On February 2, during the Eucharist in the chapel of the monastery of Colle S. Alfonso, a group of 24 lay people renewed their commitment and promise to collaborate with the Redemptorists in a shared mission. Fr. Gennaro Sorrentino CSsR, Superior of the Southern Europe Province, presided over the Eucharistic celebration, assisted by Fr. Rui Santiago CSsR, Consultor Delegate for the Laity, and Fr. Antonio Proietto CSsR, guide of the Naples area.
The Redemptorist Lay Associates and the Promise to the Alphonsian Charism
In 1991, the Redemptorist General Chapter dedicated an entire session of its Final Document to “Collaboration with the laity in view of sharing the mission with them,” and invented the figure of the “Lay Missionary of the Most Holy Redeemer as a collaborator and sharer in the apostolic life of the Redemptorist Congregation.”
The Redemptorists today are recovering with greater enthusiasm a creative collaboration with the laity.
This document calls for Redemptorist communities to “open themselves to the laity so that they can have a greater participation in our experiences of life, work and spirituality” (General Chapter, Final Document, No. 60).
There are many lay faithful who support the Redemptorist Missionaries of the Neapolitan Province in their apostolate. This participation in the mission of the Neapolitan Redemptorists tends to favor their vocation to the apostolate and is realized in various forms and makes them, in all respects, members of the Redemptorist Family and apostles of the Redemption.
In 1994, a group of young adults from the Youth Ministry of the Province of Naples, wanting to continue working and fully sharing the Redemptorist charism, decided, together with some Fathers, to draft a statute that would allow lay people to become co-responsible for the pastoral action of the Redemptorists, actively participating in the planning and decision-making process in the various bodies of the Congregation (Secretariats, Commissions and the Provincial Chapter).
In these years many have collaborated and promised fidelity to the Redemptorist Charism, some with great care and perseverance, and/or occasionally according to their availability and abilities.
On February 2, 2025, at the community of Colle S. Alfonso, after about 30 years, during the Eucharistic celebration, in the presence of the Provincial Fr. Gennaro Sorrentino, Fr. Rui Santiago , councilor delegated to the laity of the Province of Southern Europe, Fr. Antonio Proietto, leader of the Neapolitan area, a group of 24 lay people chose to renew the promise made years ago and to say they are ready today to collaborate with a more concrete and active commitment in the Shared Mission that concerns not only the Neapolitan area, but the new Province of Southern Europe.
According to what is foreseen in the statute with the promise the lay people commit themselves to follow the Redemptorist charism, to do formation and to live as a Spiritual Family with the Redemptorists, privileging some areas:
- Popular and youth missions
- Missions to families
- Welcoming pilgrims at the Materdomini Sanctuary
- Participation in training meetings together with the Redemptorists
- Collaborating in the Mission of Madagascar and for Madagascar
- Research and assistance in situations of abandonment in the society where lay people themselves are included.
The process of discernment that we, as Southern Europe, are experiencing, in fact invites us to an evangelical friendship, which must become our lifestyle, to live the Redemptorist spirituality in a more intimate and intense way, to the point of making us all feel and be more united, as a family.
Anna Maresca
