Message from Fr General C.Ss.R...

Rome, Italy
January 16, 2012

MESSAGE FROM SUPERIOR GENERAL MICHAEL BREHL, C.SS.R.

Dear Confreres, Sisters, Associates and friends,

I would like to wish you a blessed New Year filled with the hope, peace and joy which are signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and ministry!

In the first two weeks of January, we celebrated the feasts of two great Redemptorist missionaries – St. John Neumann and Blessed Peter Donders. Their lives and their example continue to inspire us in our mission to preach the Gospel ever anew. Through their prayerful intercession, they continue to accompany us as we live our missionary vocation today.

St. John Neumann cultivated a spirit of missionary dedication from the beginning of his vocation to serve God and God’s people as a priest. It was this missionary spirit which shaped his life. In this spirit he left home and country to travel to the United States. This spirit drew him to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In this spirit, he accompanied literally thousands of new immigrants.

For John Neumann, this missionary spirit was not a romantic ideal but a practical call to concrete action. This missionary vocation was expressed in his efforts to learn other languages so that he could effectively communicate with men and women affected by the mass movement of people. In this spirit, he established parishes and schools, preached missions and assisted the poor. His missionary vocation found expression in the choices and decisions which shaped his life, his community, and his ministry.May this spirit continue to urge us to follow the Redeemer in concrete and practical ways as we continue to renew our Congregation according to the orientations of the XXIV General Chapter and the theme of the Sexennium:

To preach the Gospel ever anew

– with renewed hope, renewed hearts and renewed structures for mission.

The life of Blessed Peter Donders was also shaped by his missionary vocation. Like St. John Neumann, he was ordained as a diocesan priest. Like John Neumann, he left home and country to minister in the Americas. After almost 25 years of ministry in Surinam, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer when the Redemptorists were entrusted with the mission in this country.

In Surinam, he was available to all – but he experienced a special call to serve the poor, the slaves and those who were abandoned. For almost thirty years, he served the needs of the lepers at Batavia. The special mark of the missionary vocation of Peter Donders was his closeness to the people to whom he was sent. This closeness was expressed not only through preaching and celebrating the sacraments, but also through his personal service of those in need. Not only did he work for structural change to provide better medical care and education for the lepers – he also nursed them and tenderly cared for them.

As a Redemptorist missionary, he continued to seek new ways to serve others even in his advanced years. He began to learn native languages so that he could bring the gospel to the native peoples. He also established structures to assist others to continue what he had begun. Like St. John Neumann, the missionary spirit and inspiring life of Peter Donders are relevant for Redemptorist missionaries today.

May St. John Neumann and Blessed Peter Donders continue to accompany us as we strive in 2012 to bring the Good News to the Poor!

Once again, I would like to wish you every grace and blessing for the New Year.

In the Redeemer, 

Michael Brehl, C.Ss.R.

Superior General C.Ss.R.