The traditional Lenten mission, celebrated in many Romanian parishes (13-20 March), has been turned into a genuine “people’s” event at Tirgu Jiu. The missionaries visit people in their homes to directly announce the Word of God. The “people’s” mission lasts for a week and aims to meet all the families of the parish. The programme also includes morning prayer for the young, celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharistic liturgy. The mission was inaugurated by Archbishop loan Robu of Bucharest during Sunday Mass on 13 March. During the same mass, Fr. Giuseppe Rubino of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), Fr. Elio Fitardo OMI, scholastic Benoni Varga OMI and pre-novice Lucian Bosoi received the cross and mandate to preach Jesus Christ on the territory of the parish of St. John of Capestrano. In this year that the archdiocese of Bucharest has dedicated to the Eucharist and the family, Father Petru Husariu planned the people’s mission to renew the fabric of his own parish community, scattered through the town of Tirgu Jiu, which has some 70,000 inhabitants. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate, founded by St. Eugene de Mazenod in France in 1816 for the preaching of the missions, have responded to this request and are contributing to the new evangelization also in Romania according to the style and tradition of their charism. The congregation has been present in Romania since 1998, with convents at Maracineni and (since 2003) also at Roman. In the diocese of Bucharest the Oblates are involved in youth apostolate, conduct preaching activities in the parishes, animate the ongoing formation of consecrated persons and, in the diaconate of Craiova, accompany laity and families in the Christian life.
