Responding with Hope for a New Generation
The goal of our new Theologate is to form the next generation of Church leaders to minister to the young, the wounded and the most vulnerable, and to each of you who wish to join with us in our walk toward Jesus.
In this spirit, we have dedicated our new Theologate in San Antonio, Texas and inaugurated a new initiative: Respond with Hope for a New Generation.
The Gospel message of Our Lord’s plentiful redemption never changes, but our style of ministry must constantly adapt to people’s changing conditions and needs. Our new Theologate in San Antonio is truly a pathway forward for our Catholic community. It has been designed to embrace the ever-evolving needs of the faithful, promote collaborative ministry, and honor the unique sacramental role of the priest in our Catholic tradition.
The Redemptorists have brought together our seminarians from all our North American provinces in a new and innovative formations program that will:
- Create a mobile task force that in a true spirit of evangelization is able to quickly redeploy to areas of greatest spiritual need. This will continue the successful experiment now underway in our Mississippi Delta ministry.
- Teach advanced language skills to meet the shifting demographics of our Catholic population. Our goal is that by the year 2020 all theology students will be bi-lingual.
- Inaugurate a year’s pastoral study abroad. This program has been initiated to bring our young seminarians at an earlier age to a deeper respect and understanding of other cultures and the needs of diverse congregations. By assigning seminarians to mission work at an earlier stage in their formations, we hope also to advance and accelerate their maturation in ministry.
- Provide a new and innovative academic curriculum: Our Redemptorist students are now enrolled at the Oblate School of Theology (OST). Among the factors that led the Redemptorists to choose OST are its Hispanic and multicultural focus and its interest in pastoral and missionary work. In addition, the School’s parent congregation, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, share deep historical ties to the Redemptorists and a complementary chrism.
To succeed, we also need your help. We know that you have so often in the past risen to the task of building the Church and the faith. Your continual support, as well as the innovative nature of the new Theologate are reasons for hope.