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Oblates Preserve Mother Teresa’s Legacy
When Mother Teresa was canonized in September 2016, she was given the ultimate title – Saint. But to Fr. Edward Randall, OMI, she had a much simpler title – Friend.
For 15 years, Fr. Randall and Mother Teresa maintained one of the most unlikely of friendships. She was an international icon bringing attention to the plight of the world’s poorest of the poor. He was a simple parish priest in the small Appalachian town of Jenkins, Kentucky. But their passion to help the less fortunate was very similar.
In 1980, Fr. Randall arrived at a rundown St. George Parish in Jenkins. He had spent the previous 20 years working in poor missions in the South. He literally built the parish, using his carpentry skills to construct the church and serve residents of the small coal mining town.
Two years later, Mother Teresa decided to establish her first rural ministry in America and chose Jenkins to be the site of a shelter for abused women. Fr. Randall built a convent for the four Missionaries of Charity Sisters, and a friendship developed between him and Mother Teresa.
“I was real nervous during the first couple of days. Here was Mother Teresa sitting and listening to me. I felt like she should have been the one in front talking and I should have been sitting there being inspired by her,” Fr. Randall said.
For more than 25 years, Fr. Randall worked with the Missionaries of Charity in Jenkins, providing the poor with clothing, food, and shelter. He celebrated Mass every evening for the Sisters. In 2008, he had to leave his beloved Jenkins due to poor health. He passed away on October 7, 2009, at the Oblate infirmary in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
Today, Oblates around the world are partnering with the Missionaries of Charity to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the poor.
In Haiti, Fr. John Henault, OMI, is the chaplain for the Missionaries of Charity in the town of Dolan. The Oblates gave a large portion of their property to the Sisters, who built four dormitories to care for the sick. Today, the Sisters and Oblates work together to help about 400 people who have no other place to go for their medical needs.
In Tijuana, Mexico, the Oblates and the Missionaries of Charity are involved in outreach programs to the poor. During the summer, they operate schools in several locations for the neediest children, offering Bible study, arts and crafts, sports, and field trips. The Oblates and Sisters have recently opened a new catechetical center. For now, it is just a roof to protect people from the elements, but they hope to build walls soon.
Other Oblate and Missionaries of Charity partnerships include distributing food to the homeless in Ukraine, assisting garment workers in Bangladesh, and a group of Oblate Lay Associates who volunteer with the Sisters at their soup kitchen and women’s shelter in Miami.
Oblates in more than 70 countries are today carrying the torch passed to them by missionaries like Mother Teresa and Fr. Randall—a torch that will shine bright into the future and remove darkness from the lives of the poor.