In November 2023, members of the De Mazenod Family in Australia came together to participate in the De Mazenod Family Gathering. During the gathering, we launched the “De Mazenod Family Lay Association Guidelines”.
This document was created as a guide to association with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the Australian Province. It was published for the growing and diverse community of those who associate with the Charism of St Eugene de Mazenod and/or the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. For those who seek to share the charism, live the spirituality and collaborate in the ministry.
Inspired by the charism of the Holy Spirit given to St Eugene de Mazenod, many have chosen to walk in the footsteps of the Apostles. While the various groups and levels differ in their mission, their belonging to the De Mazenod Family celebrates the unity shared in the common mission to evangelise the poor and most abandoned.
The De Mazenod Family Office and National Committee seeks to support this unity by providing a space for deeper relationship and spiritual growth for mission.
In Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter to all Consecrated People, he reminds us that “around each religious family, every Society of Apostolic Life and every Secular Institute, there is a larger family, a “charismatic family”, which includes numbers of Institutes which identify with the same charism, and especially lay faithful who feel called, precisely as lay persons, to share in the same charismatic reality.” (cfr. Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter to All Consecrated People, III, 1)
Since the canonisation of St Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, many people are seeking to know more about St Eugene and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and share in the charism of St Eugene de Mazenod. The Oblates have acknowledged this in their Constitutions and Rules:
“The charism of St Eugene de Mazenod is a gift of the Spirit to the Church, and it radiates throughout the world. Lay people recognise that they are called to share in the charism according to their state of life, and to live it in ways that vary according to milieu and cultures. They share in the charism in the spirit of communion and reciprocity amongst themselves and with the Oblates.” (Rule 37a)
The ultimate goal for these guidelines is to outline the four opportunities to connect to the Lay Association of the De Mazenod Family in Australia.
