Oblate News

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.

2019-2020 Oblate Program

Welcome to the Oblate News web page. We hope this is a helpful resource for information about the Glastonbury Abbey Oblate program.

This year's theme is “Understanding and Living the Rule of St. Benedict as Oblates: Our Stories as Tools for Spiritual Growth.” We have planned a year of monthly gatherings that will focus on a variety of ways to engage our Oblate community as we seek God’s presence in our lives. Through means of focusing on Lectio, speaker presentations, sharing our stories, studying The Rule and book discussions, we can continue to enhance our prayer life and formation for our daily lives. We also will be interacting with the monastic community of Glastonbury Abbey through prayer and communal worship.

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 August through June starting with Compline at 7:15 PM in the Abbey church, followed by our 7:45 PM meeting at the Morcone Center. 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 2019-2020:  Doreen McConaghy, John Hopkins, Anne Engel, Joseph O'Brien, Katherine Burbank

Oblate Calendar 2019-2020

Oblate Calendar 2018-2019

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"