On 23 January 2026, the 1st Chapter of the Andean-Caribbean Redemptorist Province, held at the Villa Marianella retreat house in Colombia, concluded with a Eucharistic celebration. This event represents a milestone for the Congregation, as it is the first Chapter celebrated since the canonical establishment of the new Province.
In an atmosphere of fraternity and prayer, the Electoral Law and Chapter VI of the Statutes were approved, documents that strengthen both the government and the mission of the Province, and the Final Message presented below was approved.
MESSAGE FROM THE CAPITULARS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ANDINO CARIBEÑA PROVINCE
‘…When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch”’ (Lk 5:4).
- With joyful hope, we, the capitulants of the Andean Caribbean Province, have gathered to celebrate the FIRST PROVINCIAL CHAPTER. Like the disciples of Jesus, we find ourselves on the seashore carrying out our usual tasks in our countries, with our own realities and our particular concerns. Jesus exhorts his disciples to leave the tranquillity and routine offered by the shore and launch themselves into the vastness of the sea with its threats and dangers, but with the hope that the fruits will be surprising. The General Government, in the same way, invites us to reach the shore of the sea, that is, not to stagnate, to be in constant motion, which requires us to be bold and innovative missionaries (Cf. Communicanda 2, 7.10).
- Strengthened by prayer, by reading the Word of God and by the intercession of our saints, we have reflected from their contexts that holiness and hope are not the absence of adversity and difficulty, but perseverance, zeal and depth in the spiritual life, gestures that forged in them a constant attitude of conversion and openness to the Spirit, incarnate, historical and contextual.
- Openness to the new as a human disposition gives us real objectivity, as it helps us to weigh up different ways of perceiving and arranging our lives and to encourage creativity and innovation. The lives of our saints show their receptiveness to listening to God’s will in the search for the common good in the reading of historical contexts; humility in the knowledge that not everything is known and a willingness to learn new forms of flexibility that facilitate adaptation to new fields, situations and ways of thinking. This ensured not only geographical expansion, but also gave our Redemptorist identity a popular, approachable, accessible and deeply human character in our shared mission.
- We lived these days of the Chapter meeting in a spirit of synodality, as the Church asks of us, that is, in COMMUNION, PARTICIPATION AND MISSION, and we lived them as a Kairos, in communion with Christ the Redeemer, in prayer and celebrating the Eucharist as sons of St. Alphonsus. We experienced communion among ourselves as Redemptorists of the same Province, stripping ourselves of nationalism and selfishness, always seeking what unites us and fills us with hope.
- At the end of this first Provincial Chapter, we invite you to continue strengthening the communion that respects and values the richness of our own races, cultures, and idiosyncrasies, initiated in this process of Restructuring that unites us in the reality of a new Andean-Caribbean Province. All Redemptorists have participated in the restructuring process, which continues to take shape with the approval of the PROVINCIAL STATUTES.
- The entire restructuring process has emphasised the MISSION that, as Redemptorists, are called to bring the Good News to the poorest and most abandoned, aware that our new Unity has a great field of Mission in the great forums of society, where men and women await the proclamation of the Redeeming Word of the Lord, in order to form living communities that are the salt of the earth and the light of today’s world.
- At the end of this event that marks the history of our Province, the capitulants invite all the members of the Congregation to continue walking with joy and without fear, to enter into the reality of each of our local communities, together with those who share our apostolic life on a daily basis, to reach the shore and to continue to glimpse the horizon with joy and hope.
- The history that marked our former Units is the foundation for continuing to build a new Unity in which, from the diversity of cultures and customs, we work for the Unity to which Redemptorist Spirituality invites us.
- ‘New wine in new wineskins,’ says the evangelist Luke (Lk 5:37). May we know how to distribute the new wine of the Gospel and, as missionaries of hope, walk joyfully in the footsteps of the Redeemer.
Fraternally,
Capitulars, First Provincial Chapter, Andean Caribbean Province.
Our hearts overflow with gratitude to God, to our Congregation, and especially to each one of you who supported us with your constant prayers. We feel your closeness and faith in every decision we made. We close this chapter, but the story continues. We leave renewed, with the certainty that we are ‘Missionaries of Hope in the footsteps of the Redeemer,’ ready to continue bringing the Good News.
