Who Can Be a Redemptorist?

We are looking for men who:

• Practice the Catholic faith
• Can give themselves generously in service to God and His people
• Can live with others in community, collaborate on common projects, share their successes and failures, their joys and sorrows, and do ministry together as an apostolic community
• Can embrace the Redemptorist charism of preaching the Gospel to the most abandoned, especially the poor
• Are flexible and adaptable in the service of mission
• Can foster an intimate relationship with God through prayer, having a deep love for Christ in the holy Eucharist and a love for His Blessed Mother
• Can live a healthy and balanced lifestyle defined by the Redemptorist charism under the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
• Are in good mental and physical health
• Are open to growth and development on an academic, spiritual, communal, ministerial, and personal human level
• Are between the ages of 18-45
• Are free of non-academic financial debt
• Are citizens of the United States or have permanent legal residency

---

During a weekly devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Fr. David Purcell reflects on the invitation to religious life and the Redemptorists.

How Do I Get Started?

If you've been feeling like you might be called to the religious life or the priesthood, talk with someone about what you are experiencing. Youth, young adult, peer ministers, pastors and parents can all be options for this kind of conversation, but your best bet for quality information and counsel is with a good vocation director. A vocation director is not a recruiter. He or she will listen to your questions and ask you some good ones too. The goal is to help you figure out just how the Lord might be calling you. There are many wonderful ways to respond to God's call and a good vocation director will have a wide knowledge and deep appreciation of those different paths so as to help you find the one that is yours.

If you want help in discerning your vocation, try contacting one of the Redemptorist vocation directors of North America. We will do our best to accompany you in your discernment and help you come to a well formed decision and commitment-- the end goals of any true discernment process. 

If you feel drawn to the Redemptorists during your discernment, we will be happy to provide you with experiences of the community that can help you develop a clearer picture of whether God might be inviting you to share in our mission. You can visit us for "Come and See" weekends in our formation communities or for "Come and Pray" retreat experiences at our retreat houses and Shrines. For more information, give us a call or write us an e-mail.