A Living Stories Project
Unlike the other Provinces, the Oblates of the West
still have men from the days of its Foundation. Storywise
met with some of those men and used their comments to compile this survey of the
province's journey from a precarious beginning to missionary maturity.
A Province’s Progress
Vocations
The
province was established under the far-reaching vision of Father Chas Burns
omi who established the first policies and priorities of the Province.
Father Burns was originally from Texas where he was familiar with the Juniorate system of
recruiting young men for the Oblates. When he assumed leadership of the Western Province,
he took on high schools and a post high-school apostolate with a clear intention of
getting vocations for the province. He saw that as a priority from the very beginning,
along with taking on more missions.
North and South Tensions
In those early days, the province was basically North and South and
nothing in the middle. We were working in the North in Seattle and in San Fernando,
but as yet, we had no Oblates in Oakland. And though there was no civil strife between us,
the two groups of Oblates did not know each other, so Father Burns' idea was to try and
get us mixed up together and I remember that there were some tensions early on. But the
Provincial was a great man for getting people together.
The Inauguration of the New Province
I remember that he got all the men from the North and the South together to inaugurate
the new province and we all met for a mass and a meal and the official papers were read
out, and we took Mary Immaculate as our patron. And because we had this solidarity as
Oblates, that the Oblates you didn’t know were just like the cousins that you
hadn’t met, we were able to form this new province with a spirit of family, of Oblate
to Oblate, and things clicked once we were over that first shock.
Loyalty to Texas
Part of the legacy of the early days as I remember was that us guys who were from Texas
were awfully loyal to Texas. The Texas training instilled a great love for Texas and for
the Texas Oblate missions. You always heard Oblates bragging about how good the Texas
mission was, the golden land of Texas and it was clear that our allegiance was there. At
the start of the new province out here, we all had the option of returning to the Texas
province but only one did. The rest of us signed on here.
Annual retreats
One of the ways that helped gel us together were the annual retreats. I think that is
one of the ways we learnt an allegiance to the new province. By the second year, we were
all coming together at Mount Mary Immaculate, Lafayette, which was now beginning to
function as the first college pre-novitiate of the new province. It was a property
which Father Burns had purchased.
Fending for ourselves
As a new province, we had to learn to fend for ourselves pretty early. We didn’t
get a great financial pay out from our mother provinces. In fact, the province
started with five hundred dollars in the bank. That was all. Even the mission house in San
Diego that would have been a great asset for the new province was sold by the Texas
Province before we were independent. We were pretty much left on our own. Father
Burns had to take out loans to start the province.
Early Expansion
But in those first six years of Chas Burns’ term, we saw enormous expansion, where
we took on schools and prisons and parishes and opened Mount Mary Immaculate
Juniorate.
The McHugh Brothers
The history of the Province would not be complete without mentioning the McHugh
brothers, the three brothers who were Oblates.` Their mother was a wealthy lady and a
vital benefactor in those early days of the province.
Reaching
missionary maturity as a Province
When the province took on the Mexicali mission, I think that was
another turning point, a sign that the province had reached its missionary maturity if you
like. That openness to Spanish and Mexican missions was something that we inherited from
the Texas province. At the same time, what we inherited from the Eastern Province was the
ministry of preaching missions and Oblates like Joe Murphy and Tom Ryan established
a very good program for parish missions. In the 50's and 60's, these missions were in
English.
Oblate Hospitality
So I would say that the allegiance to the new province was inspired very early on by Father
Chas Burns and you always got a good old Oblate welcome wherever you went.
You felt a part of the guys. It was reminiscent of the Oblates in Texas who served in the
war as military chaplains. They got the Oblates a great reputation for hospitality, and I
think we did the same out here. When we were in Montana, we would always come down to the
retreats by way of Seattle so that we could visit with the Oblates there, even if it meant
going out of your way. That was the spirit of the Province.
The Crisis of the 1960's
In the 1960's we suffered such a severe depletion of numbers that we had to get out of
the schools. I know that it was happening to everybody in the Church, but it hit us like a
bolt of lightning.
A Prayer List for those who left
The guys who left us must have lived with their decision for a while but it was such a
shock to the rest of us to lose as many as we did. The Provincial at the time was deeply
effected by it, and is to this day. He carries in his breviary a list of all the men who
left us and it is in double figures, and he prays for them all.
A Province divided
After that provincial, the place was so divided and disturbed by the fallout that they
brought in an outsider as the next provincial, Fr. Dick Hanley,
from the Eastern Province. He was here from 1969-72 before he was named Superior General,
and we all loved him. He had personality and intelligence and he immediately warmed to
you. I remember one 4th of July he drove all the way to the Imperial Valley to
be with us, and it was 120 in the shade. He was around the province all the time and he
would work till midnight every night. He never used a typewriter but he would answer every
letter he received and add a page of his own news to go with it.
The Spirit of Charles Burns omi
I think that if Chas Burns came back today that he would recognize what he began,but I
am sure it would disappoint him that we gave up the schools. He was a man so full of the
Oblate mission spirit that in his 60's, he volunteered to join the new mission to Mexico
in Mexicali.
Back to the top.
[ Day One ] [ Day Two ] [ Day Three ] [ Day Four ] [ Day Five ] [ Day Six ] [ Day Seven ] [ Day Eight ] [ Day Nine ] [ Day Ten ] [ Summing Up ]
If you have any stories of your
own to add to "The Province's Progress," please follow the hyperlink to the Living Stories Discussion Page and post
in your additions or comments under Oblates of the West.
