The General Visit of the Province of Naples

The General Consultors Fr. Enrique López and João Pedro Fernandes have been delegated by Father General to carry out the canonical visitation to the Province of Naples from January 27 to March 3, 2014. The hospitality of confreres and lay people allowed visitors to feel at home and perform their duty in the best possible way.

There are 15 communities in the Neapolitan Province: 8 in the region of Campania, 3 in Puglia, 2 in Sicily and 2 in Calabria. The Visitors had the opportunity to meet with every community and to talk with individual confreres. There were also some area meetings: two with the communities of Campania and one meeting in each of the other areas: Sicily, Calabria and Apulia. The confreres had the possibility to receive up to date information about the present situation of the whole Redemptorist World, the biggest challenges for CSsR and the newest mission initiatives in different Conferences.  The visitors also had meetings with the Secretariats for: Apostolic Life, Formation, Economic Issues, Media, and Foreign Missions.

One of the significant features of this Unit is the engagement of lay people in the apostolate and mission of this Province. Several hundred lay people are taking part in the activities of different groups of lay collaborators. The visitors met with them in the sanctuary of Saint Gerard in Materdomini.

The Superior General Fr. Michael Brehl joined the consultors for the final days of the visit. He was the chairman of the final Assembly in the beautiful church of Colle of St. Alphonsus on the slopes of Vesuvius.

There are 82 Confreres in the Province of Naples but 5 of them are from Madagascar where the Province has its mission. The average age of the Confreres is 61.5 years. Three young people started postulancy in January 2014.

The Unit works in many parishes and two famous Redemptorist shrines (Materdomini “Saint Gerard” and Pagani “Saint Alphonsus”). Many Confreres are involved in different forms of the parish missions. Redemptorist Youth and Vocational Ministry is very well organized and offers many opportunities for youth faith formation. The Province is involved in many mass-media projects e.g. TV channel “TeleNuova2”, the Internet platform, editorial house, virtual magazines. The Confreres are also working with migrants especially in two special projects in Schiavonea (Calabria), and in Foggia (Apulia).

The Province is taking care for the most important and historic Redemptorist places connected with the lives of St. Alphonsus, St. Gerard and January Sarnelli.

Fr. João Pedro Fernandes, CSsR