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from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Father Heinz-Wilhelm Steckling was elected yesterday to be the new superior general of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The German priest was elected on the first ballot by the 113 members of the order's chapter general, meeting in Rome.

      Father Steckling was born in 1947 and made his perpetual vows in 1973. After ordination in 1974 he was sent to Paraguay, where he worked as a missionary among the Guarani Indians, eventually becoming the provincial for the Oblates in that region. In 1986 he opened a house for discernment of vocations, and in 1992 was elected assistant general.

      As superior general, Father Steckling succeeds Msgr. Marcello Zago, who is also the secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Evangelization. Msgr. Zago had reached the end of his second term in that office.

      The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were founded in 1816 by St. Eugene de Mazenod, then the Archbishop of Marseilles. Today the order has 4,900 members, working in 68 countries.