Father José Luiz Majella Delgado, C.Ss.R. appointed Bishop of the diocese of Jataí, Brazil.

On Wednesday, the Holy Father appointed Father José Luiz Majella Delgado, C.Ss.R. of the Province of São Paulo the bishop of the diocese of Jataí, (GO) Brazil. Father Delgado was presently serving as the Undersecretary General of the Episcopal Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB).

Father Delgado was born in Juiz de Fora (MG), Brazil on October 19, 1953. He made his first profession as a Redemptorist on February 2, 1977. He completed his philosophy studies at the Lorena and his theological studies at the Theological Institute of São Paulo. He made his perpetual profession in 1980 and was ordained a priest on March 14, 1981.

Father Delgado has served as a parish priest in several places including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida. He has been the Superior of several Redemptorist formation houses at various levels and an Assistant Novice Master and Novice Master at Tietê, São Paulo.

He has also served on the Ordinary Provincial Council of São Paulo, the interprovincial Secretariat for Redemptorist Spirituality and the Coordinator of the Redemptorist Novice Masters of the Southern Cone of Latin America.

Father Delgado has also served on various ecclesiastical organizations and conferences in the Brazilian Church.
Father Delgado succeeds Bishop Aloísui de Pinho, F.D.P., who reached retirement age.

According to the latest statistics available from the Annuario Pontificio, the diocese of Jataí has 441,000 Catholics, 37 priests of which 13 are religious, 17 permanent deacons, and 52 female religious serving 28 parishes.

His episcopal ordination is scheduled for February 18, 2010 at the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida. The ordaining prelate will be the president of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha of Mariana. Father Delgado has chosen as his episcopal motto: To Serve with Love.

Father General is not the only one in the Christmas spirit. The Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, has written an illustrated Christmas letter and accompanying CD to the children of his diocese for Advent using as his main focus Italy’s most famous Christmas hymn written by St. Alphonsus: "Tu Scendi dalle Stelle.” He signs off: Ciao from your Archbishop, +Dionigi!
http://www.chiesadimilano.it/or4/or?uid=ADMIesy.main.index&oid=2166154

In November, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, C.Ss.R., Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malibar Rite, was rushed to the hospital suffering from a cardiac arrest. He is currently stabilized and out of immediate danger and recuperating in a hospital in Kochi in the state of Kerela in India.

The Edmonton-Toronto Province Perpetual Help Devotions: http://www.redemptorist.tv
The Baltimore Province at:http://www.redemptorists.net/
The Baltimore Province has also begun a website page on preaching the gospel called “Preaching and Prayer.” Everyday a Redemptorist gives an audio homily on the readings of the Sunday or weekday readings or the feast being celebrated. There are also special video homilies coming from the Basilica of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Boston. This homily website can be found at: http://www.redemptorists.net/preaching.cfm

All Units who have websites are represented on our www.cssr.com website under the menu item: General Information: Regional Maps with links. Soon, we hope to create a “quick list” of Redemptorist Unit, Media and Shrine website links on one page that you can easily find all Unit websites and Redemptorist Shrines and media at one glance and one click.

If you have recently updated your website and your link is broken or not functioning on our website, please notify us (GaryZ@cssr.com) of your new URL address.

We wish you all a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with preaching the gospel anew with renewed hope, renewed hearts and renewed structures!

The 5 New Conferences
Inaugural Meetings held at the XXIV General Chapter
Gary Ziuraitis, C.Ss.R.

On Wednesday afternoon, November 11, a moment occurred during the XXIV General Chapter that was not widely celebrated, but initiated one of the several historic moments that the XXIV General Chapter offered us. It was the first meeting of the new “Conferences,” which are replacing the old schema of Regions. The Capitulars of the former 6 Regions met together in the new schema of “5 Conferences”. One big change is that the two old Regions of Europe-North and Europe-South are now the one new Conference of Europe. Each of the Conferences reported back in plenary session on Thursday, November 12, 2009. They reported on:

· Scheduling a time and place for the next meeting of the Conference, offering two alternative dates to the General Government, and drawing up tentative agendas.

· Looked at possible ways to bring back and disseminate the vision, message and decisions of the XXIV General Chapter to the confreres and lay partners of their respective Conferences.

· Made an initial attempt at discussing how and when Statutes for the Conferences would be drawn up.

· Discussed the role and function of the Conference Coordinator as well as suggestions as to who would undertake this office in the interim period.

· Discussed the matter of economic and financial solidarity at Conference level.

· Examined existing programs within the Regions and how they would continue within the framework of the new Conferences.

Following are some highlights of the individual Conference reports of that plenary session. This is an “unofficial report” meant to give you a flavor of how the Units are already working together within the Conference and their view towards Congregational Networking:

We will begin working in the already existing sub-Conferences, URB, URSAL, and URNALC to prepare the groundwork for starting up the Conference.

Named a coordinating commission composed of Fathers Arturo Martínez and Eric Perez (URNALC), Marcelo Pomar and Pedro Irizar (URSAL), and Vicente Ferreira and Fabio Bento (URB).

The Coordinating Commission will attend the next meetings of the 3 sub Conferences, which are foreseen to be held in February (URSAL), March (URB) and May (URNALC).

After these meetings, the Coordinating Committee will meet sometime in June or August to continue the coordination of all these efforts.

We approved the idea of a website to help educate and inform the confreres/sub conferences on the work of the Conference. We await guidance from the General Council on the writing of the Conference statutes.

There will be further development of cooperative projects that currently exist such as the formation of brothers, and there is potential for further cooperative projects in the area of novitiate and preparation for final vows.

We are well prepared for the work of being a Conference from previous collaboration in the Region.

We see a need for an intense period of education about the Conference beginning with Unit councils, then reaching out to confreres and laity and affiliated groups. We will appoint a group to plan this education.

We are planning a “psuedo assembly” in March. There will be no elected vocals, but all members of the Unit OPC’s will be present as they have already been meeting for many years. Other Units/Conferences who have Redemptorists working in our Conference will be invited.

What will be discussed? A job description and the role of the Coordinator. Candidates for Coordinator will be discussed. A volunteer committee to study possible statutes will be created as we await the directory from the General Government.

We will create a calendar of implementation of the decisions and actions that will be needed and taken.

We will discuss the legal ramifications in North America of this new form of Conference.

We will re-address the reality and makeup of committees, commissions and secretariats.

We will be sensitive to and nurturing of Units of other cultures, language and rites.

On October 31st we had a meeting as the Region of Asia-Oceania. Yesterday, November 11th we had a meeting as the Conference Assembly of Asia-Oceania. The differences seem to end there!

At our meeting on the 31st we decided on a couple of things: We established tentative dates for next Assembly and also the temporary coordinator so our task was made simpler yesterday. At present the tentative date of the Assembly will be September 2010. The existing ASIOC committee will serve as the temporary coordinator.

Tasks: Implementation of decisions regarding Conferences made at General Chapter.

We dealt with current issues related to mission and vocation, finance, and “bringing home” the Chapter to the confreres.

By September 2010 the regional mission experience will be completed and the common preparation for final vows will be over and we can evaluate and plan for the future in the light of these experiences in the next Assembly .

Particiption in apostolate and formation review committee: what has been done and what more needs to be done;

Communications committee – ways and means to bring General Chapter home to confreres. Instead of asking, “What does the Chapter have to do with me?” Lead them to ask “How will it change me?” and give a global picture of the Congregation.

Composition of Assembly: Provincials, Vice Provincials and Regional Superiors. Vocal from each unit irrespective of the number of members, one representative from the brothers, two lay collaborators, general council representative(s), executive secretary of Asia-Oceania and a representative of the Secretariat for formation of the Region.

The Conference of Africa will give a new thrust to the relations among the African Units and it will motivate every Unit to follow the path already begun.

The Conference Assembly will meet in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) during the second half of the month of August or the second half of the month of October 2010.

The members of the Commission to prepare the Assembly meeting are: Father Sean Wales (temporary coordinator), Father José Collado (Superior of the VP of Burkina Faso), and Father João Pedro Fernandes (General Consultor).

Father Sean Wales (from South Africa) was elected as temporary coordinator of the Conference.

We also talked about the composition of the Assembly. The Units with less than 20 members will be represented only by their superior. The others may have a “Vocal”.

We discussed how we are going to present the decisions and orientations of the General Chapter to the confreres in our own Units.

We want to plan and organize the work of the Conference for the sexennium, as well as establish the main guidelines.

We want to study the orientations and decisions of the XXIV General Chapter, especially those regarding the work of the Conferences.

We named a Commission to elaborate the statutues of the Conference, according to the orientations the General Government will give. We want to establish a minimum organizational structure for the Conference.

We had 38 members at our Conference meeting of Europe. We acknowledged the new reality of one European Conference from two former Regions and have embraced the challenge to work as one Conference with our many different languages, cultures and rites. If, in the future it appears necessary, we will consider sub-conferences, but presently we prefer to work as one Conference. In this way it is our desire to work in common, to think globally, and to act locally.

We will continue the projects that are in process in the old Regions, for example Superiors Meetings, Initial Formation meetings, Brothers’ Meetings and common Spiritual activities.

The two dates that will be recommended to the General Council for the Conference Assembly will be the 9 of May in Vienna, Austria or 29 August to 1 September in Poland.

Three common experiences or encounters are planned in the Conference for this year: The Assembly we already spoke of, the Youth Conference in Lviv, Ukraine in the summer of 2010 and a conference on popular missions in September.

To coordinate these activities a Coordinating Commission was named: Fathers Con Casey of Ireland, Lorenz Voith of Austria and Pedro López Calvo of Spain.

Moderator Brendan Callanan summed up this first, historic meeting of the Conferences by saying: “It is obvious, I think, that the first meeting of the former Regions as Conferences was a very good one and very encouraging.”

Colombia
Redemptorists celebrate 150 years of Mission in Colombia
Agenzia Fides, Bogotá

The Redemptorist missionaries celebrated the 150th anniversary of their arrival in Colombia, South America. The celebration held in recent days recalled the three Italian missionaries who arrived in 1859 in the then Republic of New Granada, now Colombia. They were the priests Henry Tirino, Gioacchino D'Elia and Victor Loyodice and had been sent by the Holy See as responsible for the entire territory of Casanare, and old mission area abandoned for many years after the Jesuits and the Augustinians left. The 3 missionaries arrived in the territory on November 1, 1859 and immediately began to evangelize the indigenous peoples and settlers.

Their mission ended early and tragically. One of the missionaries drowned in the Ariporo River and another died of yellow fever while on a river boat trip to the area of Arauca. The third missionary was expelled by the anti-clerical government of Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera (1862). Meanwhile, another four candidates back in Italy, who were preparing to arrive and strengthen the mission, could not leave Italy because of the revolutionary activity of Garibaldi.

The celebration of the 150th anniversary was held in Yopal and Paz de Ariporo in the department of Casanare, Colombia on the 23rd and 24th of November. The celebration was graced by the presence of the Archbishop of Villavicencio, Archbishop Oscar Urbina, and the Bishop of Arauca, Mgsr. German Meza who came specifically for this celebration. More than 80 Redemptorists were present to give glory to God for this missionary seed planted in the American continent a century and a half ago.

Just last March two Redemptorist missionaries were slain in the area of Vichada (see Fides 20/3/2009). In a statement released by the Redemptorists of Colombia at the time, this tragedy was recalled: "We offer the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, the sorrows and the loss of these brothers of just 41 and 46 years respectively. We demand justice. We offer Christian forgiveness. We reaffirm our commitment to serve the poor, according to the vocation that we inherit from San Alfonso Maria de Liguori”.

The importance of a new structure for the Formation of Redemptorist Brothers
Bro. João Batista de Viveiros, C.Ss.R.
Rome, 12 November 2009

During one of the sessions of the XXIV General Chapter on the issue of Formation, many capitulars expressed their opinion. I felt that I had something to say also. I raised my hand, the moderator acknowledged me for a turn to speak and it appeared he added my name to his list of speakers. I patiently waited my turn while a good number of confreres ahead of me were called upon to speak. Then, all of a sudden, the moderator said: “The time is up and we have only two confreres who are booked for speaking”. I tried raising my hand again, but the moderator said that the time for speaking was over! Once the session ended, I wrote down some of the things I wanted to say in the plenary session. Then I added a few more ideas, organized them and that is how this text comes to you [through SCALA].

We reap what we sow.

I believe that one of the reasons why, at present, we have few Brothers in the congregation (besides the age factor) is because the absolute majority of Units have difficulties in welcoming candidates as Brothers. In the past, most Units did not offer anything specific to Brothers nor did they demand much. If a candidate could pray and work (“ora et labora”), that was considered enough to be welcomed in our communities. There was no serious interest in better preparing him and offering him a well rounded formation. The work of the Brothers was reduced to many internal activities that did not require any special formation. The great virtues of the Brothers were to work and pray. Many Brothers lived their entire life doing precisely those things, serving in the communities with great zeal and dedication. That is how they contributed to the mission of the congregation and became great missionaries.

Today, our mission requires something more, a better formation for brothers. The challenges are great and there are new demands. Goodwill is fine, but it is not enough in today’s world where we face many new challenges. Nowadays, in any walk of life, people need to be competent and qualified. I think that our main problem in the promotion of the vocation to Brothers is that we do not know what to offer to the candidates and, often, to the Brothers themselves. We run the risk of giving the impression that we really do not need Brothers in our Units or even in our congregation. The fact that we do not know what to offer to the candidates, presents at least two great difficulties which have very serious consequences. Firstly, we will not promote the vocation of the Brother (since we labour under the idea that we don’t need them). If this is our attitude, our Vocation Promotion Program will find it very difficult to invite young men to this type of religious vocation in the congregation. This attitude shows our own insecurity and fear. Secondly, when we do not know what to offer to the candidates, we will find it very difficult to welcome and support a Brother candidate who comes to us. Therefore, we will easily lose him.

The question is: why are we not clear about what is the mission and ministry of the Brothers in our Province? Why don’t we know what to offer to them? I believe it is because we have not yet made the decision to give the Brother candidate a qualified human, religious, theological, pastoral formation or a professional training and direction in a particular area. I think that we still are not aware that a Brother is a Redemptorist missionary in his own right, and that he needs to be well prepared in order to realize the mission of the congregation, irrespective of the ministry in which he is immediately called to serve. Our Constitutions state that Brothers and priests are equal as Redemptorists, that we become missionaries by means of our religious profession and therefore we must all receive a very good formation. I am sure that, if the Brothers are adequately prepared, there won’t be any lack of ministry and work for them. What identifies us as Redemptorists is precisely the “missionary aspect”, rather than (and even more so) the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Exercising this missionary spirituality and ministry is much broader than the ministry of the ordained priest.

I believe there is a place for Brothers in any area of our apostolate. A Redemptorist Brother lives his religious consecration proclaiming the Gospel, in popular missions, in our social work, in our Shrines, in the media, in the formation of leaders, coordinating different pastoral ministries, working in different professions, serving in our houses within our communities, and in so many other ways. A Brother who is committed to his vocation, who has a good spirit and great missionary dynamism, one who is fully identified with his own consecration to God, is a great gift to the congregation and to the Church.

It is important to combine BEING, KNOWING and DOING (“I do because I know and because I am…”). What really counts is to evangelize the poor with the charism of Alphonsus, without ever losing the spiritual, mystical dimension, the spiritual mystery of our life and vocation. We need a conversion of the heart and of the mind. We need a new mentality which is committed to the Redemptorist religious life. This commitment will give the candidates the welcome, the room to grow, the support and the efficient structures they need for a qualified formation.

Here is an example: During the first sexennium of Father Joseph Tobin (1997-2003), the General Government observed that those Units with a specific house of formation for Brothers, a concrete formation program and a good team of formators, had a significant number of Brothers. In conclusion, I believe that a wholesome and healthy environment, as well as adequate structures, are needed in order to nurture this special vocation.

Considering the new structures of the congregation, now organized in Conferences (and in some instances sub-conferences), I propose that the Coordination teams of the Conferences make a serious effort to create a structure and the necessary conditions that will help the Units in promoting, forming and clarifying the vocation and mission of the Brothers today and for the future. I believe that, if we do have a new structure containing the three elements mentioned above, everyone will feel secure, will be motivated and show enough interest in the promotion of the vocation of Brothers. This could start a new blossoming of vocations of Brothers in the entire Congregation. Thus, everybody wins, especially our Redemptorist missionary and religious life.

Recent noteworthy events in the Redemptorist Family. For a complete record of Transitions visit the Officialia site

Ordination to the Priesthood:
Robert Harold Lindsey, Province of Denver, July 18, 2009
José Rinaldo da Silva, Vice Province of Recife, October 2, 2009

Deaths:
Rev. Juan Luis Rűsch Peré, 70, Province of Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, September 28, 2007
Rev. José Vogt Weinberger, 82, Province of Buenos Aires, October 20, 2009
Rev. Pierre Queloz, 74, Province of Bolivia, October 28, 2009
Rev. Dionisio Ruiz Goñi, 93, Province of Madrid, November 3, 2009
Br. Paul (Christian) Speybrouck, 80, Province of St. Clement/Region of Flanders, November 14, 2009
Rev. Michael O’Flaherty, 71, Province of Dublin, November 16, 2009
Rev. Carlos Valles, 68, Province of San Juan, November 18, 2009
Rev. Roman Heinzl, 74, Province of Vienna, November 23, 2009
Rev. Stanisław Golec, 77, Province of Warsaw, November 25, 2009
Rev. Kevin Hickey, 86, Province of Canberra, November 25, 2009
Rev. François Xavier Nguyen Huu Hoa, Province of Vietnam and in the service of the General Government as Assistant Econome, 57, November 26, 2009 in Rome.

Upcoming Jubilees: January 2010
50th Jubilee of Profession:
Fernando Antonio Lacaux Urrutia, Province of Santiago, January 6, 2010
Orlando Valenzuela Henríquez, Province of Santiago, January 6, 2010
Eduardo Segundo Villagrán Vásquez, Province of Santiago, January 6, 2010

50th Jubilee of Ordination:
Benigno Colinas Fernández, Province of Madrid, January 31, 2010
Bonifacio González Miguel, Province of Madrid, January 31, 2010
Francisco Lage Martínez, Province of Madrid, January 31, 2010
José Ignacio Latasa Ongay, Province of Madrid, January 31, 2010
João Manso Martins, Province of Lisbon, January 31, 2010
Américo Martins Veiga, Province of Lisbon, January 31, 2010

25th Jubilee of Profession:
Henry Alzate Uribe, Province of Bogotá, January 6, 2010
Luis Enrique López López, Province of Bogotá, January 6, 2010
Leionid Malkov, Province of Lviv, January 6, 2010
Fernando David López Salomón, Vice Province of Perú-South, January 20, 2010
César Edilberto Torres Pantoja, Vice Province of Perú-South, January 20, 2010
Guillermo Ulianóv Urguizo Vásquez, Vice Province of Perú-South, January 20, 2010

Retirement Announced:
Bishop George Yod Phimphisan, C.Ss.R., 76, from the diocese of Udon Thani, Thailand on November 14, 2009. Bishop Phimphisan was consecrated a bishop in 1975 and served as the Ordinary of Udan Thani since that time.

Appointments:
The following officials of the General Government: Secretary General Joseph Patrick Dorcey (Denver), Econome General Stanisław Wróbel (Warsaw) and Postulator General Antonio Marrazzo (Naples) have been appointed “ad interim” until September 15, 2010. Procurator General José Moreira Pinto de Sousa (Lisbon), continues as Procurator General until a new Procurator is appointed. November 10, 2009.

The Secretariat for Finance has been re-appointed “ad interim” until the constitution of a new Secretariat for Finance for the 2009-2015 sexennium: Stanisław Wróbel (Warsaw), Jacek Dembek (General Consultor), Alfred E. Bradley (Baltimore), Patrick O Keeffe (Dublin), Martin J. Gay (South Africa), Steven N. Wilson (Denver) and Aidan McMahon (Cebu). November 10, 2009.

Supression of Houses:
Domus “St. John Neumann” in Saratoga Springs, NY, USA. November 24, 2009
Domus “St. Alphonsus” in Whitestone, NY, USA. November 24, 2009
Domus “St. Michael/St. Patrick” in Baltimore, MD, USA. November 24, 2009
Domus “Kloster Heiligenborn” in Bous, Saaarland, Germany. November 24, 2009