Oblate News


2023-2024 Oblate Program:

This year’s theme is Listening.

We start this year at the beginning of The Rule of St. Benedict, at the very first words of the Prologue: “Listen carefully…to the Master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”

We pause in the busyness and fullness of life. We settle into a period of quiet. In the stillness, we listen. We are listening for God. Who are we called to be, this year, today, in this very present moment? We desire to serve God and express the best of ourselves as God will’s. By our vows we are in the service of God. And we glorify God by serving others. We listen for God. What is the path of greatest love?

Our Oblate Prayer requests of God “…enable us to listen and to learn from each other and those around us each day.”

We listen through the sacred reading of Scripture, Lectio Divina.
We listen in periods set aside in reverence for meditation.

Each Oblate meeting of the year will begin with silence for 5-10 minutes and will be structured on a topic that supports our theme.

Our program this year is to foster a space among us for openness, sharing, listening, and waiting for how the Holy Spirit will inspire us individually and as a group.

For inquiries, please email: oblates@glastonburyabbey.org and a Steering Committee member will get back to you. Oblates meet the first Tuesday of every month September through July starting with Compline at 7:15 PM on YouTube, followed by our 7:30 PM hybrid meeting. The September meeting is the official start of our new year. During Compline, we celebrate new Novice commitments, new Oblates making their Oblation and current Oblates making their yearly renewal.

Oblate Steering Committee 2023-2024:  Jean McDonald, John Hopkins, Doreen McCongahy, Walt Fraser, Karen Casale.


Oblate Calendar 2021-2022

Oblate Calendar 2020-2021

Oblate Calendar 2019-2020

John Hopkins from the Oblate Steering Committee, wishes to share Lynn Ungar's poem, "Pandemic," a beautiful sentiment in these troubling times. Click here to read the poem.

Oblate Updates:
April 2020

March 2020

February 2020

January 2020

Nov. - Dec. 2019

Sept. - Oct. 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

March 2019

February 2019

January 2019

Oblates for the Future: Symposium 2021, September 28-October 2, 2021
Click here for details on this Retreat-Oblate Symposium postponed until 2021.


Oblates for the Future Symposium: Cottonwood, Idaho, October 2018
Click here for Symposium summary article on Page 7 of the American Monastic Newsletter.


5th International Oblate Congress: "Moving Forward: Living the Wisdom of the Rule."
Rome, November 2022. (Exact dates to be posted when available).

4th International Oblate Congress: "A Way Forward: Living the Wisdom of the Rule."
Rome, November 2017

Click here to read an article by Abbot Primate Gregory Polan.

Click here to read Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, keynote address from the 4th International Oblate Congress held in Rome, November 2017

Click here to read the article by Judith Valente, November, 27, 2017, "Benedictine Oblates Stand at a Crossroads in Monastic History"