Online Meeting of the Redemptorist Family on the occasion of the Day dedicated to Consecrated Life.

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On the 31st January 2025, the General Council organised an Online Meeting of the entire Redemptorist Family (Confreres, Students in Formation, Novices, Redemptoristine Sisters, Sisters who share the Redemptorist Charism, and Lay Partners in Mission) to mark the day dedicated to Consecrated life in the Church. 

Fr. Joseph Ivel Mendanha, Consultor General, moderated the online meeting from the Board Room of the General Council with the Fr General and the members of the council present, and he welcomed all the participants to the meeting. Bro Larry Lujan prepared a very meaningful prayer service in PowerPoint after the words of welcome and introduction. Fr Rogério Gomes our Superior General then addressed the participants underling the importance of the meeting in the context of the theme of the year, Ongoing Formation, as well as the theme of Communicanda 1, You are the Light of the World. He also introduced the guest speaker for the meeting, Fr. José Cristo Rey García Paredes, CMF, a Claretian priest and theologian, as well as the author of many books and articles on Consecrated life. 

Fr. José presented his reflection with the topic, “Consecrated Life is a Verb and not a Noun: The Five Letters of the Year of Consecrated Life. Ten Years Later.” Fr. José’s talk is available on Scala news in English. He spoke of the 5 key letters, keywords, which as verbs of action call us today to be verbs and not static nouns as Consecrated men and women. These are: To Scrutinise, To Rejoice, To Announce, to Contemplate and to Transform. 

Here, you can access the text of Fr José’s presentation (pdf)

After his presentation, Fr José responded to a variety of questions that some of the participants sent in. Fr Ivel then thanked Fr José for his provocative and stimulating presentation and also thanked all those who made this Online meeting a success: The Scala News Team, the Secretary and Vice Secretary General, the translators in 6 languages, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Polish and finally all the participants. There were over 500 online participants who signed in and well over 1000 who were following from their communities, formation houses and units across the 5 Conferences of the Congregation. 

The Online Meeting ended with prayer and a blessing from Fr Rogério Gomes, our Superior General with a greeting for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the day of Consecrated Life. 

Joseph Ivel Mendanha, C.Ss.R.
Consultor General


Many webinar participants shared their feelings and thoughts in the chat. We also received some thanks and comments after. Here is one sent by Sr Alphonsa Karapata, MSsR, who followed the webinar with her community:

“We, the Redemptorist Missionary Sisters from Ukraine, sincerely rejoice at every opportunity to be together in our international Redemptorist community, united in charism and mission with our brothers and sisters around the world. Even if we could not see each other, probably because of the large number of participants, we felt that we belonged to the great family of St. Alphonsus. From this perspective, we would like to thank heartily for these opportunities. This year’s theme proposed by Fr. José was especially inspiring for us, but at the same time challenging. We want to be a witness of His presence in suffering, to be a verb in prayer, listening, compassion, and in our mission.  At the same time, in our case, we feel that the challenge is to witness joy. It is really hard to rejoice when there is so much suffering and sadness around us in Ukraine when our brothers and sisters give their lives or lose their loved ones. We understand that our task today is to embrace the incomprehensible mystery of the suffering of everyone and each who is sad and broken. We rejoice that Jesus Christ, Redeemer, is with us even in the darkest night of trouble. We rejoice that you are all with us. We bring our pain to you, dear brothers and sisters, so your prayers may change it into joy. United with you in prayer and mission. Blessed feast of consecrated life!”

Sr. Alfonsa Karapata, MSsR
Provincial Superior of the Redemptorist Sisters in Ukraine
President of the Council of Major Superiors of the UGCC