Venerable Mother Maria Celeste Crostarosa O.Ss.R.,... 

We remember her birthday, this day 31st October 1696.

To find out more about her life and her place in our Redemptorist story, go here.

We can see what our sisters, the Redemptoristine Nuns are up to in Dublin...

“Fr Bernard Häring, Newman and Me”... 

by Fr Michael McGreevy C.SsR.

“Oh no! I couldn’t possibly go to him for confession!” I declared. It was common knowledge that Fr Bernard Häring was adamantly opposed to smoking. He was way ahead of his time in knowing that it harmed the body and was therefore wrong – and if consciously we do wrong then we are sinning! Ouch! 

It was said that anyone who went to confession to Fr Häring invariably ended up giving up smoking. I simply could not imagine what I would do without my early morning smoke, or how could I join in the chat and celebrations with the community if I couldn’t take out the cigarettes! So I never did go to confession to Fr Häring and that was a pity. It would have saved me from another ten years of smoking with all the attendant damage to health and pocket. But this was in the early 1960s long before the messages on the packets warning us that “SMOKING KILLS”. I didn’t recognise a missed opportunity, being just a very green, newly ordained priest, studying theology and belonging to the Redemptorist community at Sant’ Alfonso in Rome.

Kinnoull and the BBC...

St. Mary's monastery, otherwise affectionately known as Kinnoull, features on the BBC at the moment! 

Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers!

Click here to watch.

Hawkstone Hall 2013...

"For the past 38 years nearly six thousand women and men in ministry worldwide; religious, priests and lay people have participated in the Three Month Renewal Course.

'A sincere appeciation, thanks and congratulations to the dedicated team for running such an excellent Course...The Holy Land pilgrimage was an incredible experience and I loved every moment... I now continue my journey from Hawkstone Hall feeling rejvenated, replenished and energised.' Loreto Sister, India."

News from Rome...

This morning the Holy Father appointed

Archbishop Joseph W Tobin C.Ss.R.,

(former Superior General C.Ss.R.)

to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis

as the 6th Archbishop.

CONGRATULATIONS

ARCHBISHOP TOBIN!

To view the Press conference introducing Archbishop Tobin in his new diocese, press here.

More Bishop news...

Clapham is 160 years old...

Living History

On May 14th 1849, the foundation stone was laid for what was to be one of the most significant churches in South London — St Mary’s, Clapham. The foundation stone of the church, known more properly known as ‘Our Immaculate Lady of Victories’ was on the very edge of the ever-expanding London, and was the chief base of the Redemptorists in the South of England.

On 13th October 1852, the church was consecrated. To mark the 160 years of this event, a Solemn High Mass was celebrated by the parish priest, Fr Dominic O’Toole CSsR.

Unusually, the Mass was celebrated in the Tridentine rite (or ‘Extraordinary Form’), that is, the rite of Mass celebrated in St Mary’s for the first 120 years of its existence.

Fr Dominic was keen to point out that this was not an exercise in spiritual nostalgia, or an attempt to turn the clock back on the changes that have happened in the Church since Vatican II. ‘It is a way of uniting past and present, showing that the Church and the Mass have changed, but are essentially the same. Tradition in St Mary’s has evolved, but remained true to itself.

The Mass was attended by young and old: for some it brought back memories of the distant past; for others it was unfamiliar, a mystical encounter with God. No-one could argue that the celebration was not deeply spiritual, and a worthy marking of the 160th anniversary of a spiritual powerhouse.

St Gerard Majella's Feast Day...

Happy Feast Day to you all on this Feast of St Gerard Majella - October 16th

This year Fr Richard Reid was invited to be one of the preachers at the St Gerard's Novena in Dundalk, Co Louth, Ireland.

This wonderful novena attracts over 10,000 people a day to the 10 sessions! 

The day begins with mass at 7am and continues...

9.30am, 11.30am, 1.10pm, 2.30pm, 4.30pm, 6.00pm, 7.30pm, 9.00pm 

and finishes with a candle-lit mass at 10.30pm!

The Novena Prayer

Almighty God, from his boyhood years you blessed St Gerard with generosity of soul

and let him to do your will in heroic ways.

St Gerard, dear friend of God, pray that our sense of God will grow strong. 

Pray that Jesus Our Lord, will be a living presence in our lives.

Pray that the fullness and beauty of the faith will take possession of us and bring us fully alive.
Amen.

Two of the preachers below,

Fr. Richard Reid C.Ss.R. (Liverpool community)

& 

Fr Noel Kehoe C.Ss.R. (Cork community)

RYM - Compostela...

A group of our young people and Redemptorists walked to Santiago de Compostela! 

Hopefully we will receive many pictures and their personal experiences once their feet have recovered.

Congratulations to all!

Here is a snap of them celebrating the liturgy...

CONGREGATIO SS. REDEMPTORIS

Via Merulana, 31 – 00185 ROMA - ITALIA

Superior Generalis 

A Message from the Superior General

On the Occasion of the Feast of St. Gerard Majella – 2012

My fraternal greetings to my dear confreres, sisters, lay associates and friends,

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

1. Again we celebrate the feast of our saintly Brother Gerard Majella. For us members of the Redemptorist family, the liturgical memorial of St. Gerard is a happy, festive day because we celebrate the holiness of God manifest in the life of our confrere. We must not forget that every celebration of our sainted and blessed confreres is an occasion for us to renew our joy in being able to continue the Redeemer in the announcement of the Gospel to poorest and most abandoned. That is how they lived and how we are called to live.

Our Prayers are asked for...

...The Provincial Superiors of Europe who are gathered in a snowy Cracow for the mid-sexennium meeting, to discuss, explore and pray about the movement of the Congregation in Europe since the last General Chapter.

Mother of Perpetual Succour, pray for them.

Our Holy Father Alphonsus, pray for them.