Oceania

The Missionary Oblates arrived on the shores of Fremantle, Western Australia in 1894. Three missionaries from Ireland responded to the call from the Church in Australia to look after this portside parish and an accompanying reformatory school. Thus began the Oblate mission in Oceania. Over the next 125 years and more, the Oblate missionaries spread across this great southern land, preaching missions and establishing schools and churches. At one point, the Oceania mission extended to New Zealand and Tahiti, but now is constrained to the island of Australia.

Apart from its original two parish holdings, one in the west and one in the east, the early days saw the Oblates preach popular missions all throughout Australia, helping to rebuild parish life, bring youth to the church and engage families in their faith. Following the Second World War, a call from the Australian Bishops saw the Oblates establish their first high school for boys in Brisbane. This began a big part of the Australian mission, a dedication to Catholic education. Today, the Oblates administer three secondary colleges for boys.

The influx of migrants into Australia from the 1950s until today has seen our cities grow, new parishes develop and our Catholic faith become very multicultural. In five states of Australia, the Oblates administer parishes, often in outer suburban areas with largely multicultural populations. Many of these parishes have been hubs of youth and family ministry over the many years the Oblates have been present there.

Since 2001, a large youth ministry movement has operated across our Oblate schools and parishes. Oblate Youth Australia seeks to provide young Australians a space to encounter Jesus Christ and to become co-missionaries with the Oblates in preaching the Good News to all creation. The Oblates continue to be chaplains to youth in schools, parishes and universities. They also work as chaplains in prisons and hospitals. For over 50 years now, the Oblates have sought to care for the homeless and socially isolated. Founding the organisation of Rosies, and continuing to support its growth, the Missionary Oblates work alongside lay communities to fulfil the vision of St Eugene de Mazenod in reaching out to the poor and marginalized in our communities.

“We strive to reproduce in ourselves the pattern of his life. Thus, we give ourselves to the Father in obedience even unto death and dedicate ourselves to God’s people in unselfish love. Our apostolic zeal is sustained by the unreserved gift we make of ourselves in our oblation, an offering constantly renewed by the challenges of our mission.” - OMI Constitutions & Rules, C. 2

Fr John Sherman OMI speaks of the history of Iona College and education in the Australian mission

Every summer Oblate Youth Australia holds the National Oblate Youth Encounter for young people from our Oblate schools and parishes

Rosies extends the mission of the Oblates to bring friendship and dignity to those on the margins