For more than 170 years, Redemptorists have traveled from Europe and the United States to live and work with marginalized people around the world. The Redemptorist Fathers and Brothers from North America established missions in Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic, the Antilles, Haiti, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Nigeria, and Ukraine. In addition to material poverty, the people they went to serve struggled with a lack of priests to fulfill their spiritual needs.
In our own country, in the deep south, where there were few priests, the Redemptorists were called upon to come and serve. In 1926, in New Smyrna Beach, where Catholics were still a minority, a little wooden church was built to hold 80 parishioners in the woods down from the river. Eventually the Vice Province of Richmond was established to serve the needs of the Catholics in the South, this is the story of the Redemptorists throughout the world. The Redemptorist go where God calls them.
The Redemptorists built schools, churches, and hospitals to help meet the physical needs and to support the spiritual well-being of those worthy people they served. During their many years of foreign ministry, the Redemptorists worked hard to build a native community of priests and religious to carry on important work they began.
Those early efforts continue to bear fruit, most recently on August 1, 2010, when the Vice Province of Asuncion, Paraguay, became a full-fledged independent province within the worldwide Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. What began as a mission of the Baltimore Province more than 80 years ago has since grown to include 55 Redemptorists, including 12 students, all of whom are native-born.
Our missionary spirit is also expressed in the financial and educational support given to our poorer Redemptorist brothers throughout the world. In the Baltimore Province, we have supported several Redemptorist priests and seminarians from Vietnam who have come to the U.S. to complete their studies.
Today, you will still find Redemptorists in 78 countries, speaking out on behalf of those without voice or power, sharing the Word of God, and putting that word into action to help communities of faith to grow and flourish.
Last Foreign Mission Trip
Every Redemptorist parish by its very nature is missionary, so we are called to reach out to evangelize to those who are both near and far. A few years ago Fr. Murray went on mission to St. Lucia with a group of young adults and adults, it was a huge success. We went to evangelize, but we were evangelized! Truly we were blessed by the mission experience (p
If you feel attracted to this ministry and you are interested in joining the Foreign Missions Ministry Planning Team, or if you are interested in going on a foreign mission with us, please call: Parish office, 386-428-6426
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how the move in silence…We need silence to be able to touch souls.
– Blessed Mother Teresa
