Redemptoris Mater Seminary
The Redemptoris Mater (Latin for "Mother of the Redeemer") seminaries are a fruit of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council. St. John Paul II established the first Redemptoris Mater Seminary for the Diocese of Rome in 1987. Since then, many bishops around the globe have followed the example of the Holy Father by opening Redemptoris Mater seminaries, which currently number over 120 throughout the world.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his address to the International Assembly of the Confederation Apostolic Union of Clergy on November 16, 2017 once again stressed the urgency of a New Evangelization (already laid out in Evangelii Gaudium):
«Dedication to the particular Church must then be expressed more broadly, with attention to the life of all the Church. Communion and mission are correlated dynamics. One becomes a minister to serve one’s own particular Church, in obedience to the Holy Spirit and one’s own bishop and in collaboration with other priests, but with the awareness of being part of the universal Church, which crosses the boundaries of one’s own diocese and country. If the mission is an essential quality of the Church, it is especially so for he who, ordained, is called to exercise the ministry in a community that is missionary by nature, and to educate in having a world view – not worldliness, but a world view! Indeed, mission is not an individual choice, due to individual generosity or perhaps pastoral disillusionment, but rather it is a choice of the particular Church that becomes a protagonist in the communication of the Gospel to all peoples.»
In order to fulfill this process there is a need of presbyters who receive a specifically missionary formation, as already intended by the Second Vatican Council (Presbyterorum Ordinis #10).
Redemptoris Mater Seminary in the Diocese of Brooklyn
Wishing to follow the example and clear pastoral concerns of the Holy Father and, witnessing the serious challenges that the Church in Brooklyn and the whole world is facing today, on May 19, 2018, Solemnity of Pentecost, the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, erected the Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater, to form presbyters for the New Evangelization.
Since its foundation in 1853, the Diocese of Brooklyn has earnestly worked to bring the Good News to the poor and the suffering. In its beginning, the main focus was the pastoral care of over 5 million Irish Catholic immigrants. Today, the Diocese continues to serve a great multicultural population of almost 5 million, of which 1.5 million identify themselves as Catholics, with over 26 ethnic groups and at least 33 different languages.
Although great efforts are put into the work of Evangelization, the Diocese faces great challenges. The main one is the process of secularization, which strikes society with greater strength. God and religious values are basically out of the picture. The truth and moral values are relegated to the sphere of mere private opinions. Relativism reigns. Many have lost faith and see life as meaningless. A serious existential and moral crisis affects society.
In such a situation, vocations to the priesthood are scarce and very hard to find. The amount of souls to serve greatly outnumber the priests already in active ministry as well as those still in formation. This means that many people are without priestly pastoral care and sacramental life, a situation which favors the spread of sects and the further advance of secularization.
Jesus Christ is the only one who can give meaning to our lives. He comes through his Church to give us Eternal Life. The Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater is an instrument that God has created to form presbyters whose ministry will reach out to everyone, especially those in the existential peripheries of our society, those who are far away.
Please pray for our seminary and support our mission of forming seminarians to become holy priests who may give their lives for the people and announce the boundless love of God to every creature.