October into November

Bloemfontein Clergy Golf Tournament
The annual Golf Tournament starts on Monday 24 November - Priests from as far as Postmasburg and a Bishop from De Aar are gathering in Bloemfontein for this Masters Event. Fr D'Aes is the convenor of the event.Metropolitan Bishops Meeting
The Bloemfontein Metropolitan Bishops met at the Claerhout Retreat House from the 10th -13th November. Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo and Bishops: Hecht, Bucher, Risi, Brislin who make up the new Metropolitan. The meeting finished on Thursday with the Joint Witness with the Major Superiors of the Congregations in the Province. All in all both were successful encounters.

Recent Visitors:

Br Jens Weniger OMI,
a student from Germany, has come to our Province as part of his Regency. He will be staying in Mafikeng with Fr Meindl for an experience of a mission situation outside Germany. Here he is pictured visiting our community at the Oblate House in Bloemfontein together with Fr Mahlomola.

Fr Jef Cleymans a diocesan priest and Fr Eugene Van Helden OMI both from Kappellen, Belgium, near Antwerp have been visiting Fr Joye & the communities in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp also Fr Bessemans & Fr Louis in Kimberley and Fr D'Aes in Bloemfontein.

Oblate House Bloemfontein.

The Kelly Family:
If you ask the Children at St Bernard's or St Mary's School what is happening - they will quickly reply that the most significant reality for them is the visit of the Kelly family from Maynooth, Ireland. They are inspired and excited by this international contact. We congratulate the Kelly family for their listening to the situation here in SA and in the schools. We hope that together an exciting programme of exchange can be developed.

OMI Youth Ministry
The Oblate Youth Ministry was given a boost this year with the appointment of Fr Thidiso Moleko OMI to be full time Provincial Youth Chaplain and further boosted by the talents and commitment of our two regents Br Lehlohonolo and Br Paneng. They have worked systematically in the District to launch and support the Youth activity in the individual parishes where the Oblates are the Parish Priests. On the 15th & 16th of Nov the leadership group met at the Oblate House to do some strategic planning for 2009.

OMI Annual Retreat
Fr Dave Power OMI preached the Retreat for the Province this year. Here he is pictured with Fr John Nolan at the Oblate House where he came to rest between retreats in the OMI Sub-Region.



Oblates from the District in Rome

Fr Selomo Sooli OMI is fitting well into the International environment of the General House. He has done well in the first round of exams in Psychology and Italian which are essential for his studies.

Arcbishop Jabulani Nxumalo OMI seen at the General House after representing the SACBC at the Synod. Present from Africa were Bishop Phillip Pöllitzer OMI from Namibian Bishop's Conference, Bishop Evaristus Bitsoane Lesotho Bishops Conference. From further afield were Bishop Bejoy D’CRUZE OMI (Khulna, Bangladesh) and Bishop Rayappu Joseph (Mannar, Sri Lanka).

Br Rex Harrison OMI attended this third meeting of the Standing Committee for Oblate Brothers (Rome 2008), which is essentially one representative brother from each of the Oblate Regions and a Rep from Poland and the General House together with Fr Oswald Firth liaison for the General Council. In this meeting we consentrated on Formation issues, finalised Statutes, attempted to find ways of adequately articulating the Oblate Brother vocation relevant to the needs of the church today and we prepared for the Chapter in 2010.