The meeting participants included the presidents or leadership representatives of all the Oblate Institutes of Higher Learning: Ron ROLHEISER, Scott Woodward and Rene Espinosa — Oblate School of Theology (USA); John Renken — Saint Paul University (Canada); Francis ZABALA — Notre Dame University (Philippines); Anaclet DUPAR — Institut Saint Eugene (DRC Congo); Wojciech KLUJ — Obra Scholasticate/Faculty of Missiology (Poland); Rayappan AROKIASAMY — De Mazenod Institute of Philosophy (India); and Ewen SWARTZ, Nhlanhla John MHLANGA and Joseph PHIRI St. Joseph’s Theological Institute (South Africa). Warren BROWN, General Councilor for Canada-US, serves as the group’s coordinator and was also present.
(L-R) Rayappan Arokoasamy, Rene Espinosa, John Renken, Ewen Swartz, Warren Brown, Wojciech Klus, John Mhlanga, Scott Woodward, Francis Zabala
The meetings were held at St. Joseph’s and at a Conference Venue near Cedara. Among the various topics discussed, the first theme was an update of the programs being developed by Fr. Francis SANTUCCI as the Kusenberger Chair of Oblate Studies in San Antonio. All the institutes were invited by Frank to recruit participants for the program as he continues to develop more materials for the Master of Arts degree in Spirituality and for the Certificate.
There was also a presentation given via Skype by Ms. Graciela Etchart of the Oblate Office on Mission Sustainability, on “Building Capacity for the Financial Sustainability of Oblate Units” which generated some good discussions on future planning and financial education.
The representatives of the various institutes also met individually during the week in one-on-one meetings to discuss present collaborative efforts and to develop plans for future collaboration. The final day of the meeting, on Friday June 1st, included a visit to St. Joseph’s facilities and an Academic Assembly for presentations and discussions with members of the staff.
St. Joseph’s Oblate Scholastics Choir
