Africa In 1899 the Belgian fathers were requested by their government to take charge of a number of missions in the
Congo State, In 1990 the Indian Redemptorists began a mission in Kenya where there are several professed members. In
South Africa Redemptorists administer parishes in
Cape Town,
Rustenburg and
Howick. There is also a convent of
Redemptoristines sisters in Merrivale, KwaZulu-Natal. For the Redemptorists of Southern Africa "... Justice and Peace is part and parcel of everything we are and do. In the South African context ... we are called by the poor to a simple life-style and we cannot avoid the struggle of the outcasts and oppressed of the townships and the desperate plight of the poor." In May 2011 a number of allegations of
child sexual abuse by a member of the institute in South Africa were revealed on the
RTÉ programme
Prime Time Investigates.
Alan Shatter, the
Minister for Justice and Equality, stated:
Australia and New Zealand The first house established was in
Singleton, New South Wales, but during the summer heat missions were conducted in the cooler climate of
New Zealand's
dioceses. As Singleton was an unsuitable base, the community oversaw the building of a new
monastery at Mount St Alphonsus,
Waratah, New South Wales. It was opened on the founder's feast, 1887, just five years after the Redemptorists' arrival. In the first year at Waratah the community conducted 45 missions through New South Wales,
Victoria and
South Australia. A new house in
Ballarat followed in 1888 and work began on a new monastery in the suburb of Wendouree. It was officially opened in September 1893. With the south now being cared for by the Ballarat community, those in Waratah looked north to
Queensland and the first missions were preached there in 1889. Missions began in
Brisbane and its surrounds, with their success convincing the Archbishop to extend the programme to the far flung country parishes. The first structure that was purpose-built for the Redemptorists in New Zealand was
St Gerard's Church in Wellington in 1908. In 1927, the province of Australasia, which included Australia and New Zealand, was created. New Zealand became an independent province in 1970 and from New Zealand, the Redemptorists went to
Samoa in 1972. The years after
World War II were a time of rapid expansion. As well as ongoing participation in the development of the vice-provinces in the Philippines and in
Singapore and
Malaysia, further houses were opened in
New Town in
Tasmania and
Townsville and
Miami in Queensland. There were also communities established in
New South Wales: Campbell's Hill,
Concord,
Fairfield West,
Penrith and
Yagoona. In Victoria, there were communities at
Balwyn,
Box Hill,
Brighton,
Wongarra and
Yarraville. In
Melbourne, the order also conducted a psychotherapy clinic and Training Institute, Hofbauer Centre, from 1977 until 1998. The Redemptorist Lay Community formed during the 1980s and led to the Olympic Village Exodus Community in Melbourne's Heidelberg West area in 1998, attempting to meet identified emerging needs of local residents. The live-in members of the Exodus Community volunteer their services to the Community and its ministries. Another Exodus Community was later established in Wendouree West in Ballarat. Exodus Community is currently supported by 50 volunteers. Missionary activity continues to flourish across Australia. Through parochial missions, preaching,
retreats,
adult education, teaching in universities,
social justice work, counselling, accompaniment of
indigenous communities,
chaplaincies, devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, working with people on the margins of society and promoting the family through the Majellan magazine, Redemptorists have sought to highlight that people matter greatly to
God.
India Three Irish Redemptorists Mathew Hickey, Gerard McDonell and Leo O'Halloran from the province of Dublin with great zeal and missionary dynamism set on a task to proclaim the Good News and arrived in the Island country of Sri Lanka in the year 1938. The long cherished dream of the Redemptorists to establish a foundation in India was actualized in the year 1940 when the first community was established in
Bangalore in 1940. It was Hugo Kerr, the Provincial Superior of the province of Dublin who obtained permission from Maurice Bernard Departures, the Bishop of Mysore, to establish a foundation in Bangalore. In the Lent of 1941 St. Gerard's House at John Armstrong Road became the First Permanent residence of the Redemptorists. On 1 October 1945 the Indian Redemptorist mission became a Vice-Province and Mathew Hickey was the first Vice-Provincial. And the next ten years (from 1945 to 1955) saw great structural developments with Mt. St. Alphonsus (MSA) being built which would be the permanent house of the Studentate (7 June 1951) and the much awaited Holy Ghost Parish was opened for public worship on 24 May 1953. It was during this time St. Alphonsus School with the help of Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes, began in the Students’ wing of MSA. The school was later moved to Davis Road which stands till today catering to the education of the poor children who come from the vicinity of the area. In July 1964 Sadupadesa College on Hennur Road was built to house students who would study philosophy. It is now turned into a Juvenate which is the first stage of formation (as of 2015). In July, 2010 Holy Redeemer Parish was erected in Sadupadesa. The Vice-Province of Bangalore grew steadily facing all odds and overcoming all obstacles to become the province of Bangalore on 15 August 1972 and also took a momentous initiative in the year 1990 by establishing a Redemptorist community in Kenya, Africa. Now the mission has 7 indigenous priests along with the members of the province serving in the mission. The Province of Bangalore has also given birth to two other units, the Liguori Province of Kerala and the Vice-province of Majella along the western coast of India. As of 2011 there were some 260 Redemptorists in India, belonging to two Provinces, one Vice-Province, one Region and one Mission. The Region of
Alwaye was established in 1992 and became a Province (Province of Liguori) in 2008. The Region of
Mumbai was established in 1999 and was raised to the status of a Vice-Province in 2011. The Mission of Kenya began in 1990 and there are several perpetually professed Kenyan members.
The Philippines The first Redemptorists, belonging to the Irish province, arrived in
Opon,
Cebu, on 30 June 1906, setting up missions in
Compostela,
San Francisco and on the
Camotes Islands. From 1914 to 1928 further communities were established, the most prominent being:
Luzon (where the Redemptorists preached the first mission completely in
Tagalog),
Lipa,
Iloilo,
Tacloban and
Cagayan de Oro on
Mindanao. In 1928, the Philippines was divided into two vice provinces, each under a different province—the Cebu vice-province responsible for the
Visayas and Mindanao under the Irish province; and the
Manila vice-province responsible for Luzon under the
Australian province, now headquartered at the
National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in
Baclaran. The
Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) had a profound impact on the Redemptorist Congregation and this resulted in them pledging themselves more strongly to the poor and disadvantaged in imitation of Alphonsus Liguori. When the political and social upheavals came in the 1960s and 1970s the Filipino Redemptorists stood in solidarity with those seeking justice and equality for they were to "... embrace the mission to proclaim by word and action, the Gospel of justice so that the poor's aspirations can be fully realised in
Christ, the source of liberation." In 1996, the Cebu vice-province became an independent province, known as the Cebu Province. The Province of Vietnam was officially established in 1964, with apostles in major cities such as Ha Noi, Sai Gon, Da Nang, Da Lat, and more. Their activities briefly stopped by 1975, likely due to the fact that the Vietnam War resumed and the South was defeated. Redemptorist missionaries are still active in Vietnam to this day, and have sent members to other countries such as Australia, Thailand, Laos, Philippines, Angola, France, the US and Canada. In 1898 the houses in
Ireland were constituted a separate province with the provincial house at
Limerick. On 25 March 1901, the foundation of the juvenate house at Limerick was laid. The province of Ireland then comprised four houses: Limerick,
Dundalk,
Belfast, and
Esker, Co. Galway. Today, the provincial house is located in
Dublin with other communities being found in Belfast (
Clonard Monastery and the parish of
Saint Gerard),
Cork, Dundalk, Athenry in
Galway, Limerick and four houses are established. The Irish Redemporists are involved in parish ministry, youth work, Redemptorist publications and retreats. They also help staff the missions in
Cebu in the Philippines
Alec Reid, of Clonard Monastery, were instrumental in cross community initiatives, and helped facilitate the Irish Peace Process. Reid also helped promote talks for peace in the Basque country.
North American Province United States (1811–1860), the first US bishop to be canonized In 1828
Frederick Rese, Vicar-General of
Cincinnati, visited Europe in search of priests. While at Vienna he secured three priests and three lay brothers; they arrived in New York on 20 June 1832 and began working amongst the people of northern Michigan. In 1839 they were called to
Pittsburgh to assume charge of the German congregation and from this time the care of German congregations became a prominent element of the Redemptorists in North America. (In 2009, its later basilica, of the same name, hosted the nationally televised funeral of
Massachusetts Senator
Edward Kennedy, attended by President
Barack Obama, three former US presidents and first ladies, among other dignitaries.) From 1883 onward, the Redemptorists spread throughout most of North America and are present in a variety of states such as
California in the west,
Michigan and Illinois in the midwest,
Washington, DC, and
Baltimore in the northeast and
Louisiana,
Mississippi and
Texas in the south. North American Redemptorists are involved in giving parochial missions,
social justice,
retreats, youth ministry, ministry to adults with special needs,
bioethics, publication of religious materials and chaplaincy work as well as outreach to the
Hispanic community, ministry amongst the poor, and helping to staff missions in the
Caribbean The Denver Province owns Liguori Publications, which publishes books and
Liguorian magazine.
Canada and Caribbean In 1874 the Redemptorists were called to
St. Patrick's Church, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada, the only church in that city for English-speaking Catholics. In 1878 they became the custodians of the shrine of Ste-Anne de Beaupré, near Quebec and then of
St. Anne's,
Montreal, a large parish in a very poor district of the city. The Yorkton Province is an Eastern church branch of the worldwide Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, serving the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in North America and is based in
Saskatchewan and
Manitoba, Canada. On August 1, 2019, the Redemptorist Provinces of Edmonton-Toronto, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, and Yorkton merged to become a new province called "The Redemptorist Province of Canada". The provincial offices of the new province are located in the Bedford Park neighborhood of Toronto. ==Saints, Blesseds, and other holy people==