Dear Parish Family,
This weekend we once again celebrate Co-Redemptorist Weekend. Fr. Matthew Bonk, a Redemptorist who is a member of our Minneapolis based New Evangelization Team, will be here to speak at all the Masses about the Co-Redemptorist Association and how you can participate in this Association. I believe you will find Fr. Matthew to be a very gifted and enthusiastic homilist.
Who is a Co-Redemptorist and why is there a weekend devoted to this? A Co-Redemptorist is a person of faith who believes so much in a vocation to Redemptorist life that he or she is willing to consciously remember the Redemptorists. It is on this weekend that we especially pray for vocations to our Redemptorist Family and hear how, by participating in a specific program known as the Co- Redemptorist Association, we can be pro-active in promoting vocations to the Redemptorist way of life. It is because of good people supporting Redemptorist seminarians that we can trace our continuous history of serving the people of St. Alphonsus Parish back to the 1840’s! A big THANK YOU to all who already are Co-Redemptorists.
A Co-Redemptorist is willing to consciously remember the Redemptorists in two important ways.
The first way a Co-Redemptorist remembers us is praying for our present Redemptorist seminarians and for those who might be considering a call to the Redemptorist way of life. We sometimes forget how powerful our prayers can be for someone. By praying for a seminarian, you are offering him the additional boost he may need on a day when he is questioning his vocational call or when he is preparing for a test or simply preparing to go out and help others through his apostolic work. Through prayer you are right beside him and every day the seminarians are praying for you!
Second, a Co-Redemptorist offers financial assistance for our Redemptorist seminarians. Not only is it expensive to get a solid academic background, but it is also costly to offer a roof over their head. Because of the generosity of the Co-Redemptorists no one has ever been turned away because he could not afford to be part of our formation program. How you financially decide to help, or even if you can’t at all, you have the option to do whatever you can.
While the most immediate need that the Co-Redemptorist responds to is our Redemptorist seminarians here in the United States, they also address the even greater needs of our Redemptorist seminarians in Nigeria and those along the Amazon River of rural Brazil.
You may remember us mentioning that earlier this month, Scott Partin, a volunteer at the Blessed Seelos Welcome Center, entered our Redemptorist formation program in the Bronx (New York) to further discern if he has a calling to the Redemptorist way of life. Scott is tangible proof that your prayers do make a difference!
We all realize that family takes many different forms. This weekend we will celebrate our Co-Redemptorist family. Family offers us a sense of support, encouragement, and hope in our daily life. So let us celebrate our Co-Redemptorist Family next weekend. What a great way to celebrate those bonds that have joined our lives for well over 160 years!
Thought for the Week: “A single sunbeam can chase away many shadows.”
Have a great week ahead!
Fr. Richard