Long before Andrea and Bernadette Adamo were married, someone took a picture of them together at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston.
They had only recently met through the Oblates’ young adult community, and, as Bernadette remembers it, they joked that the photograph looked as though they were getting married. “We still have that picture,” Andrea says. Sixteen years of marriage and three children later, the picture feels a little prophetic.
Finding a Faith Community
Both Andrea and Bernadette had come to St. Clement independently, looking for a community where they could take their Catholic faith seriously. Bernadette was searching for other faithful young adults, and for priests willing to support them as they grew in faith together. What she found felt genuine. “There was nothing artificial about them,” she recalls. “I loved them.”
Andrea was drawn to something slightly different. He laughingly describes the Oblates of the Virgin Mary as “hardcore,” but his meaning is clear.
“Their heart is fully centered on Jesus. And I love that. Their being centered helps me stay centered.” — Andrea Adamo
That centeredness became important as Andrea and Bernadette began discerning a life together. During their courtship, they spent considerable time in Eucharistic Adoration at the St. Clement Shrine. Andrea remembers those hours before the Blessed Sacrament as part of the maturing of their relationship. Before their marriage, they made a retreat at St. Joseph Retreat House in Milton.
Their faith was not simply something they shared. It became the foundation on which they built their marriage. “When God is your priority, all the other things fall into place,” Andrea says. For Bernadette, faith is even more elemental.
“I can’t even picture life without God. He’s like the air we breathe.” — Bernadette Adamo
Faith Through Every Season
As marriage became family life, seasons changed. Three children arrived. The family-friendly style and easy parking at the Prudential Center made the St. Francis Chapel an attractive place to stay connected to the OMV priests and spirituality.
There were also difficult seasons. Serious health complications surrounding the births of their children brought fear and uncertainty alongside tremendous gratitude. Their first son, Andrea says, was not expected to survive beyond birth. Today he is a thriving teenager. Similar challenges followed with their other children.
“Our whole childbirth journey has been a string of challenges followed by miracles,” Bernadette says. Through all of them, Andrea adds, they experienced the hand of God giving them “strength, courage and patience.”
Like Background Music
And through the changing seasons of their lives, the Oblates remained part of the landscape. Bernadette reaches for a musical image to describe it:
“The Oblates are central… kind of like background music. They’re always there.”
Sometimes that presence has been front and center: Eucharistic Adoration, retreats, Confession, the powerful witness of the homilies, friendships with individual priests. At other times it has simply been the dependable rhythm of Sunday Mass and knowing that the doors are open.
For Bernadette, what stands out most is not any single program or moment; it is the way the Oblates are present. She describes their “gentle presence and availability,” their open-door welcome and the steady support and shepherding her family has received over the years.
“The Oblates are like that steady stream,” she says. Their presence is different from some of the larger, more charismatic influences in their lives. It is quieter and more constant: care, friendship, good preaching and priests who are simply available when they are needed.
Andrea describes the same experience in fewer words:
“Companionship in this earthly journey.”
He also values the conviction beneath that companionship. When asked to describe the Oblate charism, Andrea points to their fidelity to the core teachings of the Church, devotion to the Holy Father and their life under the guidance of Mary—”pillars of Catholicism,” he says, that resonate deeply with their family.
Why They Give
Over two decades after that first photograph at St. Clement, Andrea and Bernadette continue to choose the Oblates of the Virgin Mary as an important part of their family’s life.
“We choose to come here for a reason,” says Bernadette, and Andrea adds, “We attend Mass at the Church probably 80% of the year. We come here for Confession and for Adoration when possible.”
For the Adamos, that choice and the gratitude they feel finds expression in generosity. They take seriously the biblical call to offer God their first fruits, intentionally setting aside part of what they have received for ministries that have become especially important to their family. The Oblates of the Virgin Mary are among them.
Andrea explains their giving much as he explains the rest of their life of faith.
“If you receive, you also have to give.”— Andrea Adamo
They have received much over the years: the Sacraments, prayer, friendship, faithful teaching, accompaniment through difficult seasons and a community that was there when their own family story first began.
Giving back is one of their ways of responding. And, as Bernadette reminds us, God’s generosity cannot be outdone.
Help the Oblates Be There for the Next Family
For over two decades, the Oblates have been a steady presence for the Adamos: in Adoration, in Confession, at Sunday Mass, and through some of their hardest seasons. Your gift helps keep those doors open, so more families can find that same companionship on their own journey of faith.
As Andrea says, “If you receive, you also have to give.” Will you join the Adamos in supporting the Oblates this year?
