Redemptorist Hospitality at Our Lady of the Hills, SC
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December 5, 2022As Redemptorists we recognize that we are called to cooperate wholeheartedly with the Local Church as its pastoral program requires (GS04). Here at Our Lady of the Hills we are involved in a ministry of hospitality to several groups and ministries of the Charleston Diocese. Our location makes our parish ideal for diocesan gatherings. We are a half of a mile from the intersection of I-20 and I-26.
We are an hour from Rock Hill in the north and Aiken in the south. We are an hour and a half from Charleston and about the same distance as Greenville in the northwest. People have been appreciative that we have been so welcoming.
Each third weekend of the month we host the Permanent Deacon Formation Program for the Diocese. We are not directly involved in the program and classes, but many of the men in formation attend our Saturday evening Mass and come to us for confession. We also assist some of the local men in the formation program with spiritual direction.
On October 15th in our church, the new Bishop of Charleston, Bishop Jacques E. Fabre-Jeune, CS, celebrated the rites of admission to candidacy, installation of lectors and acolytes for those called to be permanent deacons in the Charleston Diocese.
We also host four Cursillo weekends a year. Our parish center becomes the “Our Lady of the Hills Hilton” for the weekend. We assist by celebrating Mass for the team and candidates and by offering reconciliation during the three-day retreat. Fr. Sousa who has been involved with the Cursillo movement for the past 10 years regularly offers the talk on the Sacraments. It has been a tremendous help to the Cursillo movement to have us minister to them as we fulfill our Redemptorist call to help people in their ongoing conversion, to intensify their apostolic activity, and to inspire them to live their special vocation more fully in the Church.
Our parish recently had the one-day Diocesan Prison Ministry conference, which Fr. Mike Koncik actively participated in. We host the quarterly Hispanic Ministry meeting of the diocese in which Fr. Peter Sousa and Fr. Blas Caceres participate in with the laity, sisters, deacons, and priests involved in this ministry. We will soon be hosting the Emmaus retreat leadership group from the diocese as well as the Advent retreat for the Hispanic young adult community from various parishes.
Hosting these and other groups, in addition to our parish ministry, does keep us busy. Our hospitality has given people in the diocese a sense of who the Redemptorists are and allowed us to let our charism be a positive influence on the diocese.
Because of what we have contributed to the diocese for the past ninety-eight years and especially in these past seven years at Our Lady of the Hills, many are deeply saddened by our upcoming departure. Redemptorists have made an impact on the Diocese of Charleston by promoting “plentiful redemption for all.”
Our Lady of the Hills evangelization team goes out to evangelize. In October, the Spanish-speaking evangelization team from our Lady of the Hills went out on two weekends to lead evangelization retreats in two South Carolina parishes — St. James in Conway and St. Mark’s in Newberry, South Carolina. Both Fathers Caceres and Sousa helped at the evangelization retreat in Newberry.
Our Lady of the Hills Spanish-speaking parishioners have been involved in evangelization programs for many years under the guidance of a team from Atlanta and Father Gustavo Corredor, a Charleston priest who previously led the Hispanic ministry at Our Lady of the Hills.
Now that the Hispanic community at Our Lady of the Hills has matured and developed as disciples, they are called to evangelize others. For the past three years, under the leadership of Fr. Blas Caceres and the parish lay leaders, they have continued the evangelization process in the parish and have begun reaching out to other parishes. It is amazing how this missionary activity is growing and bringing lapsed Catholics or those on the margins to a fuller life of faith.