Europe

Europe is where the Oblate mission began, in the small town of Aix-en-Provence in France. But today, the Oblate missionaries have spread across this continent. Still maintaining a missionary presence in France, the Oblates now also minister in Spain, Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czechia, Austria, Poland, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine.

Although Europe was once the home of Christendom, over the last few centuries there has been a growing secularisation and many falling away from the Christian faith. The need then, in these places, is to work amongst the youth and to evangelize a new generation of Europe.

Europe is home to some of the oldest Christian communities as well as now welcoming migrants from other parts of the world who bring their own flavour of Catholicism. The Missionary Oblates across Europe work in a myriad of ministries. There are some well-established provinces where the Oblates minister in parishes and shrines. In many places, they set up communties in the midst of secularity and invite people, particularly the young, to come and share in their life.

There are newer missions like in Scandinavia where the Oblates minister to a very small, but growing, community of Catholics. Then there are those working on the edge of war and poverty like our missions in Belarus and Ukraine. The region of Europe for decades has sent thousands of missionaries out across the world and every other region still has European missionaries working there. But now, also, Europe is receiving Oblate missionaries from other parts of the world to help in our mission to make Jesus Christ known.

“We will spare no effort to awaken or to re-awaken the faith in the people to whom we are sent, and we will help them to discover ‘who Christ is’. Our mission puts us on constant call to respond to the most urgent needs of the Church through various forms of witness and ministry, but especially through proclaiming the Word of God which finds its fulfilment in the celebration of the sacraments and in service to others.” - OMI Constitutions & Rules, R. 7.

The Missionary Oblates in Poland organise an annual youth festival, the Festival of Life, to bring faith and culture together for the young generations.

The Anglo-Irish province hosts the longest-running English-speaking pilgrimage to Lourdes every year. The Oblates work alongside lay volunteers from Oblate communities to bring the sick to Lourdes for healing.

The Superior General visits the Oblates in Ukraine amidst the war with Russia and promises solidarity from the rest of the Oblate world.