April 23 : Happy Birthday Bishop Guillermo
Wilhelm STECKLING, OMI – Former Superior General (1998-2010)
Guillermo Wilhelm STECKLING was born on April 23, 1947, in Verl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, within the diocese of Paderborn. He first encountered the Oblates during a parish mission in his village.
In 1998, he was elected as the twelfth Superior General of the Congregation, succeeding Marcello ZAGO. He was reelected for a second term at the 34th General Chapter in 2004, serving until 2010, after which he returned to Paraguay as a missionary. On December 21, 2014, he was ordained as the new bishop of the diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.
In his first letter to the Congregation as Superior General, he highlighted the remarkable atmosphere of fraternity and unity during the 1998 General Chapter, attributing it to the gift of the Holy Spirit. He emphasized the diversity within the Congregation and the involvement of laypeople in the mission. Fr. STECKLING expressed pride in being part of such a diverse and united family, echoing the sentiments of Saint Eugene de Mazenod.
In his first letter to the Congregation as Superior General he wrote:
“The grace of the 1998 General Chapter:
It was said repeatedly that the most notable aspect of our meeting was the special atmosphere of fraternity and unity that marked it from beginning to end…[…] To what can we attribute such an atmosphere and extraordinary unity? The spirit of this Chapter was a gift from above…[…]
In my closing words to the Chapter I was able to say that for me personally it had been an experience of the Spirit, such as I have rarely felt before in my life. I do not think that we can doubt the presence of the Spirit whose fruits were so tangible: love, peace, joy (the African dances come especially to mind).
Without a special gift of the Holy Spirit, how could there be such a unity in a group of 114 persons of 27 different nationalities, two-thirds of whom were taking part in such an assembly for the first time? We, the Oblates who were gathered in the Chapter, were led to feel a legitimate pride in being part of this Congregation that evangelizes from the North Pole to the tip of South Africa, that works in the secularized societies of the Western world as well as among peoples steeped in ancient religious traditions, or in countries of the former Soviet block.
Many lay people are taking part in this mission and some of them have become attached to our charism in a special way. We received their representatives at the beginning of the Chapter and witnessed their enthusiasm.
How good it is to belong to such a family! We feel something of what Saint Eugene wrote: “…by loving each other as brothers, by considering our Society only as the most united family which exists on earth….” (December 25th, 1998)
#happybirthday #CharismaticFamily #pilgrimsofhopeincommunion #SuperiorGeneral