He has sent me to evangelize the poor.
The motto of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is “He has sent me to evangelize the poor. The poor are evangelized”
Since our foundation in 1816, we have lived up to our motto given to us by our Founder. Today we are present in 71 countries around the world.
In speaking about “missions”, Late Superior General, Marcel Zago OMI, said: “the word ‘missionary’ brings to mind images of faraway countries and extraordinary things. It also unveils something in the very depths of our being. Mission, in fact, speaks to us of openness to others, it spreads a message of loving discovery of what is different, it speaks of service to those in need. Every Christian is called to be a missionary. It is a requirement of his or her faith”.
“The Oblates of Mary Immaculate are missionaries in 71 countries. Their ideal is the evangelization of the poor. This ideal can be realized in the rehabilitation of drug addicts, in care for those suffering from AIDS, in planning for economic housing, in care of refugees and migrants, as well as in the re-evangelization of those who have become estranged from the faith.”
“The adventures of this army of five thousand men began with Eugene de Mazenod in 1816. He founded a community of priests devoted to missions for the evangelizing of rural populations. After twenty-five years of intensive work in France, he sent his first missionaries to Canada. Shortly thereafter, missionaries were sent to Sri Lanka and Southern Africa. This was the beginning of the Oblate epic that was to continue amid the ice of the North Pole and in the heat of the tropics, in countries that were Christian, Moslem, and Buddhist.”