By Fr. David Purcell, C.Ss.R.

I am often asked by people in general, but especially by people who are inquiring into the Redemptorists, whether we have any students.  Yes, we do have students.

Every year at this time, we gather many Redemptorist students into one place for a week of prayer, meals, fun, and a workshop.  In the picture above, you see students who are from Canada and the United States, and one student who has come from Ireland.  Of course, not all the students were able to attend, including five students from Canada who had to miss out on this great experience that took place near Canandaigua Lake, New York this May.

Some of you know Brothers Eumir Bautista C.Ss.R. and Ivan Dzhur C.Ss.R.  These men are studying to become Redemptorists in Canada.  They renewed their profession of vows to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Seen from left to right are Fr. Charles Duval C.Ss.R. the newly elected Provincial Superior for Canada, and Frs.  Peter Hill C.Ss.R. and John Sianchuk C.Ss.R., who were witnessing the renewal of vows for Brothers Ivan and Eumir.

During the workshop portion of our week, Fr. Raphael Gallagher C.Ss.R., explained how to read his newly published book,  “Conscience, Writings from Moral Theology by St. Alphonsus.”    Fr. Raphael explained how people in the time of St. Alphonsus, very like our own era, were wondering how to find some certainty when trying to make good choices in life.  We learned the method that St. Alphonsus proposes to help us choose the Good.   In the picture below, from left to right you are Redemptorist Frs. Jack Kingsbury, David Louch, Raphael Gallagher and John Sianchuk.  Frs. Jack, David and John are members of our North American Spirituality Commission.  This Spirituality Commission along with Liguori Publications, helped to publish and distribute this new book. 

As usual, the food at these gatherings is fabulous and was certainly made more enjoyable by the company we shared at table.  Fr. Mark Miller our newly elected Regional Superior  and Fr. Ray Douziech are featured here.  Fr. Ray is the director of students at our Toronto student house.  We also have student houses in New York city, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas.

From this summer through to next August of 2020, our students at the stage of novitiate will be living at our monastery in Lima, Ohio.  Pictured here from left to right are Frs. Chuong Cao and Ed Eherer,  who will be the directors of novices for this coming year. 

Well I was too focussed on praying, during the prayer time, to get you a picture of that; however, I did mention above that in addition to prayer, workshop, and food, we also had fun…

If you would like to join in the Gospel friendship that we share in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer; or if you would like to encourage someone to become a member of the Redemptorists, then please give me a shout.