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From Good to Great:
JPIC Staff attends Oblate Parish Conference.
St. Louis, 4th May 2007- The U.S. Oblate Province
organized a conference for the Oblates in parochial ministry from April
30 – May 4 at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The theme of the
meeting was "Moving Parish Ministry to Excellence" and exploring the
Oblate resources available to help in that process. The foundation of
this meeting was mandated by the U.S. Oblate “Immense Hope” statement
that called for moving from good to great. They were about 40
Oblates in attendance from all the U.S. Oblate Parishes.
The sessions were scheduled with such
topics as: Parish as Social Change, Secularity, Youth ministry, Oblate
Media and Technology, Reconciliation, Integrity of Creation, and
Immigration. George Ngolwe, JPIC staff, represented the JPIC Office and
presented the Missionary Challenge of Migration and the U.S. Immigration
Policy to the Oblate participants. They were given an update on the 2007
U.S. Immigration Reform and shown the resources available from the JPIC
office on Immigration and the Border.
This was a rich opportunity to hear
from the Oblates who, in their ministry, interact with immigrants on a
daily basis. The participants expressed the urgency for a Comprehensive
Immigration Reform so that families would be reunited and that the many
undocumented immigrants would have a legal process to enable them to
work and live in the U.S. With the theme of excellence in mind; it was
decided that the JPIC office and Oblate Parishes need to have a working
relationship. The result is the creation of an online discussion board
on Immigration that has been installed at
www.omiusa.org. Click on Parish (Accessible only with member
password). A legislative network has been developed to facilitate the
interaction of Oblate parishes and the JPIC office in Washington DC. |
