Redemptorists

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

As always, I pray that you are blessed. I want to thank all of those who helped plan the celebrations of my birthday (60) and anniversaries of profession (35) and ordination (30), and all those who celebrate them. I also want to thank all of you who have been a part of these last couple years in Grand Rapids. My journey has had many twists and turns that I never would have predicted, but I believe they were all guided by the Spirit so I could be where God wanted me to be, even at times when I could not see it (or perhaps, didn’t want to see it). Like any life, there have been moments of pain, sorrow, and struggle, but there have been far more moments of blessing and joy. I have done things, gone places, met people and been a part of things that I would have never imagined. ...God is good, all the time!

I think almost all of you know that most of us Redemptorists were gone last week in order to attend province meetings and I thank those who made our absence possible. While almost all of you know who the Redemptorists are, I try not to make the mistake of assuming that “everyone” does. When I was first ordained I was sent to our parish in Kansas City, Missouri. Its nickname is “Redemptorist parish”. After my arrival I had a confusing discussion with a parishioner that led me to the realization that some parishioners thought that a “Redemptorist” priest was simply a priest stationed at “Redemptorist parish.”

There are basically two types of priests, diocesan & religious. Diocesan priests are attached to a diocese or archdiocese which is defined by a set of geographical boundaries and are usually centered around a metropolitan area. Religious priests belong to a community that may or may not have geographic boundaries. If they do, those boundaries tend to be much larger. The United States are currently divided into two Redemptorist provinces. Diocesan priests take their oath of obedience to a bishop and otherwise live a fairly autonomous life. Religious take their oath of obedience to their provincial, and if they are ministering in a parish, to the local bishop as well.

Religious priests, like religious brothers and nuns, take an additional vow of poverty and most religious live in community with other members of their religious order. In some orders, some of these members may be “brothers,” who serve in various capacities, but are not ordained as priests. Some of these communities are set up in parish rectories. And so, while some of the priests may be doing parish ministry like Fr. Chung and I, other members of the community do other ministries, such as Fr. Eugene who works in Hispanic ministry and Fr. Tom who works in continuing education for our province and also does a global-wide ministry in scrupulosity. While neither Eugene or Tom are assigned to the parish, they do help us out with masses and other occasional needs. Br. Leo, who is not a priest, also has a number of ministries and helps out the parish in a number of ways as most of you know.

There are many types of religious orders. Some, like the Franciscans, are very large and others are quite small. Some live as cloistered monks and others live by themselves. Each religious order has their own charism and ministerial focus. Some work as a completely self-contained unit such as the Trappists who also add an oath of silence. Some do a singular ministry like teaching. Others, like the Redemptorists, do a wide range of ministries.

The Redemptorist’s Charism is to minister to the poor and the most abandoned. Our primary mission is to identify and minister to those who have been abandoned by society and The Church. Historically this was immigrants, such as, the Germans, the French, and the Irish. At this last chapter we turned our attention towards the Hispanic and Black communities. We do this in a number of ways. One of our primary ministries is itinerant preaching, but we also run publishing houses and retreat centers. Traditionally we did not do parish ministry, but it became common practice in the United States and is spreading in popularity throughout the world. While our parishes are part of the local (arch)diocese, we try to make them special by sharing our charism, and in these days of fewer and fewer priests, we try to assign two or three priests. Since our charism is to work with the poor, our parishes have tended to be in poorer communities. As communities grew and changed, as immigrants became integrated into mainstream society, the economic conditions often changed, and so, we sometimes made decisions to move elsewhere. Some of our parishes, like St. Alphonsus, adapted to the change by establishing ministries that serve the needs of the poor. Many of us also try to make preaching an important element by striving to deliver quality homilies. And of course, since our order was entrusted with the care and spread of the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, we spread devotion to Mary under that title no matter where we go. This has probably been our biggest success. I hope this gives you a little understanding of who we Redemptorists are and how we minister in The Church.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick