Elias Gweme CSsR - sharing his Journey.

It all started in the late '80s when I used to sit with my brother in our spare bedroom scrutinizing this strange picture of a woman. What struck us so much were the eyes. No matter how we would try to hide, we would feel that she was staring at us and indeed, she always was. Some priests had given my mother two pictures of this woman many years before. As a family, we would always have our night prayers together but on busy days the girls would pray in their room, mum and dad in their bedroom, and we, the boys, in our bedroom. My brother and I would look forward to these days, but the problem was the woman on the other side of the room. We knew those eyes would look at us until we had said our night prayers, so we would take the picture, put it under the bed and go to sleep.

 

 

However, the biggest suprise of all came at the end of 1997. After I got to know the Redemptorists through the Catholic Church News and from some friends, I came to a 'come and see' experience, a vocations workshop with the Redemptorists. I was given a nice room, and when I looked around it, there was that woman again, this time she had a bigger shinier picture. I looked at her with utter amazement, so much so that the Brother who was looking after me noticed and said 'this is the icon of our most blessed mother, Our Lady of Perpetual Help'.

He explained many other things which I did not take in at the time because I was already trying to connect my own mother with the Redemptorists. Late that night as I was lying on the bed looking at what I now knew to be the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, I felt this was my home and I said here I could stay. The following year I was welcomed by the Redemptorist community as a postulant together with Br. Mark Chandavengerwa and others.

'A Religious vocation is a gift freely given and freely recieved.'

Pope John Paul II - San Antonio, 1987

Ever since, I have continued to grow both physically and spiritually. After a year of Catechesis and Christian Ethics at Wdzanai Catechetical Centre, I started my philosophy studies in the year 2000 at Arrupe College and completed them in 2002. I was then a novice in South Africa under the 'close watch' of Fr. Andrew Burns CSsR. After the celebration of my first vows, I started theological studies as one of the pioneers at Holy Trinity College. Over those years of study, I have had a chance to visit the province and participated in the 2007 spirituality course in Italy. This served as preparation for my final vows and diaconate, which we celebrated on the 19th and 20th of April 2008.

On Profession day, Fr. Richard Reid CSsR was the preacher. Soon after the ceremony my sister said;"so they send you people to Rome to learn how to preach?". I said;"no it's done here in Tafara". I don't think she believed me! I wish to say thanks to the brothers here in the region and throughout the whole province for their support.

Special thanks to Fr. Ronnie the Provincial and to Archbishop Ndlovu who graced our celebrations. God has and will continue to answer our prayers.

'You are at the great crossroads of your lives, and you must decide.'

Pope John Paul II - Edinburgh, 1982

 

Now my mother remembers two priests whom she helped when they were preaching in her home parish. She cannot remember their names but she said they were nice people and at the week of preaching, they gave her two icons of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

My Life as a Redemptorist - Gerry Mulligan C.Ss.R.

I arrived at the Redemptorist community in Perth forty seven years ago knowing very little about the priesthood or religious life. Since I was still sixteen, I probably knew little enough about life itself. In the years that followed I learned a lot.

One of the first things I learned was about what I would now call ‘community’. To be accepted as an equal, irrespective of your age, background, education and gifts was a new experience. All that seemed to matter was that you were a Redemptorist or that you wanted to become one. You shared the same food and lodgings but also you spent quality time together. 

This experience was deepened some years later when I spent time in our international community in Rome. To have your dinner with brother Redemptorists from South America, Vietnam, India and to realise that you shared something special with them all was exciting.

To meet confreres who had been imprisoned in the communist countries of Eastern Europe was like meeting heroes you had only previously read about.

 

The dazzling example of Saint Gerard is a 'living memory' of the gospel truth that it is God who is at work in us. The God-in-us draws others, the God-in-us heals others, the God-in-us delights in others.

Sean Wales C.Ss.R.

 

It seemed to me that something special happened when Redemptorists got into the pulpit. Until then I judged sermons by their length and the shorter the better. But there was a magic about seeing these men preaching. There was a passion to communicate and an energy in all they said. They seemed to be serious about what they were doing.  And they made me laugh.

But perhaps the thing that struck me most about them was their compassion. When they asked you how you were getting on they seemed interested in your answer. And if you were sick they were concerned. I began to see how they related to others, especially those who were in some kind of need. They seemed to be close to people. They seemed just to be there with people, not always with the answers, but always with respect, concern and warmth. They were no good, like fish out of water, if you separated them from people. The Redemptorists were people who needed people and as the song says, they were ‘the luckiest people in the world’.

"You must live for God, you must live for others. And no-one can live this life for you."

Pope John Paul II - Taegu, May 1984.

And when I was let loose as a Redemptorist myself, I realised the value of all that I had learned. I had inherited a share of their pastoral compassion and it would shape my life. But perhaps the best thing the Redemptorists taught me was how much I still had to learn and where I would learn it. And that was with people.

People have taught me to be a priest. And it is, I think, people who write the sermons, the best ones anyway. What Redemptorists try to do is to receive from people the wealth of their ordinary experience and when this meets with gospel compassion, something wonderful emerges. And that is what they want to share with the whole world.

Gerry Mulligan C.Ss.R. Middlesbrough

Ronnie McAinsh - A Zimbabwean Journey

Fr. Ronnie's journey continues in his role of Provincial of the London Province.

My journey to Zimbabwe began when a letter arrived in Plymouth in June 1989. I was Novice Master there, and had been so for the previous 12 years, and so was vaguely aware that I might be changed to a new apostolate.

I opened the letter before going into class - only to see that I had been appointed to Zimbabwe! I managed to teach the class, although one of the Novices did ask me if I was unwell as I was rather pale. Zimbabwe had never crossed my mind. However, when I took my Vows in 1966, I knew I was writing a blank cheque with my life, and offering God whatever he wanted. I just never thought he would want me in Africa. As the Scriptures say, 'God's ways are not our ways'.

So I arrived here, after much paper work, six months later. The culture shock was very great. However the welcome from the people (whose language I could not even vaguely comprehend) was enormous. My task was to minister in the Township parishes and eventually to recruit local men who would be Zimbabwean Redemptorists.

It has been an enormous adventure. I have lived and worked with Zimbabweans for the past 17 years, and indeed at this time I am the only non Zimbabwean Redemptorist in our Region. We now have a wonderful group of young priests and Brothers from all over Zimbabwe - and in addition we have 27 in training for Redemptorist life and ministry. I have to say that I have not regretted one single moment of my time here.

Of course it has not been easy. Being thousands of miles from family, friends, confreres with whom I trained, and living in a different culture is a great challenge. Working among those who are disadvantaged, who are physically and spiritually hungry has also presented me with a new vision of Redemptorist life. Our young Redemptorists themselves have been my greatest inspiration. They are not saints. (well, that is my opinion!) However, they are striving to be saints, men who live by the Word of God and preach it to the most abandoned and the poor.

Each morning we begin our day with prayer together at 6.15. This is followed byMass at 6.45. Then there is the round of visits to the sick and dying, funerals, wedding, Masses with the various groups, as well as working with our trainee Redemptorists. In the evening we gather again at 6.15 for another 30 minutes of prayer together. Then we have supper and some recreation time together. Some Evenings there is youth work in the townships. At other times work in our own Redemptorist community. Some evenings we may visit or help out at St. Gerard's community, which consists of four young Zimbabwean Redemptorists who are engaged in the ministry of preaching and publications in another area of the Town.

 

To begin to list all that is done would take more space than this page. Let me just say that there is never a dull moment. In the midst of power cuts, lack of fuel and general shortages, I find a refreshing cheerfulness among our brethren. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the life itself. To celebrate a liturgy with them - to hear 30 voices raised in song, accompanied by the drums and the hoshos (shakers) is an experience that always lifts the spirit.

When St. Alphonsus founded the Redemptorists in 1732, Zimbabwe did not exist as a country. However, he longed to bring the Word of God to Africa. Now the Redemptorists are active in many African counties, and Jesus is being proclaimed in a vital and exciting and fresh way. It has been my privilege to be part of this plan of God for the Redemptorists in Africa. Let's pray that the dream continues, and that many more young men dedicate themselves to the service of God and His Church by joining us to preach missions, retreats, do parish work and publications in the spirit of our Founder.

 

Ronald McAinsh C.Ss.R. Perth

Desmond Keegan C.Ss.R - An Interview with a faithful Priest

Why I did what I did and do what I do

Recently, I was interviewed by a teenager who was completing a module on priesthood at school. The young student's deceptively simple and straightforward questions provide an excellent platform from which to reflect about how and why a forty six year old former dentist from Glasgow is now Parish Priest of Bisop Eton, our Redemptorist Parish in Liverpool.

 

Why did you choose to become a priest, and why a Redemptorist Priest?

I became a priest for one main reason. When I was growing up I was very impressed and influenced by the wonderful example of so many kind, caring and compassionate priests who were doing great work in my parish and also my school. Their example encouraged me to become a priest. And why a Redemptorist priest? Simply because the Redemptorists made me very welcome when I accepted their invitation twenty years ago to 'Come and See' where they lived, which was the Redemptorist Spirituality centre in Kinnoull, Perth, Scotland.

How do you see your life in terms of discipleship?

The discipleship of the priest is beautifully described by the questions addressed to priests by their Bishop during the Holy Thursday Mass of Chrism. "Are you ready to renew your own dedication to Christ? Are you resolved to unite yourselves more closely to Christ and to try to become like him? Are you resolved to be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God, to celebrate the Eucharist and other liturgical services with sincere devotion?" The priest answers these awesome questions with the response:" I am with the help of God."

I can only be faithful to this huge responsibility by staying close to Jesus every day. In his recent book,"Being a Bishop in Scotland", Bishop Maurice Taylor, the retired Bishop of Galloway, writes that his motto as Bishop wasAmbula coram Deo, Walk in God's Presence. For football supporters, a more flippant translation might be, You'll never walk alone. The phrase comes from the book of Genesis when Abraham is told to leave his country and to walk in God's presence as he goes to the land to which God has chosen to send him.

 

Do you think it is easier to be a disciple today than it was at the time of Jesus?

I think that it is neither easier nor more difficult; it is just different. Many people still lose their lives today because of their belief in Jesus. Perhaps, in this country, we will not be called to die for our faith, but to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, has demands and pressures which call for us all to have courage, a spirit of self sacrifice, commitment and preserverance. In a recent article about priesthood, Father John Jay Hughes wrote, no vocation brings uninterupted joy. Every life is shadowed by the Cross. For example, a widow spoke for married people when she once said;'When you walk up to the altar on your wedding day you don't see The stations of the Cross'. If priesthood, like marriage, leads to Calvary, it leads beyond Calvary to Ressurection and unending joy.

A final thought.

When I was at school, a wonderful teacher often gave the following career advice. Whatever you do with your life, try to leave the world a better place than you found it. In my vocation as a redemptorist priest I believe that, with God's grace and in a very small way, I am trying to leave the world a better place than I found it