“OST showed me this is what the Church teaches us, this is the Magisterium of the Church, this is the tradition of the Church, and here is the reality of the Church. Here, I have learned that it is all of us working together in collaboration, including working with laypeople, to build the kingdom of God.”
Seminarians and religious students educated at OST are immersed in a rich multi-cultural environment while being educated in the context of the whole Church.
OST has been a leader in Hispanic Ministry with a longstanding commitment to teaching the traditions of the Hispanic/Latino Church. OST offers multiple Spanish graduate and certificate programs that provide a rich context through culturally sensitive academic and pastoral instruction, equipping students for effective ministry within the multicultural communities they will serve after graduation. Fostering cultural humility and immersion, OST stays committed to advancing its Hispanic community engagement so that the Gospel is preached to all people of Hispanic/Latino origin.
“The formation I received at OST has become a living source of grace in my daily service. The courses continue to shape how I listen, accompany, and bring God’s compassion to those who are suffering or seeking His presence. What I learned has enriched not only my ministry, but also my own relationship with God”
Founded in 1903 and inspired by the charism of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Oblate School of Theology (OST) educates, forms, and renews men and women to “preach the Gospel to the most abandoned.”
Over 60% of students at OST receive scholarships
Rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition, OST forms an international, intercultural, bilingual, ecumenical community of learning.
OST offers multiple Spanish graduate and certificate programs that provide a rich context through culturally sensitive academic and pastoral instruction.
OST has been accredited by the Association of Theological Schools for over 40 years.
Our Mission
Inspired by the charism of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Oblate School of Theology (OST) educates, forms, and renews men and women to “preach the Gospel to the most abandoned.” OST is a community of scholars and students who respect and celebrate global cultural diversity through various languages, traditions, and backgrounds firmly rooted in Christ.
Our Purpose
The institution prepares persons for pastoral ministry through academic study and supervised practice. Through degree and certificate programs, OST strives to educate and form candidates for priestly ministry as well as lay ministries. Beyond its Master’s level degrees, OST offers both academic and professional doctoral degrees, as well as opportunities for professional continuing education and personal spiritual renewal to those serving in the church, society, and the academy.
The pastoral orientation of the School requires practical and reflective engagement with the multi-cultural, global reality of church and society.
Oblate Charisms
-
Our charism originates from a story; it is the story of a young man, Eugene de Mazenod. Throughout his life, he experienced in himself the merciful love of God, manifested in Jesus Christ, the Crucified Savior. We too, inspired by our Founder, recognize the power of Christ in us, and we want evangelize, that is to say, to make Him known and to show by our lives the joy of the Good News.
-
From Eugene’s meeting with Jesus on the cross, he felt moved by the deplorable situation of the church of his time, and called to rekindle the flame of faith that was dying in the hearts of so many of her children, especially the poor. Therefore, it is to the poor above all that we take this message of liberating joy: to the most abandoned humans, those whose situation cries out for justice before God.
-
For that reason, we live in community, a human group where we strengthen each other in faith, in charity, enriching each other from our discovery of God and of Christ who lives and works in us and in the world.
-
We are missionaries. Once Pope Pius XI referred to us as “Specialists in the difficult missions of the Church”. We want to dedicate our lives to all those who either do not know Jesus Christ or have forgotten Him in their lives, wherever they are in the world and therefore many Oblates serve in lands outside their own. In mission, we search for our way to holiness.
-
We are “Obaltes”. That means, missionaries totally given, unconditionally and without return, to the God to whom we already belong and to the brothers and sisters to whom we are sent. Consecrated Life is the “frame” within which we live our oblation. Oblation means that radical dedication, without reservation, to the work of Christ, the fulfillment of His mission. Together in community we dedicate our lives to build up the family of God’s children — and thus they help realize the prayer of Jesus: “That all may be one.”
-
We are Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. She is our Model, our Patroness and our Mother. In her we see Christ, we see God. In her “fiat”, she shows us how to cooperate with the Will of God, and to live the death of Jesus, so that we share in His resurrection. We Oblates live our mission with her. As stated by Pope Leo XI, our mission as Oblates is to “bring to the womb of the Mother of Mercy those children whom Christ from the cross wanted to give her.” That is why when Eugene contemplates Mary, he calls her “Mother of the Mission”.
To learn more about the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, click here.