Meet Some Oblate Associates
Karen and David Sax

We were raised, educated and married in Saskatchewan and now are retired “Islanders” in British Columbia. We have four daughters, two of whom live on Vancouver Island with our youngest grandson, one in Prince George and another in Regina with her family. We are Oblate Associates because the charism of Saint Eugene de Mazenod has been guiding us since our young adulthood.

We were invited to journey with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1996 through our involvement with Glenn Zimmer OMI and Margaret Dick SNJM at Qu’Appelle House of Prayer in Saskatchewan. Some nine years later we were invited to meet in Saskatoon with other Oblates, both vowed and Associates, about lay association. Right from the very beginning of our marriage, we have felt called to be welcoming and hospitable followers of Christ, building Christian community, while serving the greater community. We really felt like we were at home when we gathered to share and celebrate with our Oblate community, and realized quite early in our journey with them that the charism of St. Eugene was unknowingly written right in our marriage vows from the very beginning.

Over the next couple of years, regular gatherings with the Oblates provided formation and made us yearn again for an intentional Christian community. We went through a discernment process and became Associate members of the Saskatchewan District in February 2008 and again after the formation of Oblates Associates of OMI Lacombe Canada. David has served a term as lay participant on the Saskatchewan District Leadership team and attended the 2011 Convocation in Vancouver. We’ve made our second 3 year commitment to our Oblate family, this time with the community in British Columbia.

We were living the Oblate charism in Saskatchewan through service in parishes providing marriage preparation, prayer formation, sharing groups, active social justice outreach and building bridges between people and communities. David had a career as a counsellor, psychologist and spiritual director. Karen had a career in the municipal public service. Since our retirement, we have continued to live out our Oblate charism in more quiet ways, but in all ways with a sense of hospitality and gratitude.

The photo on the left was taken at our All Saints Parish picnic on August 25, 2019. We both volunteer, within and outside the parish. Karen has become part time office manager for this new (since 2018) parish, which encompasses St. Joseph’s Church in Chemainus, a former Oblate parish, and St. Mary’s Church in Ladysmith.