It's Official

News Release

from the

Baltimore Province of the 

Redemptorist Congregation

Issued by Office of Mission Advancement (ROMA)

Church Communities to Lease Mount St. Alphonsus

Redemptorist legacy at the retreat house in Esopus will be preserved by the new
occupants.

April 29, 2011 — The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province are pleased to announce an agreement with Church Communities to lease Mount St. Alphonsus Retreat Center on Route 9W in Esopus, NY. Church Communities (churchcommunities.org) will move in by February 1, 2012 and plans to continue the use of the existing facilities as a religious community and educational center. Some of the property will be used for farming, which hearkens back to the days when Redemptorists first worked the land when it served as the congregation’s North American seminary.

“The agreement with Church Communities is a wonderful fit for the Mount,” said Baltimore Provincial Kevin Moley. “We’re pleased that the property will remain a place of prayer and of work for the glory of God.”

The chapel’s stained glass windows, a very visible representation of the Mount’s Redemptorist history, will remain along with much of the original construction and décor. A perpetual easement for the cemetery will guarantee continued access to and use of the burial ground by the Redemptorists.

During a transition period, the Redemptorists will continue to use the gatehouse. The Redemptoristines, a group of contemplative Catholic nuns, also will continue to occupy their convent, which is located on the property.

Built between 1904 and 1907, the Mount opened in 1908 as the Redemptorists’ North American House of Studies. In addition to being a place of study, Mount St. Alphonsus was a self-sustaining property — the Redemptorist brothers farmed and raised animals for their own food. Since 1985, when the students relocated to Washington, D.C., the Mount has served as a retreat center.

In February 2011, the Redemptorists announced that they would cease retreat operations at the Mount in January 2012 due to changing ministry demands and an aging membership.

“The Mount will always hold a special place in the hearts of all Redemptorists,” Father Moley said. “The decision to end our ministry here was not an easy one. More than 1,000 Redemptorist priests were ordained in the beautiful chapel over the years, including myself. And the many thousands of retreatants who have come to the Mount over the last 25 years have been a great blessing to us.”

Church Communities, also known as the Bruderhof, is an international network of Christian communities originating in 1921 in Germany. Its first community in the United States, Woodcrest, was established in nearby Rifton, NY in 1954. Members take Jesus Christ and the early Christian church as their example for daily living.

Esopus Town Supervisor John Coutant said, “The Mount property is an important part of the fabric and history of the Town of Esopus. Together with the Town Board, I am excited to see the stewardship of this property pass on to Church Communities, and that our Town will not be negatively impacted by a change to this pristine environment.”

Who are the Redemptorists?

The Redemptorists were founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1732 in Naples, Italy. The priests and brothers minister to the spiritual and material needs of the faithful, especially the poor and most spiritually abandoned. Their primary ministry is preaching. There are approximately 300 Redemptorists serving in the United States, and approximately 5,300 worldwide.

The Baltimore Province of the Redemptorists maintains its headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. The province was created in 1850 and took its name from its home city of Baltimore, MD. The name was retained when the headquarters relocated to New York.

For more information about the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, visit http://www.redemptorists.net/.

"The Times They are a Changin' "

"Whither Thou Goest I Will Go"
Ruth 1:16

The word ‘monastery’ conjures immediate mental images. Among them are notions of stability, solidity and timelessness. In the long view of history, however, these associations are not verified. A tramp through Europe brings the curious tourist from one abandoned monastic ruin after another. A reading of the histories of the major monastic orders reveals dislocation and destruction in abundance; sacking of monasteries in Britain in the 16th century; expulsion of monastics from France in the 17th and again in the 18th centuries; ravages of repeated wars as in the destruction of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Casino, linchpin of the German hold on Italy subjected to incessant Allied bombing in World War II. These are just a few examples. And today we see historical evidence of a cross cultural phenomenon in the Dalai Lama and his community of Buddhist monks made to live in exile from their monasteries in Tibet.

Today our community is beginning the process of giving witness to the universal reality of the impermanence of all things. At this time of year the meaning of the adage, ‘There’s nothin’ certain ‘cept death and taxes’, rings very true with US taxpayers. But that wisdom also speaks about the ever present insecurity of life. Things change all the time. People we love move away or die. Jobs are lost. Marriages end. Relationships suddenly go haywire. Fortunes disappear. What we planned for, what we desired, does not come to pass. The rug can get pulled out from under us in so many varied ways and when we least expect it.

An effort has been made on this blog to present the reality of contemplative monastic life within the context of vocation and the life of faith. So here it is. We have just begun to grapple with the knowledge that we will have to move our community within the next two years. The foundation was made here in Esopus, New York in 1957 by six sisters who came from Canada. Three of those sisters were born in the United States but became Redemptoristines in Canada because there was no monastery of the Order in the US. In 1960 the nuns moved into large monastery built to house over forty. Over the years the community failed to reach that size; the building became more and more difficult to maintain and heat; and an aging community found the lack of handicapped accessibility more and more problematic. In 2001 the original monastery was razed and this coomunity of  nuns moved into a new building immediately adjacent which was more suitable to its size and needs. All of this was done by the generosity of our Redemptorists brothers, the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorist Congregation of priests and brothers. We are endlessly grateful to them.

Through these last ten years we have been blessed in this comfortable house filled with light and open to views of the surrounding hills and the flowing Hudson River. All the while the Redemptorists have been struggling in the effort to maintain this large property and the huge former seminary building now a retreat house. Within the last few years they have had to come to grips with this reality and have been in discernment mode, all the while keeping us aware of their considerations. At the beginning of the year we learned of their Chapter’s decision to lease this property and what that eventuality would mean for us. At this time we have no other news to share.

Contemplative nuns take solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Each baptized person is called to live out these virtues according to their life circumstance. Those in vows make a determined and dedicated effort to do so. Our current situation calls all of these vows, the evangelical counsels, into play. We are living the poverty of not owning our own home; of having to strip ourselves for the second time of all the extraneous things we collect in life; of having to suffer separation from the known and familiar, from the place to which we have become attached and the beauty that is all around us. In chastity, we are being called to underscore our singular relationship to Jesus Christ, to cling to Him and to cling to and support each other in the quality of mutual care that is to mark community life. And we are called to live out of the vow of obedience, to follow the call no matter the cost. At times in this process each of us will be asked to cooperate with decisions that may stand in opposition to our personal desires and opinions. This is obedience for the sake of community. Finally this is obedience to the reality of life.

Please pray for the leadership of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorist Congregation and for this community of Redemptoristine Nuns at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery as we proceed in trust and hope to negotiate new territory on the way to the future.

Great Feast for the "Double Institute" of Redemptorists and Redemptoristines

St. John Neumann,
Redemptorist
and Bishop of Philadelphia

Today is the feast of a great Redemptorist and immigrant American saint. It is receiving a great deal of attention from the Redemptorists and in the Diocese of Philadelphia because this year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Newmann in Bohemia. In addition, his shrine at St. Peter the Apostle Church in that city has recently undergone an extensive renovation in preparation for celebrations and for receiving many pilgrims.

St. John Newmann was very small in stature, spoke with a strong accent and indifferent to his attire. He did not suit the Catholic elite of Philadelphia set as they were on enhancing their image in the eyes of what was perceived as a critical if not prejudiced Protestant majority. It seems that those who supported John Neumann's assignment as Bishop of Philadelphia were less interested in the the needs of the wealthy than they were in the needs of an ever increasing flow of immigrants into the city. For them, John Newmann was the prefect choice for Bishop, a true pastor. A narrated slide show on the life and work of this saint can be viewed at the Redemptorist website.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery
Redemptoristine Nuns
Esopus, New York

Mother Mary
Calls to Me

In times of trouble Mother Mary calls to me. She reminds me of her presence, of her motherhood, of her human experience, of her presence at the foot of the cross and in the upper room. These days we have been asked by our Redemptorist brothers to join them in a novena to Mother Mary under her title of Mother of Perpetual Help. This is a special appeal to our Mother for the ravaged people and land of Haiti. Or Redemptorists and our Redemptoristine nuns report the devastation, disease and great hardship. Please join us in our appeal to Mother Mary on this her great feast.

Prayer for Haiti

O Mother of Perpetual Help.

your name inspires confidence.

We come to you in our need and ask your help.

You are the Patroness of the people of Haiti.

In this moment of affliction,

in solidarity with our brothers and sisters,

we pray for an end to the cholera epidemic

ravaging your children.

Bring them healing, comfort and peace.

Sustain them in this hour of darkness.

Help them to know the presence of

God-with-us, Emmanuel,

your Son and our Redeemer.





Redemptorist Seminarians

Redemptorist Francis Seelos Community, Chicago

Facebook Message from
The Blessed Francis Seelos
Community

Chicago, Illinois

Good Morning Sister,

 Thank you so much for publishing our picture on your blog, this is great ;). Front row from left to right: Fr. John Fahey, Fr. John Schmidt, Fr. Robert Fenili, Fr. Vincent Minh Cao. Back row from left to right: Fr. Steve Rehrauer, Br. Bruce Davidson, Br. Aaron Meszaros, Br. Ted Dorcey, Br. Landon Cao, Br. Thanh Nguyen, Br. Mario Gonzalez.

We have 10 members in the community now, 4 professed Redemptorists and 6 students. Most of time we are studying at CTU, Catholic Theological Union. We are taking classes at different levels, but all aiming for the same degree which is the M.Div. (Master of Divinity). We are also in different stages of the journey to ordination. Ted and Bruce are in the third year of theology; about a year and half toward their ordination. Landon and I (Thanh Nguyen) are in the second year and have about 2 and a half years to go until ordination while Aaron and Mario are in their first year and will not be ordained until about 3 and half years from now.

I don't know if I have answered all of the questions. Let me know if I miss anything. Thank you and pardon for my english. :). Have a blessed day sister and pray for me. Thanh

Please join me in praying for these great guys pursuing their seminary education. Pray too for the men who are helping to mold them into good priests and true sons of St. Alphonsus. All of their stories are unique and impressive. As their 'sisters' and as contemplative nuns whose apostolic work is prayer we are very dedicated to intercession on their behalf. We keep up with their progress and enjoy their occasional visits to the monastery when Redemptorists events bring them to Mt. St. Alphonsus. And now Facebook keeps us even more in touch.

Seekers Visit the Monastery

  

The Baltimore and Denver Provinces of the Redemptorist Congregation combine their efforts in both vocation development and the formation of new members. These two provinces include all of the USA and the Caribbean Islands. The dedication of the Redemptorists to these efforts is an inspiration. Last weekend here at Mount St. Alphonsus Retreat Center they offered the second in a series of "Come and See" weekends for men discerning a vocational call to religious life. The Redemptorists are a religious congregation so men pursuing a vocation with them first take the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and perseverance within the Congregation. From that point on they may choose to be a brother or a priest. But always they consider themselves first as Redemptorists following in the footsteps of their founder St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church. Their charism or spiritual motivation is to serve the poor and the most abandoned.

We always enjoy visits from our Redemptorist 'brothers' and are grateful that they believe it is important to introduce potential and new members to their Redemptoristine 'sisters'. We are especially grateful to Fr. Tat for introducing us to this group. They enjoyed praying in our chapel and talking to the sisters. They particularly enjoyed hearing our vocation stories. May they be blessed in their effort to hear and act upon God's call.

Upper left: Srs. Maria Linda, Maria Paz, Paula and Teresa with Fr. Tat Upper right: Sr. Mary joined by Srs. Paula and Maria Paz Below right: Sr. Maria Paz with visitors Lower left: Sr. Moira autographing her book, a novel about John the Baptist



New Redemptorist Archbishop

On Saturday, October 9, former Redemptorist Father General Joseph Tobin was ordained as an archbishop at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Our community was thrilled to watch the entire Mass via live streaming from the Vatican. A slide show of that event can be seen at http://www.redemptorist.info/ .

On August 6, 2010 our dear friend, Father Joe, was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, colloquially known as the "Congregation for Religious." This Vatican office has responsibility for some 190,000 religious priests and brothers, and roughly 750,000 sisters, worldwide. It is also the office from which its chair, Cardinal Rode, launched the on-going Apostolic Visitation of active congregations of sisters in the United States.

Our monastery is on the grounds of the former Redemptorist major seminary where Fr. Joe was ordained. Some of the sisters here remember him as a student, especially his fall from a horse and his recuperation from broken bones. But all of us have enjoyed the pleasure of his company in our monastery. In the picture above he seems to be enjoying conversation at table with our sisters, especially our prioress, Sr. Paula Schmidt. This brilliant and modest man would share news of the entire congregation; its missionary work, its successes and its needs. In addition he would bring news of Redemptoristine monasteries around the world. And there would always be lots of stories about Rome.

We congratulate Archbishop Tobin and offer the sincere promise of our prayers for his new responsibilities as he follows in the footsteps of St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

Redemptoristine Nuns Celebrate Feast

Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer

For Redemptoristine Nuns (Order of the Most Holy Redeemer) and Redemptorist Priests and Brothers (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) this is a tremendous feast. With one accord, throughout the world we sing the great hymn, "I Know that My Redeemer lives; what joy that blest assurance gives.  He lives, He lives, who once was dead. I know that my Redeemer lives."

With our Redemptorist brothers we pray today especially for the poor and most abandoned and all those places where people suffer war and violence, poverty and deprivation, and the effects of the ravages of nature and human beings on the precious environment that sustains them. May all of us be blessed with that "assurance" mentioned in the hymn, to know that our Redeemer lives and is initmately present to us all.

Entering Holy Week

Holy Week: A Sacred Season

Many years ago, in a pre-Vatican II Brooklyn parish Church, I was introduced to fine details and inner workings of Holy Week Liturgy. I was an 8th grade public school girl enamored with her CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) teacher, Sr. Mary Corita, CSJ. That year Sister decided to invite public school students to join her parish school students and participate in the children's choir which would accompany all of the liturgies of Holy Week with the traditional Latin responses set to Gregorian Chant. I was in awe of her and in awe of the privileged invitation. It was hard work to learn all of the Latin pronunciation and the tones. But I still rmember them and treasure the little book we used with all my chilidishly written pencil margin notes reminding me to go up here and down there.

That experience was a catechetical vehicle for me - creating a sudden explosion of understanding for what seemed arcane and incomprehensible rituals. Why a Eucharistic procession at Holy Thursday Mass? Why the tradition of visiting Churches on Holy Thursday. Why no consecration at Good Friday Liturgy? Why the darkness on Easter eve and the difficult way of creating a fire? Why did the priest plunge that big candle into a huge contatiner of water at Easter Vigil Mass? AND, of course, what did all those Latin prayers mean? By my participation in that choir all the questions were answered and I was invited forever into the mystery and mystical nature of the Easter Triduum.

Today, in the intimacy of the monastic setting that invitation and level of participation is repeated. Many go to monasteries for just that experience. Here is our schedule for this week should you wish to join us.

Holy Thursday - 7pm Liturgy

Adoration at the Altar of Reposition until 12 midnight

Good Friday Liturgy - 3pm

Easter Vigil Mass - 8pm

Easter Sunday Morning Mass - 11am

We will be blessed by the presence of three Redemptorist priests during the Triduum: Fr. Thomas Deely, assisgned to Mt. St. Alphonsus Retreat Center here in Esopus, Fr. Ronald Bonneau and Fr. James Gillmore who share a special mission for Hispanic Catholics in the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ.

The door at our Chapel entrance will be open well in advance of each liturgy. We welcome all who may care to join us. Let us be united in contemplation of the Paschal Mystery

Redemptorist Celebration for Father General Michael Brehl

Free photo slideshow created with Smilebox

Haiti - Redemptorists Accepting Donations

The Already Suffering

If we may use it as metaphor, Haiti can be described as the 'suffering heart of Jesus' in the world. In the past I have spoken of Tracy Kidder's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. It is about Paul Farmer's incredible medical mission in the Republic of Haiti. It was my introduction to the dire poverty of the country.

Today the country has spiraled into an even deeper state of need for humanitarian assistance. I have just sent an e-mail message to our monastery in Cap-Haitien, about 70 miles north of Port-au-Prince. We hope that they will be able to respond. These contemplative nuns have always tried to be as responsive as possible to the endless need of those around them. In turn, we have tried to help them as we could.

The Redemptorist Baltimore Province has a long history of reaching out to the Redemptorists headquartered in Port-au-Prince. At this time they are receiving monetary contributions which will be funneled directly to Hait via their website where an on-line donation form is available. The Redemptorists eagerly await news of their confreres in the capital city and also of the family of one of their seminarians who is from Haiti.

National Vocation Awareness Week - January 10-16

As We Enter
the New Year

The holiday whirlwind has subsided. The last of the cookies are being consumed. Decorations will slowly start to make their way back to storage on Monday. But the liturgical season of Christmastide will not end in our monastery until Night Prayer (Compline) tomorrow evening, the official end of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Since Christmas, the Church has led us through a series of 'epiphanies', manifestations of the incarnate divinity of Jesus. The revelation of Messiah to the shepherds and the Magi, his baptism in the Jordan by John, and the miracle of the wedding feast at Cana come into play during these in-between days, links between Christmas and the return to Ordinary Time. Each of these epiphanies is experienced as on-going in our time to underscore the wondrous mystery of the Incarnation. In case we did not get it, the Church provides liturgies that place these manifestations front and center. From this we move ahead to Ordinary Time and the accounts of Jesus' ministry. None of that will matter unless we know who He was and who He is in our time.

Other News

* As a community of Redemptoristine contemplative nuns, we have made a new effort to let people know who we are. Pictured above is a newly designed small flyer featuring a photo of Sr. Maria Linda Magbiro in front of a chapel window depicting our foundress Maria Celeste Crostarosa. This flyer provides the background for a Lucite stand holding our vocation brochures in a pocket on the right. These stands have been sent to a number of large Redemptorist parishes and retreat houses of the northeast. We are grateful for the support of  our Redemptorist brothers in this effort. All of this just in time for National Vocation Awareness Week, Jan. 10-16. We also delivered a packet containing copies of VISION Vocation Magazine, vocation posters and our brochures to two local Catholic high schools.

* The Redemptorist Congregation is absorbing and adjusting to changes in leadership brought about at the General Chapter in Rome last fall. The newly elected Father General is Michael Brehl, a Canadian well-known to us. Among his elected board of consultors is Brother Jeffrey Rolle. Brother Jeffrey is from the Caribbean islands and is a member of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorists, the province which supports us in so many ways. We congratulate and pray for our two friends as they assume great responsiblity in challenging times. We also pray for the new effort that came out of the Chapter to respond to the need for greater partnership and coordination among Redemptorists across the globe via 'conference' organizations that will cross national and provincial borders.

* Our own Order is beginning to make plans in anticipation of a General Assembly of our autonomous monasteries in the year 2011. As an order we do not have a general government with a leadership structure holding the whole body together. This factor can make our effort to respond to the same challenges effecting the Redemptorists a bit more difficult. But we hope to surmount those difficulties by our union of prayer and mutual commitment to the Redemptoristine charism.

* These days a few of us also are kept busy translating Christmas letters received from our monasteries around the world. At least we can translate those that come in French, Spanish or Italian. We depend on others for the German. These letters are read at our noon meals and are the chief means by which we keep in touch with monasteries as far flung as Haiti, Japan, Italy, and Quebec, just to name a few.

And Finally...

Our very best wishes to you for a happy, healthy and blessed New Year in 2010.

Saying Goodbye to Another Great Redemptorist

Beloved Redemptorist
Father Joseph Tracy Hurley
is Buried at Mt. St. Alphonsus

This year sixteen Redemptorist priests of the Baltimore Province (most of northeastern US, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands) have died. Many of them had their funerals here at the Mount just next door to our monastery. Most, if not all, are well-known to our community. For the first 25 years of this foundation the Mount was a major seminary. The sisters had ample opportunity to get to know the priests who served on the staff and were its professors. They also encouraged and supported the seminarians as they made their way to ordination. So when the Redemptorists bury one of their confreres, we too mourn the loss of a friend. That was particularly the case today. What follows is excerpted from his obituary notice.

Father Joseph T. Hurley, C.Ss.R. the associate pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church Roman in Seaford, Delaware, died suddenly on Friday, Oct. 30. He was born in 1928, in Fall River, MA. His parents were the Hon. Joseph L. Hurley, former lieutenant governor of the State of Massachusetts and later Superior Court justice, and his mother Celeste (Tracy) Hurley. He is survived by his brothers, John and William. Father Hurley attended Monsignor Coyle High School in Taunton, MA. He was a student at Harvard University when he felt the call to priesthood. He attended the Redemptorists seminaries of Saint Mary's College in North East, PA, and theological studies at Mt. St. Alphonsus in Esopus, NY. Father Hurley professed his first vows as a Redemptorist 60 years ago. He was ordained a priest on June 20, 1954, by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York at Mt. St. Alphonsus. He was assigned to the parish of Saint Mary s in Annapolis, MD. The parish was very large. He was in charge of a community that eventually grew into an independent parish in Cape Saint Claire, Anne Arundel County, MD. He worked as an assistant to the Novice Master for a brief time. He then did graduate school studies at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., earning a master s degree in sociology. Father Hurley spent many years of his life in the formation of future Redemptorist priests, teaching in the High School seminary. He was the president and rector of Saint Alphonsus College, Suffield, CT. He also was the Novice Master for the Interprovincial Novitiate in Glenview, Ill. for twelve years. Another important focus of his ministry was service as Vicar and then as Provincial of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorists. He guided the Province that embraced, at that time, the entire east coast of the United States and extensive missionary work in Brazil, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the United States Virgin Islands. He then returned to parish ministry as the pastor of Saint Patrick's Church in Enfield, CT for six years.  In Our Lady of Lourdes parish, h was mentor to those entering the Church through the  Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. He worked very closely with the extraordinary ministers of Communion in their pastoral care of the sick at Nanticoke Hospital and those who were homebound. His kindness and care of the sick was extraordinary. He was chaplain of the Legion of Mary. Father Hurley delighted in offering short courses in Scripture on different themes. The courses would run six weeks, offering a session in the morning for the retired and one in the evening for working people. He used the Year of Saint Paul to examine Paul s writings. Father Hurley was preparing classes for an examination of the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew in preparation for the great feast of Christmas, when he died suddenly.

I have come to admire the Redemptorists so much in my 20 years of association with them. My affection and my respect grows constantly. So many of them model the devotion to the poor and most abandoned which is at the center of their charism. And they model devotion to vocation, to the congregation as a whole and to the pursuit of joyful and compassionate living within community. And none of it is easy.

I got to know Fr. Hurley a bit when he was serving as Novice Master, an ideal man for the job. He taught by his very person what is was to be priest and Redemptorist. But today I learned a lot more.

His family was very active in the Democratic Party in Massachusetts. His father served as Mayor of Fall River, Lieutenant Governor under the famous James Michael Curley in the 1930s, and later as a State Superior Court Judge. Following the Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston in 1942 in which almost 500 people died, he sat on the bench for the trial of those whose negligence caused so many deaths. As a son of this family young Joseph went to Harvard where, as a freshman he confided his desire for the priesthood to a priest on campus. The priest promptly encouraged him to head for the Jesuits. But quietly Joe quietly answered, "I wasn't thinking so much of teaching but about missionary work." The priest responded, "Then you just have to go up to Mission Church and talk to the Redemptorists." Ironically Fr. Hurley never got to be a missionary. In one way or another he taught most of his life or served in vital administrative positions during challenging times.


Today 36 Redemptorists, led by Provincial Vicar, Fr. Edmund Faliskie, celebrated Fr. Hurley's funeral Mass. It took place under the beautiful stained glass dome featured here on November 1, All Saints Day. During the Mass, on the walk to and from the cemetery, during the luncheon that followed we heard lots of stories about the gentle, contemplative, brilliant, wise and steady Joe Hurley. I learned that he liked to tell the story of how it was the custom in his day to have a reception at the family home of a newly ordained priests following his first Mass in his home parish. Imbedded as his family was in Massachusetts politics many Irish politicos attended. Fr. Joe reported that once James Michael Curley, legendary Mayor of Boston, arrived no one gave another thought to the newly ordained young priest in their midst..

The Provincial of the Baltimore Province regreted being unable to attend the Mass. He is in Rome at the Redemptorist General Chapter (more news about that later). He sent a moving letter in which he described Joseph Hurley as the consumate gentle-man.

A long time friend, a man named Mark, told me the story of how Fr. Joe officiated at his brother's wedding and within a year also officiated at his parents' funerals. All the while Mark was in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction. Fr. Joe supported him through is first futile attempts to regain sobriety. Today he reported, with great gratitude for the constant friendship of Fr. Joe, 20 years of sobriety.

We have lost too many this year. How many Harvard freshmen do you know who would leave those hallowed halls today to pursue the vowed life and priestly ordination?  Please pray that more will present themselves. Do you know a young man who has what it takes? Why not tell him and ask if he has ever considered it?

Feast of Redemptorist Saint

St. Gerard Majella, Religious
1726-1755

St. Gerard is the best-known of all the Redemptorist saints and blesseds. Those who pray for pregnant women and nursing mothers are familiar with this patron. He was a most devoted and determined follower of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and a loyal son of St. Alphonsus. He has always been a favorite of Redemptoristines because he was a great friend to our foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa. St. Alphonsus gave express permission for Gerard to correspond with and visit Maria Celeste in Foggia, Italy. It is a long story which is covered elsewhere in the blog and at our website. Maria Celeste was forced to leave the community which was living under her inspire rule and eventually founded a new monastery in Foggia. It is testimony to the respect St. Alphonsus still held for her that he gave Gerard permission to continue his relationship with her.

For a more detailed biography and a wonderful video by Fr. Corriveau, a Redemptorist go to their website at http://ww.redemptorists,net/saints-gerard.cfm

NEW WEBSITE for REDEMPTORISTS

Check out the newly revised website of the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. Especially exciting is lots of new photography and the opportunity to listen to homilies and talks by fine Redemptorist preachers, including Father Philip Dabney who guided us through our recent retreat. Enjoy and may the site be a blessing for you.

Catch-up Time

Community
Retreat

God's Call to the Vows:
Evangelical Counsels
for Today's
Redemptoristine Nun

It has been much too long between posts. But contemplative monastic life demands times, short and long, when a further movement into silence and solitude is required, when it is imperative to re-visit earlier commitments, when the invitation to come apart is heard again and the response is given. For ten days stradling the end of September and the beginning of October, our community was blessed with such a time. The blessing came not only in the time set apart but in the presence of Father Philip Dabney, CSsR as our retreat director. Father Philip has served the poor and the most abandoned in a great variety of assignments for the Congregation. For fifteen years he was Vocation Director seeking out and working with young and not so young men as prospective candidates for the priesthood or brotherhood in the Alphonsian tradition of the Redemptorists. Most recently Father began a new assignment on the staff of the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mission Church) in Boston. That Church has now gained national reputation as the setting for the funeral of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Father Dabney had lots to share about that occasion since he served as pointman for the media and Secret Service as they invaded Church and rectory.

Most important for us, however, was Fr. Philip's take on the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty as sources of liberation of spirit and soul for life in relationship with God and our fellow human beings. This interpretation converts poverty, chastity and obedience into invitations for all Christians: chastity as right relationship and availibility for relationship; poverty as an open-handed attitude toward things, askewing the tight grasp on things material and promoting a sharing of the abundance of God's creation; obedience as a right and free attitude toward authority and our commitments, an attitude rooted in conscious reflection and decision-making rather than blind observance of law.

Fr. Philip shared with us from the depths of his own spiritual journey and personal experience as son, brother, priest and community member. For all that he gave, we are most grateful.

A Redemptoristine Invitation

Opportunity for
Vocation Discernment
and
Spiritual Enrichment










The Redemptorist Office for Mission Advancement (ROMA) published this ad for us in the current issue of their new quarterly publication entitled "Plentiful Redemption". We are delighted with it. Thanks to all at ROMA. If you would like to received this publication go to their website www.Redemptorists.net

Our contemplative monastic cloistered community extends an invitation to women between the ages of 18 and 50 for a Monastic Experience Weekend, October 16-18, 2009. We will share our life within the monastery enclosure as an effort to promote religious vocations and also as a means of fulfilling our role in the Church as a school of prayer for the faithful. For more information call (845) 384-6533 or e-mail ContemplativeCall@hotmail.com. Do check out our website www.RedemptoristineNunsofNewYork.org

Memorial of Redemptorist

Blessed Kaspar
Stanggassinger, CSsR

Redemptorist
Priest
Teacher of
Misionaries

Today the Redemptorist/Redemptoristine family honors the memory of a faithful priest who died too young. He is quoted as saying, " The saints have a special intuition. For me, who am not a saint, what is important are the simple truths; the Incarnation, the Redemption and the Holy Eucharist." Kaspar Stanggassinger was proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1988. Follow the link to the international Redemptorist website. Go to MENU and click on Beatified Redemptorists and go to Stanggassinger. A more direct link to his page did not do the job so you have to work a bit. The website is very well constructed and informative for those with the time and interest to prowl around. Perhaps you will be inspired to pray for the intention of the Redemptorists' upcoming international General Chapter. They would be grateful for your support.

Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, who gave Blessed Kaspar the grace to announce the faith with joy and to dedicate himself to the formation of candidates for the priesthood, grant, through his intercession that we may follow his example and become cooperators of the divine Redeemer in word and deed. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Another "Little Christmas" Celebrating the Incarnation

Celebration of On-Going and Newly Created Ministry

A special element was added to our monthly A A A special element was added to the feast of "Little Christmas", the Redemptoristine tradition of honoring and remembering the great gift and mystery of the Incarnation on the 25th of each month. We honored Fr. Eugene Grohe on the occasion of his 85th birthday. We saluted his 70 years of Redemptorist life and his service, first as missionary in Brazil, later in parish work stateside and, for the last forty-one years, as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Esopus, NY. We also wanted to offer our thanks and blessing in sending off to new mission Fr. Ronald Bonneau, gifted Redemptorist missionary in Paraguay, pastor stateside, now heading for work among the Hispanic population in the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ. It is also our custom to renew our vows each 25th of the month and have the Prioress, Sr. Paula Schmidt, offer a little "ferverino" for encouragement for the journey. The following are her remarks on this occasion.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

And that is what we celebrate today: the variety of the gifts of the Spirit, the different forms of service of the same Lord, the different workings of God in each one of us. Different as we may be from one another, both as individuals and as communities, we in fact form one Body, in Christ.

Our Eucharist, our thanksgiving feast was offered precisely to celebrate that oneness, and that uniqueness.

Today we want to single out for special blessing and thanksgiving Fr. Gene on his 85th birthday and Fr. Ron, as he leaves to take up his Spanish ministry in Metuchen . Fr. Ron follows the directive of the Lord Jesus who appointed disciples to go ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.

Surely that sums up the Redemptorist vocation which all Redemptorists share, which Fr. Gene has lived for 70 of his 85 years, and which they continue to fulfill daily. We wish you God’s special blessing, and many a year more!

And you, Fr. Ron, who embark on your new work tomorrow with Fr. Jim (James Gilmore), we know that Jesus missions you—and we do too.

The Gospel story I spoke of also speaks to us, your Sisters: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” We do ask, and will continue to ask that you may always have the helpers you need to do God’s work, to reap that harvest for God.

Another occasion we want to mark is the arrival of the Missionary Sisters of Our Mother of Perpetual Help to form part of the community here at Mount St. Alphonsus. The spread of the Gospel is their work and their joy too. I know the Redemptorists feel very blessed by their presence.

Today being the 25th of the month, in our Alphonsian-Celestian tradition, we gratefully celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation. It is our custom to renew our vows as a community on this day each month, renewing the gift of our lives in gratitude to the God who has given Himself so totally to us. Today we will use a very simple formula for this renewal, hoping that we can say it together thus cementing our relationship with God and our unity with one another in the ongoing work of Redemption.

We also had the great joy to share a festive meal all together. In short, a day of great blessing to us all.

Feast of Little Known Redemptorist Blessed

January 14

Blessed Peter Donders, Priest

Today at our Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) we honored the memory of this virtually unknown Redemptorist who was declared 'blessed' by Pope John Paul II.

His story so admirably illustrates the Redemptorist commitment to bring the news of God's love and redemption to the most abandoned and the poorest of the poor.

The following overview of his life comes from the "Sacramentary and Lectionary Supplement for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer."

Peter Donders was born in Tilburg in Holland on October 27, 1809. From his youth he felt himself called to the priesthood, but, because of the poverty of his family, his schooling was cut short so he could take up the weaver's trade of his father. This did not prevent him from teaching catechism to children in his free time. He also had a good and influence on people his same age. At the age of twenty-two, the the help of his parish priest, he entered the minor seminary of St. Michael-Gestel as a seminarian and part-time worker, thus paying for his room and board. He was ordained a [diocesan] priest on June 5, 1841. He was able to follow his missionary vocation, setting out for Suriname, which was then a Dutch colony [in South America].

For the next fourteen years, his base of ministry was in the city of Paramaribo where he dedicated himself to some 2,000 resident Catholics and also regularly visited the slaves of the plantations (around 8,000 of them in the Paramaribo area of some 40,000 in all of Suriname), as well the military garrisons and the native Indians and black slaves along the rivers. In 1856, he offered himself as a volunteer for the government leprosarium of Batavia, where he remained, with the exception of a few short intervals, for the next twenty-eight years, caring for the residents bodily and spiritually. He left them, only for a few months, in 1866, when he asked to join the Redemptorists to whom Pope Pius IX had confided the Apostolic Vicariate of Suriname. He was invested with the religious habit on November 1 of that year and professed his vows on June 24, 1867.

Religious profession, in associating him with a missionary congregation, gave him a more vivid sense of the apostolic life in community, allowing him to leave Batavia more often to give himself to the conversion of the native Indians and black slaves. But the name of Donders remained bound to the leprosarium of Batavia. He died among his lepers, poor among the poor, on January 14, 1887, mourned as their benefactor and invoked as a saint. He was beatified in 1982, during the 250th jubilee year of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.