summer festival. This year the Oblates in Aix wanted to offer a missionary presence. The Church of the Mission, or the “Oblates’ Chapel” as it is known to the locals, is located at a prominent place in the heart of the city at the top of the Cours Mirabeau. An ideal place for an exhibition. But Vincent GRUBER, Duc Huu PHAN and Benoît DOSQUET wanted something that was both missionary as well as artistic and cultural. A second objective was to provide some young people with an opportunity to discover the Oblates and their Founder through a relational, spiritual and artistic experience.

Five young adults were invited to join the project, two teachers – one from Lyons and the other from Versailles – and three university students from Aix. They lived with Vincent, Duc and Benôit and the Oblate community in the old Carmelite monastery on the Cours for nine days. The first days were a time of “sensorial immersion”: a look at Aix and its people through the eyes of Eugene de Mazenod and the eyes of Christ the Saviour, as Eugene did. The participants were invited to use all five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. In a second step they were asked to share their impressions expressing them with four or five key words. Next they were given a selection of texts from the Scriptures and the writings of St. Eugene. Each person was to choose one text that best described their key words, meditate on it and prepare a concrete expression of the faith message and values they wanted to share with the festival-goers and tourists in Aix.

The end result was a fine exhibition of sound, light, paintings, panels with texts, a short play, a Power Point presentation of photos and images of Aix, and even a basket of bite-sized pieces of local bread to taste. The exhibits were artistically laid out in the nave, side chapels and choir of the Mission Church. Two quiet areas were also reserved for prayer and adoration. The music and beautiful light filtering through the church doors that were open from 4 o’clock in the afternoon until 1 a.m. attracted about 1200 visitors during the four days the exhibition was open.

“An unexpected moment that was human, spiritual, lively – an excellent initiative!” This one comment is typical of the many positive written impressions left by the visitors. Fr. Maxime Chaigne and the community look forward to hosting another group of young people next year.

FRANCE

A wedding in Aix

The Church of the Mission near the top of Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence, is a very busy place at times. Daily activities normally begin with 7 o’clock Mass, the earliest Mass in the city, and visitors continue to drop in for a moments prayer, Reconciliation, or just out of mere curiosity, until about eleven o’clock at night.

However, since this is not a parish church, we rarely if ever have a wedding. The exception was Saturday, September 20 when the happy couple were Nicolas Schwarz and Karen Deffis. That was a society wedding by any standards. Karine is the granddaughter of Viscount de Nonneville and Nicolas is the grandson of Meniolle D’Hauthauille who was the grandson of Eugenie De Mazenod, sister of Saint Eugene. Eugenie’s married name was de Boisgelin.

Nicolas wanted to have his wedding in the church where his great grand uncle founded the Missionaries of Provence, later to become the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He is himself an active member of the Catholic youth movement in Aix and for two years he worked as a volunteer in the offices of the youth section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, preparing the youth Pilgrimage to Rome which took place in the Jubilee Year 2000.

The wedding, which was held at three o’clock in the afternoon, attracted considerable attention from the passers by in the Cours Mirabeau, and well it might. Not even the Queen’s and ladies’ day at the Ascot race meeting in England would have had the variety and colorfulness of the ladies’ headdress as three hundred invited guests crowded into the church which seems quite full with its normal quota of one hundred and eighty. The main celebrant of the wedding Mass was Monsignor Renato Boccardo, assistant pontifical Master of Ceremonies and one of Nicolas’ colleagues during his years in Rome. The local Superior, Fr. Maxime Chaigne, OMI, was concelebrant.

Although Nicolas’ name is German he is proud of his Aix and de Mazenod background. In fact his paternal grandparents add an international touch to the family. They are a blend of Scottish, Irish, German and French. (Submitted by Edward CAROLAN)

FRANCE

Patrimony Day in Aix

The people of Aix are very conscious of their history and are proud of their city which, in many ways is a palimpsest of former centuries, only partly hidden beneath the modern facades of some of its buildings. Heritage Sunday is, of course, a national, if not an international annual event. All older buildings are open to the public and both residents and visitors take advantage of the occasion to see the inner parts of buildings which are normally private.

This year the special day in Aix was Sunday, September 21. The former Carmelite convent where Saint Eugene de Mazenod gathered his youth movement and later the first members of his missionaries was open to the public on that day. Luckily, there were seven French speaking Oblates who are following the De Mazenod Experience to help the local community receive the visitors. At least two thousand people streamed into the church and the cloister in the course of the afternoon.

The locals marvelled at the newly restored cloister which they were seeing for the first time. A special leaflet giving the history of the building and its present-day usage had been prepared in French and English. There were few English speaking visitors but the printing press was busy producing further copies in French to satisfy the curiosity of the local population. A local advertising poster for communications media, on the Cours Mirabeau says that “Curiosity is the most likeable of the vices”. In this case it may very well be so. (Submitted by Edward CAROLAN)

Lourdes and the Oblates (5)

The first foreign pilgrimage

From the very start, foreigners came to Lourdes. The ex-votos covering the walls of the Crypt bear witness to the fact. But it was not until 1883 that the first foreign national pilgrimage came to pray at the Grotto. Yes, it was organized by Oblates!

May 21 to 24, 1883: the English pilgrimage
Led by Fr. John KING, the Oblate Provincial of England at the time, 300 English pilgrims, all of them men, among whom was the Duke of Norfolk, arrived in Lourdes on May 21, 1883. They came from all the parts of the British empire: England, Scotland, Ireland and even the Indies. This initiative was remarkably prepared over a period of several years by Oblates of the Anglo-Irish Province. They circulated in all the Catholic parishes a roll on which the faithful wrote their prayer intentions. Several meters long, it carries the prayers from some 100,000 people. It was deposited on the altar of the Grotto during the pilgrimage.

This roll was discovered by Fr. Bernard DULLIER on a shelf in the shrine chaplains’ library. It is 8.20 meters long and was found in a metallic tube which fortunately saved it from being ruined by humidity. It is now preserved in the shrine archives.

May 25 to 27, 1886: the 2nd English pilgrimage
Before its departure, it received the blessing of the cardinal of Westminster, May 23, in the chapel of Oblates. It was also led by Fr. John KING. Fr. Lawrence FOX, was the preacher.

117 years later…
The Anglo-Irish Province has continued the tradition annually for most of the past 117 years. The Provincial usually accompanies the group. As usual another large pilgrimage journeyed to Lourdes this year in September. While statistics are not yet available, last year’s group numbered more than 900 from many different parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom. True to tradition it was lead by Fr. Thomas MURPHY, Provincial. The Missionary Association of Mary Immaculate is responsible for organizing these groups. The association’s mission magazine, the Oblate Missionary Record and Lourdes Messenger, keeps contact with present and past pilgrims.

GUINEA-BISSAU

A new mission

Last year in May the General Administration approved the opening of a new mission in Guinea-Bissau. It is confided to the Oblates in Senegal, a Delegation of the Italian Province. The mission will be in Farim, 70 kilometers across the border from the Oblate mission in Temento (Senegal). The three member team has been appointed and begun preparing for this new mission. In August, mission Superior Celso CORBIOLI and Bro. Bernard KALING, a fourth year theologian who will do his regency in Farim, attended a month-long “missionary integration” course in Bissau. Fr. Carlo ANDOLFI, the third team member, was in Lisbon studying Portuguese. That is the official language of the former Portuguese colony. Creole and some African languages are also used.

Fifteen priests and sisters attended the course which was held at the major seminary. The rector of the seminary gave lessons in the Creole language in the morning, while the afternoons were taken up with lectures on the religious, social, political, economic and other aspects of the country. Experts like the Minister for Education, the Minister for Health, an army commander, doctors and others gave the lectures. Fr. Corbioli says that these lectures brought the participants face to face with the crude reality of the country which is still recovering from several years of civil war.

He notes that Guinea-Bissau is among the ten poorest countries in the world. Government employees have not received their salaries for seven or eight months, meaning that educational, medical and other important structures do not function. The Church is seen by Christians and non-Christians alike as an anchor of salvation, even though it cannot substitute for the government. Some services do however function well, and even better than in Europe. The missionaries were able to obtain residency permits and driver’s licenses in only a week. (In Italy several months are needed to get a residency permit!)

The two missionaries spent a weekend in their future mission in Farim, 120 km distant from Bissau. The journey is over a road that was paved during the colonial period and not touched since. Potholes and detours make it a long and arduous trek. The road ends abruptly at a wide river just across from Farim. It is possible to cross over in a few minutes by motorboat. There is also a ferry that can carry one car at a time, but no trucks.

The trip was organized by people from the diocesan Caritas office who were going to Farim for a meeting with civil authorities. There were Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, representatives of the traditional religions present. All were united in wanting to do something for Farim, the governor’s seat of the former colonial government. The city itself is predominantly Muslim. At the Sunday Mass there was a small group of Christians that did not even fill the small Church. The missionaries were told that the relations between the religious groups were good, as long as politics did not get involved. The Oblates plan to move in by mid-October.

There was a military coup in September. The leader seems to have been the army officer who addressed the missionary integration course in August! The postponement for the fourth time of parliamentary elections scheduled for October 12th seems to have provoked this move by the military.

A Provisional Government led by the military intends to hold the elections as planned. An e-mail from Fr. Celso indicated that all is calm. The Bishop of Bissau, José Camnate, has even been appointed president of the election committee.

AUSTRALIA

The life of St. Eugene on CD

A “Journey with St. Eugene de Mazenod” is the title a of CD-Rom developed by Fr. Harry DYER. He was helped in this two year project by Donna Castelli and Kaye Beston, both Religious Education Co-ordinators at Oblate parishes. The idea of making a CD came out of the desire to share the life of St. Eugene with others in a more accessible format. Books on St. Eugene have proved too cumbersome and difficult for the primary level children in Oblate schools.

After attending the De Mazenod Experience in Aix-en-Province, Fr. Harry arranged his gathered photos and information into a series of presentations that were displayed on a monthly basis in the church while he was at Burpengary. Parishioners were able to read and view this information at their leisure, coming to a better understanding of the person of Eugene de Mazenod, while taking a journey through his life.

These presentations were considered an ideal way to communicate the life of St. Eugene and so the idea of the CD-Rom for greater accessibility through an enjoyable and up to date format was decided upon. The CD-Rom brings together many areas of the life of St. Eugene and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate founded by him. (From Cosmic).

PHILIPPINES

Multi-Purpose Cooperative:

The Hope of Rural Folks

Farmers find it difficult to survive on their own because they lack the financial resources for the upkeep of their farm. The Community Employees, Laborers, and Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CELFAMCO) in Poblacion Kulaman, Senator Ninoy Aquino Municipality, Sultan Kudarat Province (Mindanao) strives to help the rural folks stand on their own amid the high cost of agricultural implements and unaffordable interest rates.

Recently, CELFAMCO realized its aim of financially assisting the farmers in the mountain-town of Sen. Ninoy Aquino through agricultural loans. Corn seeds, fertilizers and herbicides were made available at very low prices. The program helps the farmers improve the quality of their life. With the assistance of the Department of Labor and Employment for Region XII, the Cooperative was enabled to serve the people of the town by providing agricultural loans.

The CELFAMCO Grocery stocks low-cost items ranging from basic commodities like sugar, rice, and canned goods to soft drinks and fresh fish from the neighboring Lebak municipality. Its trucking service accommodates members and non-members alike who need lower fees to transport their agricultural products. The trading operation offers the farmers higher buying rates for their coffee and corn harvests.

The chairperson of the new Board of Directors, Fr. Rogelio CAALIM, is ably assisted by the cooperative manager, Fr. Jaime del Rosario, the treasurer Fr. Howard Tatel. Five active lay leaders complete the new Board.

The CELFAMCO was begun as an ordinary self-help association around 1981 by Fr. Richard Weixelman, assisted by Bro. Mauricio Zuyco. This first attempt was not successful. It was later revived by Fr. Rogelio Tabuada, around 1984 and has continued up to the present. It gained government recognition and has survived amidst toils and pains. It even extended assistance to the indigenous people and the farmers during the 1998 drought, by exchanging rice for their coffee produce.

Now, the Cooperative assists the indigenous people and the farmers in Senator Ninoy Aquino through the Sto. Nino Parish Rural Workers’ Association (SNPRWA) and the Sewod Village Association of Parents of Worker Children (SAMABAS). The SNPRWA focuses on learning farm techniques in order to educate the Manobos and the community on multi-cropping and animal farming in the households. The Notre Dame of Kulaman school also participates. While the students learn their lessons, they also assist the indigenous people in their farm care. The children and their parents take turns in actually caring for the farm and the animals. The aim of the program is for them to bring what they learn from the demonstration farm to their own Manobo communities.

The SAMABAS, on the other hand, focuses on the farmers of Sewod village. It helps them through low interest agricultural loans on implements, with profits returning to their Association.

Through the help and support of the parish lay leaders at the barrio level, the CELFAMCO, SNPRWA and SAMABAS alleviate the poverty of the indigenous people and the rural folks of Senator Ninoy Aquino. Members and non-members alike benefit from the low prices of the grocery goods and agricultural services available to all. (Fr. Jimmy del Rosario, OMI in the OMI Philippines Newsletter).

BARIL Joseph (N.D.-du-Rosaire) : Mes aurores boréales (My Northern Lights). Autobiography in which the author describes what he calls “the traces of God in his life,” during his fifty years as a missionary among the Inuit in the Canadian Far North. Médiaspaul, Montreal, 2003, 174 pp.

FUMOLEAU René (Grandin) : Denendeh : A Dene Celebration. Texts by past and present Dene Nation chiefs explain the history and culture of the Dene. Photographs by Fr. Fumoleau, who lived among the Dene for more than forty years, celebrate the lives and accomplishments of one of Canada’s oldest aboriginal peoples. His photographs have been exhibited at “Photo 77” in Ottawa, in other parts of Canada and in Japan. Published by the Dene Nation, Yellowknife, Denendeh, N.W.T., 1984, 144 pp.

Huel Raymond J.A. : Archbishop A.-A. Taché of St. Boniface: the “Good Fight” and the Illusive Vision. A modern critical biography of a remarkable figure in the history of western Canada as well as the larger history of Canada. The author is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Lethbridge. He was general editor of “The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the Canadian North West” series. The University of Alberta Press and Western Canadian Publishers, Edmonton, 2003, 429 pp.

ettÉ Fernand : Escritos Oblatos (Oblate Writings) Spanish translation of conferences, letters and homilies by Fr. Jetté during the period 1984 to 1986. The volume also includes a reprinting of earlier Spanish translations of Cartas a los Oblatos… (Letters to the Oblates) and El Misionero Oblato… (The Missionary Oblate) which will soon be out of print. Asunción (Paraguay), 2003, 430 pp.

Kelly Carl (St. Peter’s) : The Oblates of Saint Peter’s Province in Nova Scotia 1948 – 2003. A brief history of the Oblate presence in Nova Scotia. Private printing, 2003, 58 pp.

LavallÉe Guy (Manitoba) : The Metis of St. Laurent, Manitoba: Their Life and Stories 1920-1988. The author shares some of the history of his hometown – the unique Metis community of St. Laurent, Manitoba. It is like a community biography, steeped in the Oral Tradition, that elucidates the history of a community that has struggled to retain its Metis identity and the Michif-French language – the language of Louis Riel and the other Metis founders of Manitoba. Published by the author, Winnipeg (Manitoba), 2003, 171pp

LE TRESTE Joseph (1861-1955) : Souvenirs d’un missionnaire Breton dans le Nord-Ouest canadien. (Memoirs of a Breton Missionary in the Canadian Northwest). Edited and commented by Juliette Champagne, a doctoral student in history at Laval University. Septentrion, Sillery (Quebec), 1997, 332 pp.

McCarthy Martha : The Missions of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to the Athapaskans 1846-1870: Theory, Structure and Method. Typewritten manuscript of doctoral thesis. Department of History, University of Manitoba, 1981, 402 pp.

MERCADO Eliseo R., Jr. (Philippines) and Margie Moran Floirendo : Mindanao on the Mend. This book chronicles the peacebuilding efforts of the men and women who have risked their lives in the war-scarred heartland of Central Mindanao. Ryan Anson’s stunning photographs illuminate both the heartbreak and the hope of the three peoples of Mindanao (Muslims, Lumads and Christians) as they struggle to build a firm foundation for lasting peace in their communities. Anvil Publishing, Manila and Davao, 2003, 136 pp.

QUATRA Miguel Marcelo (Venezuela) : At the Side of the Multitudes: The Kingdom of God and the Mission of the Church in the FABC Documents. English translation of the doctoral thesis published earlier in Italian under the title Regno di Dio e missione della Chiesa nel contesto asiatico. (cf. OMI Info #371/1998). Claretian Publications, Quezon City, Philippines, 2000, 234 pp.

Rostkowski Marek (General House) : Bibliographia Missionaria Vol. LXVI = 2002. This 66th volume in the series contains 3,340 bibliographical entries of books, articles concerning the missions. It also includes 44 book reviews and 50 pages of index listing authors, persons and subject matters. Pontifical Urbaniana University, Vatican City, 2003, 408 pp.

SILVA Roshan J. (Colombo) : Integral Formation of Future Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the Rapidly Changing Realities of Sri Lanka. A paper submitted to the Institute of Spirituality of the Gregorian University for the licentiate in Spiritual Theology. After a review of the history of Oblate presence past and present and its formation programs, the paper looks at the twenty years of civil war and the resulting changes in society. The final chapters propose ways to train candidates to face the demands and needs of a new situation. Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2003, 122 pp.

STANG Egbert (St. Mary’s) : Treasuring the Church’s Daily Bible Readings. Reflections on the daily readings published on the occasion of the author’s golden jubilee of ordination. Marian Press, 2003, 506 pp.

STRYCZEK Ludwik (Cameroon) : Historique et développement de la Mission Catholique de Tcholliré. (History and Development of the Catholic Mission at Tcholliré). A history of this mission, in what is known today as the Mayo-Rey district, based on the correspondence, diaries and other documents of the missionaries who served there from 1956 to 2000. Private printing. Tcholliré and Paris, 2003, 107 pp.

VYSHKOVSKYY Pavlo (Ukraine) : La vita religiosa e spirituale dei cattolici di rito latino in Ucraina prima e durante la persecuzione comunista. (The Religious and Spiritual Life of Latin Rite Catholics in the Ukraine before and during the Communist Persecution.) A paper presented to the Faculty of Theology and the Institute of Spirituality of the Teresianum for the licentiate in theology. The first chapter describes the roots of piety, spirituality and holiness in the Ukraine. The next two chapters present the cruel persecution of the Church, which the author himself experienced, and how the faithful continued to live their faith despite the oppression. Teresianum, Rome, 2003, 109 pp.

OFFICIAL

Suffrages for our Deceased

Bro. Augustin Le Ray (France) in Pontmain

Prayer for the Forthcoming Chapter

Loving Saviour!

Through St. Eugene you have called us to be your co-operators.
You have entrusted us with the mission of proclaiming your Gospel,
to the poor and the most abandoned,
to the least touched by the regular ministry of the Church.

As our Congregation prepares for the General Chapter,
we ask for the gift of your Spirit on every Oblate.

Let the Chapter be a moment of truthful evaluation,
leading to a renewed sense of our mission;
a time to renew ourselves
in a religious and community life centered on you;
an opportunity to commit ourselves with a new daring,
to the needs of the world, for which you gave your life.

Let us become channels of your immense hope
in a world thirsting for the Spirit,
longing for justice, peace and love.

We ask this of you
through the intercession of Mary our Mother
and of Saint Eugene de Mazenod.
Amen.