From the very beginning of the first Norbertine Abbeys during the life of St. Norbert there were committed men and women who offered themselves to support the life and ministry of the Order. This oblate membership continues at some abbeys around the world and has full expression here in Albuquerque at Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey. Currently at SMDLV there are three oblates who have made such a lifetime commitment.

The Norbertines have pledged their spiritual support and friendship during the formation of each oblate. This formation follows the rhythm of all those joining the order as vowed men; two years as a novice, three years in simple profession and then final lifetime promises.  It is a serious commitment in which each oblate accepts the responsibility of participating in the charisms of community, contemplation, and compassionate service.

The final profession of each oblate is based on a covenant of friendship.  The oblate promises continued commitment to spiritual conversion, regular presence to the SMDLV Community and service to the Church and to the world, consistent with the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions of the Norbertine Order. The oblates support the life and ministry of the Norbertines and in turn share friendship, table and the witness of the Risen Christ to the world.

I have been a member of the Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey as an oblate since 2006 when the community and I developed a Covenant of Friendship. This relationship developed through many years of service to and affiliation with the solemnly professed members of the abbey, sharing in both their ministerial and communal life joining in meetings and celebrations. This particular relationship was formalized through a five-year structured process of formation resulting in final promises to the abbey in 2011. Earning a degree through the Saint Norbert College program in Albuquerque and a Certificate through the Liturgical Institute of the Southwest allowed me to serve with the Norbertines at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish and at the abbey church. Studying the life of St. Norbert, the Rule of Augustine, the Constitutions of the Order and participating in International Gatherings of Norbertines allowed me to broaden my understanding and helped me become a more integrated member of the community. As I seek to live out the Santa Maria de la Vid Mission Statement, I am challenged to live both a communal and private life as a married woman. It is my desire to maintain a commitment to ministry, to contemplative prayer with ready willingness to live out life in the spirit of St. Norbert in my everyday life. I am grateful to the community for their hospitality and willingness to embrace me as a communal member and to help me grow in my own spiritual life.

I was born in Seattle, Washington in December of 1945 – the oldest of three children in an Air Force family. Because of my father’s work, we traveled a great deal and I spent my childhood in Washington, Ohio, Arizona, England (3 years where we lived off base and I learned much about England’s history and culture), Maine, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Alaska.
When I was 13, I joined the aspirancy (kind of like a junior seminary except it was for teens hoping to join religious life) of the Felician Sisters, a Franciscan community, in Ponca City, Oklahoma. When I was 17, having just graduated from the aspirancy high school, I joined the Felician Sisters and spent the next 21 years in that community. During that time I was a teacher – mostly in jr. high, director of religious education at Nativity Parish in Albuquerque, and director of religious education for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.  My education focused on English, theology and ministry.
In 1984, I realized that, much as I loved the sisters with whom I lived and worked and the community to which I had belonged for so long, I was being called in a different direction, and I began the process which ended in my leaving the community officially in 1986. I spent one more year with the Archdiocese and then spent the end of 1987 in a three month retreat and writing what resulted in three adult faith formation workbooks. In 1988 I was hired as one of the first co-directors of the Center for Action and Contemplation where I spent the next eight years in a very fulfilling ministry.
In 1996 I left the CAC to become project director for New Mexico’s Citizen Review Board (CRB) – a state constitution-mandated board that operates in every NM county to review the cases of abused and neglected children and offer for-the-best-interest-of-the-child recommendations to the courts. This was good work but not where my heart was, and in 1998 I was delighted to be offered a position at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Community, at that time a Norbertine parish, where I spent the next seventeen years, retiring in 2015.
Since that time, I’ve done volunteer work with refugees and asylum seekers, and, since 2016, have coordinated the St. Norbert College Master of Theological Studies Program in New Mexico.
One of the results of my CRB work was the decision shortly after my father’s death in 2000 to adopt a child, and in 2002 I adopted Jasmine – who was two weeks away from her 12^th birthday when she arrived in Albuquerque. She is now 33 and while I have no regrets about the decision to adopt, I feel a great deal of relief that some very painful and tumultuous times are over. Jasmine currently lives in Arizona with her four children, and we are in regular contact.
After several years as a Norbertine Associate, in 2008, I became a Norbertine Oblate and, in 2013, when making my final profession, also made private vows similar to those I’d made as a Felician many years before. This felt like coming full circle in a life that has been blessed in so many ways and I am most grateful.
 

Dr. Joseph Sandoval entered the Norbertine Community on November 27, 2011. He came to the Order of Prémontré after leaving the Society of Jesus, being a Jesuit in the novitiate in Louisiana. Before becoming an Oblate, he discerned with the community to become a full member of the community. After finding his path as an Oblate, he was installed as an acolyte and earned a Master of Theological Studies degree at the New Mexico campus of St. Norbert College located at the Abbey. His thesis paper was titled “Making God Relevant: A Process Theology Understanding of God and Evil in a Modern World.” With that study he now considers himself a process theologian. Since that time, he earned a Doctorate in Biblical Studies at the Colorado Theological Seminary, where his dissertation was titled “Correcting Historical Misinterpretations of the Secondary Characters of Christian Scripture: What were the motivating factors for redefining and misinterpreting Christian figures?” Both works are available at the Norbertine Library. 
Joseph also serves as the Director of Communications for the Abbey. In that role he runs the website, designs and creates print material to promote the Abbey, serves as the community’s photographer and videographer, performs various IT duties, and other duties. He serves the Archdioceses of Santa Fe by sitting on the Committee on Admissions and Scrutinies for permanent deacons as well as facilitating courses at the University of Dayton to assist in the formation of deaconate aspirants. 

Prior to finding his path in religious communities, Joseph had a diverse career being a long-time college professor, was a bank vice president, track & field coach, marketing director, owner of a graphic design firm, and federal bank regulator. His undergraduate degree is in Economics from Arizona State University. Joseph was born and raised in Albuquerque.