By Father Alberto Tamayo | Special Contributor

While all Oratories have a meeting point in the Confederation of Oratories of St. Philip Neri, each Oratory remains an autonomous community with its own governance, its own statutes and its own means of support. Oratorians live in together and do not move from location to location but remain in one location and among one community of brothers for life. 

As their numbers permit, Oratorians may serve in parishes and ministries near the Oratory or they might establish new ministries with the approval of the local bishop, but they never move away from their Oratory. Rather, they live and pray in the Oratory and may travel out to another ministry location. Their home is always the Oratory and the main ministry of the community is the Oratory Church (this is the church and parish where the Oratory is located and which the local bishop entrusts to the care of that Oratory in perpetuity).

St. Philip liked to refer to the Oratory as “the nest.” It is the place where each face is known to the other, where each is loved by the other, and where each grows together through prayer and communal life. It is also the place where each is challenged to sacrifice for the other, to put up with the other, to forgive the other as is true in all families. It is the place where generosity of spirit and magnanimity of heart can grow.

Some have asked us why we chose to do this. It is difficult to give one answer since each of us has had different circumstances and life experiences which have lead us to this moment. Yet at the same time there is a commonality. Each of us has come to experience the great joy of praying, working and living as a family of brothers. We are a small family of friends who have found that we can better love God, serve him and serve his people together than we could on our own. It is really as simple as that

We also believe that other men who feel called to be secular priests will also find inspiration in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. It provides in our Diocese another avenue for men who feel called to the priesthood or to be brothers.

Finally, in our father and founder, St. Philip, we have found a beautiful model of joyfully living the Gospel, a model that we desire to share with others. It is our help, that with St. Philip as our model and intercessor, we might live the Gospel together with joy. We also pray that our small endeavor here at St. Anthony’s might bear good, strong fruit not only for ourselves but also for our brother priests in the Diocese who sacrifice so much to serve God and his people.