Last Updated: Tuesday - 01/04/2011

Local woman named to Oblate council

QUEBEC CITY — Alberta woman Winifred Burman has been elected to the administrative council of the Secular Institute of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate during their general assembly here July 1-15.

Burman will be one of 11 women who will govern the secular institute over the next four years. She will continue to live in Alberta and travel to meetings held in eastern Canada twice a year.

Forty-two Oblate women attended the assembly, coming from all continents and representing 600 Oblates who serve in 23 countries. The institute was founded in New Brunswick by Oblate Father Louis-Marie Parent in July 1952.

Secular institutes are organizations of lay people, who make vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and who work to transform society from within.

One objective of the July assembly was to formulate the mission lived by the institute in light of its charism. The mission was defined as "Like Jesus, to manifest the unconditional love of God the Father to everyone by revealing the signs of his presence at the heart of daily life."

The assembly also examined the role of the Volunteers of God, committed lay men and women associated to the institute to extend its mission by living part of its spirituality.

A team appointed by the administrative council will explore new means to ensure the role of the more than 1,000 Volunteers of God around the world.

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