Reflections - August 15 in Arnprior

by Jim Noonan, Stittsville, ON (Corpus NCR)

   August 15 was a remarkable day at the Galilee Centre in Arnprior, Ontario. For the final day of the four-day annual retreat, now called Gathering 2002, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, friends and former Oblates were invited to join the Oblates to help them discern the future of their community, and to suggest how they might carry out their particular charism, "to evangelize the poor."
Invitations were sent out to these people well in advance, and a warm welcome greeted my wife Norma and me and about 100 others who came to this beautiful property on the banks of the Ottawa river thirty miles north of Ottawa -- a property where many of us spent one year of our young lives when it was the Oblate novitiate house.
The invitation of the new Oblate Provincial stated in part: "We would like you to know that your involvement with the Oblates has been, and continues to be, important to us." With such a vote of confidence, how could one decline the invitation?
The occasion for this special gathering was the imminent demise of the existing Oblate province of St. Peter's which in December 2003 will give way to a new Oblate province uniting five of the present Canadian provinces into one to be called Lacombe Province. The new province will stretch from Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island.
What was important for a former Oblate like myself was to be invited to such a meeting at all. It was not the first Oblate gathering I have been invited to in recent years, but I can recall only one previous occasion when I was consulted by the Oblates. That day in Arnprior included workshops and a general session of all those present to discuss the future of the Oblates. There was a liturgy, a vows ceremony for young Oblates, a sending of one man to the missions, and a delightful barbeque lunch. Former as well as present Oblates were given the opportunity to express themselves on the future of the congregation, and to renew friendships they had made many years ago.
There was even an invitation for friends and former Oblates to follow up on this day's activities by being further involved in meetings to be convened by the outreach arm of the province, the Missionary Association of Mary Immaculate. The first of these meetings was held in Ottawa on October 30, and the second on November 27. The twenty of so people who attended them plan to meet on a regular basis.
Indeed, so open are the Oblates to the involvement of former Oblates in their work that the latter could participate in a major way in the ministry of the Oblates. This could offer many pastoral possibilities for resigned priests who want to get involved in ministry again, and is a development to which Corpus Canada might well pay close attention.
While I was flattered to be invited to the August 15 gathering and to subsequent meetings in Ottawa, I could not help but ask why such an invitation had not been extended more often in the past. On a broader scale, I wondered why non-clerical priests have not been invited to associate with their former colleagues and brother priests on a regular basis throughout the Church.
I know this has been done in some cases. The Basilian Fathers hold a gathering every two years for present and former Basilians at their summer camp on Strawberry Island north of Toronto - the same island, incidentally, where Pope John Paul II resided during his visit to Canada for World Youth Day last July. This year it took place a week after the Pope left the island. Former Basilians and their wives have told me what a wonderful reunion that biennial event is.
But I have not heard of many such gatherings among other groups. I wonder what is the experience of other resigned priests, and especially of former diocesan priests. Have they been welcomed back into the company of their bishops as friends, and invited to join them and their fellow priests for social and spiritual gatherings which could be supportive for both those who have resigned and those who have remained active in the priesthood?
Is reconciliation possible between Church leaders and those who once stood shoulder to shoulder with them as Church leaders? Can active priests and bishops embrace non-active priests, and realize they could still work with one another until that day when a married priesthood will be part of a renewed priesthood? Will they be able to support and embrace one another even then? I raise these questions in the hope that other readers of The Journal will share with us their experiences with the priests and bishops they once worked with in parishes and schools and hospitals and convents and diocesan and religious offices and in the streets.
My feelings towards the Oblates have changed since I was invited to help them look at their past and move into the future in a world in which there are many fewer priests than when I was ordained as one of them. And Norma and I look forward to joining them again when the new Lacombe Province is officially launched in December 2003.

Flo Broun and Wayne Jarvo