homeTHE ABBOT PRIMATE
Dear Oblates,
Third World Congress of Benedictine Oblates
The success of the Second World Congress of oblates encourages us to organize a third Congress.
An international consultation-group met at the Abbey of Montserrat in Catalonia in October 2010. The object of this meeting was to exchange impressions of the second congress and to discuss the possibility of holding a third congress. The impressions, observations and suggestions emerging from this meeting were sent to me.
The consultation-group suggested as an overall theme for a congress in 2013 - 'Obsculta - the Oblate listening in the World.' The actual wording of the title can be changed, but its thrust should remain.
With this letter I should like warmly to invite you to the Third World Congress of Benedictine Oblates which will be held in Rome from 4th to 10th October, 2013. Further information regarding the programme - which will be produced by an organizing committee - will be published after a second meeting of the international consultation-group at Douai Abbey in England in May, 2012.
In the meantime, I think it will help if people know well in advance the dates of the planned Congress.
Once again I should like to emphasize that this Congress is not an attempt to cantralize the various groups of oblates. The intention is, rather, to deepen their contacts with one another and, most importantly, their links with their monasteries of oblation.
As was the case with the last Congress, we can welcome only a limited number of participants from the various regions can come to Rome. We do not have the possibility of welcoming large numbvers of delegates. This fact makes it important that on their return participants share their experiences of the congress with other oblates of their monastery or region.
Sincerely
Notker Wolf OSB
Abbot Primate
Rome, 11th July, 2011
