MEDITERRANEAN PROVINCE

Missioni OMI is a missionary magazine published by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Italy. Founded in Naples in 1921, it is going to celebrate 100 years of proud existence in 2021.  This year, the magazine will carry many special segments in view of its centenary celebrations.

It hosts a column written by Bishop Wilhelm STECKLING, Bishop of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay and the former Superior General (1998-2010). As 2020 also marks the sixtieth year of the disappearance of the Blessed Italian Oblate Mario Borzaga in Laos, the magazine carries a series of interviews done by Paolo Damosso (author of the most recent biography on Blessed Borzaga) with those who were closely associated Blessed Borzaga.

Meanwhile, Fr. Bruno FAVERO, missionary in Senegal, writes his comments on some unique photographs in the column Una foto per pensare. Angelica Ciccone, who is in-charge of the publication of the digital version of the magazine, presents some significant contents in the history of the magazine with her column “MissioniOMI-100”. In view of the centenary, a book with the history of the magazine and an index of its contents is also being worked on.

Although it is called Missioni OMI today, at its foundation it bore the name La Voce di Maria (Voice of Mary). Since then, its name has been changed twice more: Fino al Polo (To the Pole) (1955-1958) and, of course, Missioni OMI (since 1959). There have been ten Oblate editors altogether, and, most recently, Benito FRAMARIN (1992-1997), Nino BUCCA (1998-2003), Fabio CIARDI (2003-2011) and Pasquale CASTRILLI (2011- ).

Missioni OMI has nine issues each year, and each issue currently contains 44 pages. The editorial staff is also composed of Fr. Gianluca RIZZARO, Fr. Maurizio VELLA and Mariasara Castaldo.

In recent years, the magazine concentrated more on the Oblate missionary activities undertaken by the Mediterranean Province. Among them were numerous articles on youth activities and the mission with young people. Pages were reserved in each issue for the Costruire Youth Movement (MGC), and the pastoral ministry of vocations with interviews with all the young Oblates of the province who had been ordained priests. Other such themes are the pastoral care of migrants and the unification of the Oblate provinces of Spain and Italy. It also carries articles on various topics that interest the congregation: the OMI General Chapters, the bicentenary of the Oblate congregation, and the year of prayer for vocations. There is also no lack of articles in the magazine on the life of the Church and Society.

In addition to recounting missionary current affairs, Missioni OMI is an extraordinary tool for documenting the Oblate commitment to evangelization in Italy and in the nations that are traditionally linked to Italian Oblate history: Laos, Indonesia, Senegal, Uruguay, Romania, Guinea Bissau, as well as the United States, Canada, South Korea, Thailand, China, Venezuela, etc.

Fr. Pasquale CASTRILLI, OMI

The current editor, Fr. Pasquale CASTRILLI, wrote in the editorial of the January-February 2020 issue:

“We the Italian Oblates do not have a great tradition in communications, but this magazine (and for about ten years the website omimed.eu and social media profiles) are our only business cards, the only presence in the world of communications where we often express ourselves quickly and superficially. Our footprint in Italian society is really small, our readers are only a few thousand, but we can continue to search, intercept, meet, give space, evangelize”.

Missioni OMI reaches a worldwide audience who read Italian. For some years now, it has been possible to also receive the magazine by subscription in its digital version. The site www.missioniomi.it contains information on the contents of the magazine and how to subscribe.