Oblate Outreach and Animation
Oblate JPIC is constantly exploring ways to expand connection with Oblates working on the ground and the people they minster with. The goal for Animation is to uplift the work done by our Oblates and associates, including local Oblates in social justice ministry. We provide educational resources, action alerts and reflections on core issues of justice. We also regularly share news and highlights of our work through social media. JPIC staff engages in active listening with Oblates to collaborate on justice issues of the day and we rely on them to share stories related to our work with their larger audience. Oblates also contribute by writing reflections and articles for JPIC publications.
As part of our outreach and animation program we offer workshops at mission centers, formation houses, shrines and retreat houses and parishes. We will continue to reflect and act on issues that directly impact Oblate ministries and how they fit within Oblate charism. In our JPIC strategy planning, we are constantly asking:
- Empowered by Oblate charism; how can we make a difference?
- How can we respond to care for God’s Creation?
- How does Catholic Social Teaching inspire us to offer solidarity for the Poor and Abandoned?
- How can we support action and genuine dialogue on social justice issues (e.g. Pro-life, Immigration, Ecology, Death penalty, and Economic justice) in Oblate institutions?
“Responding to the call of the Spirit, some Oblates identify themselves with the poor, sharing their life and commitment to justice; others are present where decisions affecting the future of the poor are being made… Whatever their work, Oblates will collaborate, according to their vocation and by every means compatible with the Gospel, in changing all that is a cause of oppression and poverty. They thereby help to create a society based on the dignity of the human person created in the image of God” (Rule 9a). Here we find the meaning of the Oblate Cross and the non-negotiable preferential option for the poor that we commit ourselves to in wearing it.” (OMI JPIC Companion in Mission)
