The Structures of
the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
began in the Kingdom of Naples, in southern
Italy. Our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori,
gathered a group of men – priests and brothers
– to live the common life and evangelical
vows and to work together as missionaries.
Therefore the first and fundamental structure
of the Congregation is the apostolic community:
a group of Redemptorist missionaries who live
together, combining their prayers and deliberations,
labors and sufferings, successes and failures,
and their material goods for the service of
the Gospel. Every community has a local
superior, a person appointed to exercise
the ministry of leadership and the service
of authority for the common good, together
with an assistant called a vicar and
advisors called a council.
Local
communities are organized in larger Units
called Provinces, Vice-Provinces, Regions
or Missions. The Congregation, however,
must not be understood as a confederation
of units, but rather a single body called
to a single mission, with a healthy tension
between local or regional concerns, and the
global mission of the Congregation.
A
Province, then, is an organic unit of the
Congregation consisting of several communities
within a defined geographical territory, under
one superior, with an ordinary and
an extraordinary council. These councils
have their respective competencies. The Province
structure exists so that through its various
ministries and gifts it can effectively attain
the end of the Congregation in communion with
other Units of the Institute, under
the authority of the General Government. In
the government of a Province the Provincial
Chapter is the primary governing body.
It is a collegial, moral person, composed
of representatives of all the members. It
is the duty of the Provincial Chapter to give
continual attention to the renewal and adaptation
of the apostolic life and government of the
Province.
A
Vice-Province is also a union of several
communities, not fully sufficient in itself.
Vice-Provinces exist especially where there
is a new missionary situation. In so far as
a Vice-Province has its origin from a Province,
it looks to the Province for assistance in
regard to personnel and finances. Vice-Provinces
have the same structure, institutions and
manner of conferring offices as a Province.
The Vice-Province enjoys the freedom and authority
required to adjust its own manner of life
in a way suitable to the particular needs
of its mission.
Provinces
and Vice-Provinces, with the approval of the
General Council, may constitute Regions
and Missions, which are Units with a smaller
number of communities and members, in specific
geographical areas of missionary need, with
less autonomy, greater dependence and more
directly governed by the Province or Vice-Province
of origin. Usually there is a superior appointed
for a Region or Mission,
who exercises authority in communion with
the Provincial Superior and his Councils.
When necessary, some Regions are specially
constituted as directly under the authority
of the General Council and not to any particular
Province or Vice-Province.
The
Congregation also has some broader organization
on a hemispheric and continental level. There
are six major regions in the Congregation:
Europe-South, Europe-North, North America,
Latin America, Asia-Oceania and Africa. Within these larger regions there are smaller sub-regions, for
example: Eastern Europe, southern South
America, Brazil
and northern South America.
This permits missionary effectiveness to be
carried out with greater solidarity, with
more effective use of financial resources
and personnel.
The
General Chapter and the General Government
exist at the most universal level of the Congregation.
The
ordinary General Chapter, convoked
by the Superior General every six years, is
the primary governing and representative body
responsible for the apostolic life of the
Congregation. It is the function of the General
Chapter to care for the interests of the apostolic
life of the entire Institute, to strengthen
the links that bind its individual parts together,
and to further the adaptation of the institutions
and norms of life in the Congregation to the
needs of the Church and humanity. The General
Chapter carefully examines the mission of
the Congregation in accordance with the spirit
of the founder and its sound traditions.
The
General Government is formed by the
Superior General and the General
Consultors, one of whom is the Vicar
(second in charge), who are co-responsible
in governing the whole Congregation. Presently
there are six General Consultors, one from
each of the major regions of the Congregation.
Together they form the General Council,
which is a permanent directive and executive
body. The General Government gives inspiration
and acts as a stimulus for continual renewal
by being regularly present in the various
Units in a way that is effective and provides
leadership.
The
General Council is served by the four major
Officials of the General Curia: the
Procurator General, the Treasurer
General, the Secretary General
and the Postulator General; and by
other officials such as the General Archivist,
the General Chronicler, the Director
of Communications and the translators
and secretaries.
Other
services are provided by the General Archives,
the Historical Institute, the Alphonsian
Academy, the Center for Redemptorist
Spirituality, the College of Higher
Studies, the Shrine of our Mother Perpetual
Help in St. Alphonsus Church, together
with the various General Secretariats and
Commissions, established according to
the needs of particular historical moments.
The
XXIII General Chapter, celebrated in 2003,
recognized the theme of restructuring the
Congregation as a major concern for the next
sexennium (six-year period). During this time
the General Government and a specially-organized
Commission for Restructuring, together
with the various Units of the Congregation,
will be concerned with this challenging task.
There are many elements involved in decisions
about restructuring, but the major concern
is always the mission. All structures must
serve missionary mobility and dynamism. The
Congregation cannot allow itself to settle
down in surroundings and structures in which
its work would no longer be missionary. Therefore
it constantly adapts its structures and institutions
and pioneers new ways so as to respond more
effectively to missionary needs and to better
serve the mission of the Church, always faithful
to its charism and vocation to preach the
Gospel to the most abandoned poor, wherever
they may be.
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The Units of the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
2009
Click
on the name of a Unit to go to a map that
shows the location of communities in that
Unit
0000 General Government
General
Curia
General
Archives
Historical
Institute
St.
Alphonsus Community
Alphonsian Academy
College
of Higher Studies
Shrine
of Our Mother of Perpetual Help
0011 Region of Europe-South
0060 Region
of Belgique-Sud
0100 Province
of Rome
0200 Province
of Napoles
1500 Province
of Madrid
1800 Province
of Strasbourg
3300 Province
of Lisbon
3402 Region
of Vietnamese in France
4400 Province
of Lyon-Paris
0012 Region of Europe-North
0500 Province
of Vienna
0502 Region
of Copenhagen
0800 Province
of Munich
1100 Province
of London
1300 Province
of Dublin
1600 Province
of Prague
1603 Vice-Province
of Bratislava
1604 Vice-Province
of Michalovce
1700 Province
of Warsaw
1704 Region
of Sanctus Gerardus
4200 Province
of Lviv
4201 Mission
of Prokopievsk
5000 Province
of Sanctus Clemens
0013 Region of North
America
0700 Province
of Baltimore
0704 Vice-Province
of Richmond
0706
Region
of the English-speaking Caribbean
1
Region
of the English-speaking Caribbean
2
Region
of the English-speaking Caribbean
3
Region
of the English-speaking Caribbean
4
1900 Province
of Sainte-Anne de Beaupré
3100 Province
of Yorkton
3401 Vice-Province
Extra Patriam
4500 Province
of Denver
4600 Province
of Edmonton-Toronto
0014 Region of Latin America
Central
America
The
Caribbean
0059 Mission
of Cuba
0061
Region
of Suriname
0101 Vice-Province
of Pilar
0705 Vice-Province
of Asunción
1304 Vice-Province
of Fortaleza
1502 Vice-Province
of Caracas
1506 Vice-Province
of San Salvador
1507 Vice-Province
of Peru-North
1701 Vice-Province
of Resistencia
1702 Vice-Province
of Bahia
1904 Region
of Port-au-Prince 1
Region
of Port-au-Prince 2
2200 Province
of Buenos Aires
2201 Vice-Province
of Peru-South
2300 Province
of São Paulo
2303 Vice-Province
of Recife
2400 Province
of Quito
2600 Province
of Rio de Janeiro
2800 Province
of Bogotá
3000 Province
of Santiago
3500 Province
of Porto Alegre
3600 Province
of Mexico
3900 Province
of San Juan 1
Province
of San Juan 2
4100 Province
of Campo Grande
4300 Province
of Goiás
4501 Vice-Province
of Manaus
4800 Province
of Bolivia
0015 Region of Asia-Oceania 1
Region
of Asia-Oceania 2
0058 Region
of Korea
0802 Vice-Province
of Kagoshima
1902 Vice-Province
of Toyko
2100 Province
of Canberra
2101 Vice-Province
of Manila
2102 Region
of Aotearoa
2103 Vice-Province
of Ipoh
3400 Province
of Vietnam
3800 Province
of Bangalore
3801 Region
of Colombo
3803 Region
of Mumbai
4503 Vice-Province
of Bangkok
4700 Province
of Cebu
4900 Province of Indonesia
5006 Mission
to Beirut
5007 Mission
to Iraq
5100
Liguori
Province
0016 Region of Africa
0202 Region
of Madagascar
1103 Region
of Zimbabwe
1509 Mission
of Ivory
Coast
2801 Mission
of Ghana
2202 Mission
of Mozambique
3301 Vice-Province
of Luanda
3804 Mission
of Kenya
4000 Province
of South Africa
4401 Vice-Province
of Burkina-Niger 1
Vice-Province
of Burkina-Niger 2
4504 Vice-Province
of Nigeria
5005 Vice-Province
of Matadi
