General Visit in St. Clement Province

The General Visit of the Province of St. Clement lasted from April 24 to May 26. Fr. Enrique Lopez and Fr. Juventius Andradre (general consultors), Fr. David Louch (from Edmonton-Toronto Province) and Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek (coordinator of the CRE) were delegated by Father General to carry out the visit. The Superior General Fr. Michael Brehl was present during the last days of the visit.
The St. Clement Province was officially inaugurated on 1st of August 2005 in Matran (Switzerland) but the process of the fusion of the four former Provinces (Amsterdam, Flanders, Cologne and Helvetica) had already started in 2003.

Being a big province (in both area and numbers) in four different countries with different histories, three languages, different state laws, and different mentalities, the Province needs good communication between the provincial council and the communities and confreres. In all four countries the provincial council designated so called “delegates” to be the first contact persons for the provincial in each country. The Province publishes a monthly bulletin called “Inter Nos” as well as “St. Clemens Info” which comes a few times a year.
There are 197 Redemptorists in the Province with an average age 77; only 15 members of the Province are under 60 years of age.
St. Clement Province is involved in some pastoral projects e.g. “Klooster Wittem” (shrine of St. Gerard) in the Netherlands; “Youth Community” in Kirchhellen and “Collegium Josephinum Bonn” (CoJoBo) in Germany; and a new project is being developed in Gent in Belgium. The Province created a very interesting program for young adults, called “Redemptorist Volunteer Ministries.” The program offers to young people a possibility of one year of volunteer work in various social projects with a Redemptorist community in a foreign country. The social dimension is strongly present in many projects of the Province.
There has been a policy of collaboration with the laity for many years. There are several groups founded and/or guided by Redemptorists, and recently 12 “lay associates” were welcomed into the Province.
The province runs its own Viceprovince of Matadi (Democratic Republic of Congo) and it still has official responsibility for the mission in Iraq and Lebanon, but the process of transferring the mission in Lebanon to the Liguori Province (India) is underway. Besides that, members of this province are also working in Bolivia, Indonesia, Brazil and Suriname.
Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek CSsR