"Little in my Oblate life has turned out as I would have thought," said Fr. Bill Morell, O.M.I.

Fr. Morell, an Oblate for 35 years, has had many unique experiences in his ministry: he coached an Oblate high school soccer team to two state championships; he did mission work in Brazil and Mexico during his summer vacations; and he once almost missed a connection from Zambia because an elephant was blocking the road!

To Fr. Morell, surprises are part of God’s greater plan. “Many times what happens seems to be more the work of the Holy Spirit than my own planning."

The Holy Spirit’s guidance deeply impacted Fr. Morell’s life. “I was always interested in being a missionary, so after ordination I thought I’d be sent to Brazil or Mexico. Then, I get this call to teach high school. ‘It will only be for a year!’ One year turned into eight!”

After teaching and coaching at an Oblate high school seminary and directing a formation program for Oblate theology students in San Antonio, Fr. Morell was hoping to be assigned to a new mission in Zambia. “I was eager to take a sabbatical, then leave for Africa when I learned the Southern Province (the U.S. Province was once divided by area) needed a Provincial. I was asked to step in.”

The Oblate mission in Zambia had opened the year before Fr. Morell became the Southern Province Provincial. It was a dramatic move for the Province since the African continent and Zambia in particular were entirely new mission territory for the Oblates from Texas. “We knew very little about it, but we were confident it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit and our Oblate missionary zeal that had gotten us to Zambia. We had no idea exactly what would happen when we got there.”

The mission began with four professed Oblates and a lay missionary Oblate. Over the first several years the Oblate numbers in Zambia grew very slowly. Many of the lay missionaries who asked to help in Zambia were Fr. Morell’s former students. “It was so great to see guys who had considered Oblate life in the minor seminary, now married and with families, find a way to become a part of the Oblate Mission.”

The Zambia mission, now 22 years old, boasts a very large number of Zambian Oblate priests, brothers, and seminarians. The Oblates are involved in many new programs to help the Zambian people, including the Mongu Development Center, Our Lady’s Hospice for AIDS victims, and Oblate Radio Liseli.

Fr. Morell did eventually get assigned to Zambia when he finished as Provincial. But it was for a surprisingly short term. After only two years, he was asked to return to Texas to serve as President of the School of Theology he had attended as a student 30 years before. He is now the Vicar Provincial and the Director of the Office of Mission and Ministry. He visits U.S. missions to help them more fully live out the Oblate charism.

Looking back on the direction his life has taken, Fr. Morell reflected, “I don’t know if everyone’s life is like this. So many things fell into place and made sense, mainly through the help of the Holy Spirit."