News - December 2010 RSS Feed

We’re less than one week away from the start of the Neumann Year, an 18-month celebration of the life and legacy of this great Redemptorist, Bishop, and Saint! Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to participate in our daily countdown to the year’s beginning January 5, 2011.

Baltimore Provincial Patrick Woods reflects this Christmas on the annual tradition of taking family photos around the holidays. Though he may be a little hard to see sometimes, Jesus is in those pictures… (P.S.

Please remember in your prayers Fr. Walter C. Karrer who died December 22 at St. Clement Health Care Center in Liguori, MO at age 90. Fr. Karrer was novice master to many young Redemptorists from the Baltimore Province in the 1970s and 1980s.

2,000 years ago, an infant changed the world forever. The infant God, become human in Jesus. God becoming one of us announces that no matter who we are, where we were born, regardless of circumstance, human life is a gift from God, bearing within its core the truth of God’s love.

Redemptorist Superior General Michael Brehl reflects in his Christmas message on the way Jesus’ coming among us as a human being changes how we see God and each other: The mystery of Christmas teaches us that compassion is not pity that looks down on those in need from a position of strength and superiority.

The Neumann Year opens January 5, 2011, and the new edition of Plentiful Redemption has plenty of information to help you join the celebration! Check the mission calendar to find a Neumann mission near you.

As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas, the faithful in Iraq hope to be able to attend Christmas Mass in safety. An Iraqi Redemptorist, recently appointed Archbishop of Erbil, talks about the government’s plan to build concrete walls around churches in Baghdad and Mosul to protect churchgoers: The sadness of the people is everywhere.

Redemptorist Father Ruskin Piedra recently returned from his annual mission trip to Martí, Cuba , where he and a small group of missionaries distributed needed items to the poor, visited people in their homes, and conducted a parish mission.

In September, Redemptorist James McCabe was ordained a transitional deacon. He expects to be ordained to the priesthood in June 2011. Until then, he’s spending his diaconate year at St. Martin of Tours Parish in Bethpage, NY .

Congratulations to Fr. Joy Poonoly who has been elected provincial of the Liguori Province in Alwaye, India. He has been serving as associate pastor of St. Gerard Parish in Lima, OH, and will leave the parish in mid-January to begin his new ministry.

The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province have elected a new leadership team to guide the province through the next four years. Fr. Kevin Moley, C.Ss.R. Provincial Father Kevin Moley will be the new provincial.

The cathedral where St. John Neumann was ordained to the priesthood — Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan — was named a basilica this week. The pre-cursor to the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue is one of only 68 basilicas in the United States.

The new Ordinary Regional Council (from left): Brother Leonard Samuel, second consultor; Fr. Mark Owen, superior; Fr. Rodney Olive, vicar. Redemptorists serving in the English-speaking region of the Caribbean recently elected their leadership team that will guide the region for the next four years.