Welcome to our lay companions' section of the website. The Redemptorists very actively support lay collaboration and welcome the laity into our life and ministry. In the eighteenth century in the streets of Naples, our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori, established evening prayer chapels run by the laity. Over the last twenty years, the Congregation's governing body has encouraged the development of programs with the laity that share the rich heritage of Alphonsian and Redemptorist spirituality. This is happening in Redemptorist units all over the world. Full-time lay persons help preach parish missions in the Philippines. Lay catechists help the Redemptorists teach throughout Africa. Lay associates participate in vocational discernment and recruitment and in outreach programs to the poor and homeless. Vatican Council II clearly defined the Church as the People of God. In May, 2004, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this in his letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the collaboration of men and women in the Church and in the world. Lay persons are taking their appropriate places in ever greater roles of responsibility in the mission of the Church. There are interesting possibilities for active lay collaboration with the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. Please explore the descriptions here. If you wish to learn more or perhaps become part of the Redemptorist apostolic family, please contact me, Father Pat Woods, C.Ss.R., at woodscssr@aol.com