Welcome to the OMI Seminary in Poland After visiting the places where the Oblate Congregation was started I made my way to the place where I spent 6 years preparing myself to become a Catholic priest. The Oblate Seminary in Obra, Poland, brings back lots of memories. In late September 1996 I arrived there after completing the Novitiate and after taking the first vows. The next 6 years were to be the time grace. Some people think that in the seminary future priests learn how to do Mass. In a sense it is true but it happens during the final year. The most important aspect of the training that is call formation, isn’t simply limited to studying theology but it involves the gradual development of the whole person. That’s why the center, or better to say, the heart of the seminary is the chapel, there we spent many hours every day. Why? Because Jesus is there present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. A priest to be professional needs to have lots of skills but the greatest contribution he can make to the parish or another community is his profound relationship with Christ. I still remember one of our professors who was teaching us about the Holy Trinity. He would finish classes earlier in order to send us the chapel with the same instruction: “You have learnt about God. Now go to talk to Him so that your knowledge can develop into loving him more.” What I am most grateful for my time in Obra is that we breathed prayer. Our whole life was soaked with prayer.
If I could compare our praying to humidity in Sydney it would mean that what Sydneysiders need to deal with is a piece of cake. However we wouldn’t say that our prayers were killing us (I have heard many times people in Sydney saying that humidity is killing them) but that it was the testing field. If Jesus is calling somebody to be a priest he gives the man the desire to be closer to him. If a seminarian isn’t called he would suffer spending so many hours in the chapel but in this way he can discover that it isn’t his way of life.
If I could compare our praying to humidity in Sydney it would mean that what Sydneysiders need to deal with is a piece of cake. However we wouldn’t say that our prayers were killing us (I have heard many times people in Sydney saying that humidity is killing them) but that it was the testing field. If Jesus is calling somebody to be a priest he gives the man the desire to be closer to him. If a seminarian isn’t called he would suffer spending so many hours in the chapel but in this way he can discover that it isn’t his way of life.
The heart of the Seminary, Chapel
The hear is still beating
Seminarians at prayer
Apart from praying we also had Oblate priests to help us to grow in our vocation. Each one of us had a spiritual director to whom we opened up our souls so that he could offer us advice, support or challenge. We also benefited from living in the community. When you live with some other people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week you come to know them through and through but they come to know you through and through as well. Then two things can happen you come to love them as your brothers or you can’t stand them and you leave the seminary. It is a great experience of appreciating the other for who he is. I always found it astonishing that people who never met before, who didn’t choose each other can grow to become more then best friends but they become brothers for each other. Of course it isn’t an easy process. It demands lots of humility and patience but the outcome is great. When our group joined the Oblates we a bunch of individuals. During the course of the seminary Jesus drew us together to himself, that’s why we became close to each other, not because we were perfect angels but because we learnt to forgive and support each other. The seminary was made of year groups that were our basic communities. After lunch and tea we would come together to our recreational room for some time of sharing and fun. However when somebody was sick his bedroom would become the recreational room. The healthy seminarians would take their tea and coffee and would occupy the floor of the sick guy’s room. In this way no one would be left out.
Of course the seminary is also a university course. We studied Philosophy and Theology. I must admit it was tough. Sometimes I wonder how we managed so many classes and exams. Every term we would sit ten or fifteen exams. But we handled that. If somebody struggled with a subject he could always rely of free tutoring from his classmates.
Another aspect of our seminary formation was work. There is a farm providing fresh and yummy ingredients to the kitchen, but it means that we participated in producing the stuff. Even the city boys had to learn very quickly how to attend the farm animals and how to work in the field. At times there were more or less funny incidents, like when a classmate of mine was told to go to the veggie garden to pull out the weeds. He worked very hard but he removed the good stuff leaving the weeds happy with more space to grow. The Oblate who was in charge of the garden nearly collapsed when he saw my mate standing there tired but very proud. Well, as you can guess the student didn’t get a medal for his work but from the fury reaction of the Oblate he learnt a valuable lesson, if you do something for the first time ASK first. We also were responsible for keeping the whole building, and believe me it is a big building, clean. There is also a big park around where grass keeps growing and the leaves keeps falling, giving us plenty to do. However it was an important life lesson. We didn’t get spoilt and lazy preparing to become priests but we came to value and appreciate work. I didn’t feel much different from my mates from high school who as lay students had to study at University and work a couple of jobs at the same time. The only difference was that we weren’t paid for our work but we work for our Oblate family. We learnt to be responsible for the community.
It was such a fantastic time.
Of course the seminary is also a university course. We studied Philosophy and Theology. I must admit it was tough. Sometimes I wonder how we managed so many classes and exams. Every term we would sit ten or fifteen exams. But we handled that. If somebody struggled with a subject he could always rely of free tutoring from his classmates.
Another aspect of our seminary formation was work. There is a farm providing fresh and yummy ingredients to the kitchen, but it means that we participated in producing the stuff. Even the city boys had to learn very quickly how to attend the farm animals and how to work in the field. At times there were more or less funny incidents, like when a classmate of mine was told to go to the veggie garden to pull out the weeds. He worked very hard but he removed the good stuff leaving the weeds happy with more space to grow. The Oblate who was in charge of the garden nearly collapsed when he saw my mate standing there tired but very proud. Well, as you can guess the student didn’t get a medal for his work but from the fury reaction of the Oblate he learnt a valuable lesson, if you do something for the first time ASK first. We also were responsible for keeping the whole building, and believe me it is a big building, clean. There is also a big park around where grass keeps growing and the leaves keeps falling, giving us plenty to do. However it was an important life lesson. We didn’t get spoilt and lazy preparing to become priests but we came to value and appreciate work. I didn’t feel much different from my mates from high school who as lay students had to study at University and work a couple of jobs at the same time. The only difference was that we weren’t paid for our work but we work for our Oblate family. We learnt to be responsible for the community.
It was such a fantastic time.
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