The Oblate Charism: Constitutions and Rules

On February 17, 1826, Pope Leo XII gave formal approval of the Constitutions and Rules for the newly formed Oblates of Mary Immaculate. (There were 22 Oblates then!). One hundred and forty years later, in 1966, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate called a General Chapter to express the fundamental principles of Oblate life and apostolate. These principles were to capture the spirit and to meet the criteria of the Second Vatican Council which had accelerated the tempo of change and renewal in the worldwide Church. In 1980, Oblate delegates from around the world gave their consent to a rewritten text of the Oblate Constitutions and Rules. The Church gave its approval and confirmation to this Oblate rule of life in 1982. Once again, in 1998, Oblate delegates met once again to update our Constitutions and Rules so as to better reflect the changing challenges of our times. In approving the revisions in 2002, the Church expressed the wish that the Missionary Oblates (now some 4,000 in number) live even more generously their total consecration to God and to the specific mission entrusted to them by the Church. Our Oblate Constitutions and Rules are a capsule statement of our Oblate charism, of who and what we are as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The Oblate Charism: Evangelization of the Poor
Highlights from our Oblate Constitutions capture the missionary character of our charism.

• The call of Jesus Christ, heard within the Church through people's need for salvation, draws us together in apostolic communities of priests and Brothers as Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
• We are men "…set apart for the Gospel", – ready to leave everything to be disciples of Jesus.
• The community of the Apostles with Jesus is the model of our life.
• The cross of Jesus is central to our mission.
• We are a missionary Congregation. We commit ourselves principally to evangelizing the poor.
• Our love for the Church inspires us to fulfill our mission in communion with the pastors whom the Lord has given to his people.
• As priests and Brothers, we have complementary responsibilities in evangelizing.
• We will always be close to the people with whom we work.
• We are members of the prophetic Church. We announce the liberating presence of Jesus and the new world born in his resurrection.
• We look on Mary Immaculate as our mother. In the joys and sorrows of our missionary life we feel close to her who is the Mother of Mercy.

The Oblate Charism: Vowed Life
Our mission requires that, in a radical way, we follow Jesus who was chaste and poor and who redeemed the world by his obedience. That is why, through a gift of the Father, we choose the way of the evangelical counsels. 

(Oblate Constitutions and Rules, C12)

In following Christ, each Oblate strives to place his total self at the Saviour's disposal. Our vows witness to consecration to God, service to the Church, and sign to the world. Chastity
The Oblate responds to a special invitation from Christ, to choose celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom. We choose celibacy as a liberating challenge: a challenge to free ourselves for a love which reaches out to everyone, and a challenge to the tendency to possess and use others for selfish purposes. The choice to remain celibate and to live chastely calls us to develop the riches of the heart. It is an affirmation of life and love.

Poverty
We follow a Master who became poor for our sake and who calls us to choose poverty.

Our choice compels us to enter into closer communion with Jesus and with the poor, to contest the excesses of power and wealth, and to proclaim the coming of a new world freed from selfishness and open to sharing.

We hold all things in common, adopting a simple lifestyle. By our vow, we commit ourselves to a life of voluntary poverty. We renounce the right to use and to dispose, on our own authority, anything of monetary value.

Obedience
Called to follow Christ, we listen attentively to the Father's voice so that we may spend ourselves without reserve to accomplish his plan of salvation. By obedience we become the servants of all. Our obedience challenges the spirit of domination and is a sign of a new world wherein persons recognize their close interdependence. Our work makes us dependent on others in many ways. It requires real detachment from our own will and a deep sense of the Church. We conform our lives and missionary activities to the Rule.

Perseverance
The Holy Spirit inspires all Christians to constancy in their love. The same Spirit develops in us a close attachment to the Congregation. Our perseverance is thus a sign of Christ’s fidelity to the Father. We will help each other find joy and fulfillment in our community life and in our apostolate, supporting one another in our resolution to be faithful to the Congregation regardless of any temptation to withdraw from it. In the vow of perseverance, we publicly attest to our attachment to our religious family and our definitive commitment to its mission.