Our Mission

The Missionary Oblate Partnership is a voluntary association of Oblates of Mary Immaculate and men and women working together to support the Oblate charism of serving the world’s poor.

Rooted in the Body of Christ, the Partnership believes that each of us, even though our lives may be miles or literally worlds apart, are called to be one with each other.  Individually and together we are called to be one- with Christ.

It is our belief that in meeting these two objectives both Partners and those we serve become more deeply identified with the truth most central to our faith:  that we are all one in the Body of Christ.

Adopted May, 2005, Chicago, Illinois

The Partnership’s objectives are two-fold.

  • First, to facilitate an understanding by Partners of the world’s poor that stimulates greater personal and spiritual solidarity with these poor as our brothers and sisters.
  • Second, to experience this solidarity as a call to action, which seeks to further this connection between Partners and these “least”  through  prayerful, emotional and financial support of Oblates and those who share their ideals,  in the United States and around the world.

Our History

The Partnership began in 2004 as an initiative of the US Province of Missionary Oblates that would provide a new way to engage with individuals and institutions who support the Oblate charism of evangelizing the world’s poor.

Specifically, the Partnership promises a collaborative relationship between its members and the Oblates themselves. The goal is to generate resources from Partners and funding institutions for Oblate projects in the U.S. and around the world but to also give back to these Partners and institutions resources that the Oblates themselves possess: their mission, their spirituality and a targeted, impactful and accountable approach to mission philanthropy.

Partners have meetings each year with Oblate leadership to better understand its goals and mission initiatives in the US and in 68 other countries throughout the world. Additionally, the Partnership promises members as detailed an opportunity as they need to understand those that their philanthropy impacts. 

This is accomplished through detailed reporting, conference calls and through trips to sites around the world that are offered each year. Finally, the Partnership exists as an ongoing educational resource for Partners, Oblates and the larger Church, as evidenced in its annual De Mazenod Conference and other ad hoc events.

Oblate Partnership Members include not only Oblates themselves but lay men and women and other Catholic religious, including diocesan priests and bishops and women religious.  The Partnership includes non-Catholic members as well.

There are now more than 125 Partners in the U.S. and Europe.

The scope the Partnership has also broadened in the last few years to include not only Partners and Oblates and the people they serve but also Catholic missionaries in developing world countries. In 2015, the Missionary Oblate Partnership acquired Mission Project Service from the Brothers of Christian Instruction.  

Mission Project Service (MPS) is a capacity-building platform dedicated to increasing the fund-development skills and effectiveness of Catholic missionaries who seek fund development knowledge and support for their pastoral and socio-economic projects.

MPS “teaches missionaries to fish” through it’s bi-annual publication of The MPS Funding Guide – a resource that provides detailed information on 332+ grant-making organizations as well as skill-building grant research, writing and reporting tools. MPS also offers on-site grant writing workshops in locations across the globe.