Congratulations to Mr. Chris Allen!

The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales joyously welcomed Mr. Chris Allen, into the Oblate Novitiate this past weekend! He is pictured here with Oblate Provincials Fr. Jack Kolodziej and Fr. Joe Newman, and Oblate Novice Master Fr. Tom Helfrich.

Please keep Chris and all the men in Oblate formation in your prayers!

You can read about the wonderful choice of becoming and being an Oblate in a recent reflection by Fr. Joe Newman, OSFS, entitled “The Path.”

There is a split path from the Novitiate house to the chapel. Every day, I would walk the path from the house to the chapel for morning meditation and Mass. If you’ve ever spent time with me, you would know I am not one to arrive early. I am not chronically late, I am just on time. To mark the beginning of morning meditation, a bell would chime. It was important to be in your chair prior to the ringing of the bell. The path gave me a choice every morning.

The path from the Novitiate house to the chapel is in the form of a heart. You can go right or left, but not straight through the middle. Every morning, I would look at the path and have to choose – Should I stay on the path and take a few more steps to the chapel, or should I cut through the grass down the middle? Like most things in the Novitiate, the path taught a lesson… Read More