Report from the Desert! Unification Gathering Held in Tuscon
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July 2, 2025The final “Unification Gathering” of confreres from the three Provinces of Baltimore, Denver, and Mexico, along with the Ex-Patriam Vice-Province of Vietnam, just convened and concluded in the stunningly beautiful Redemptorist Renewal Center of Tucson, Arizona, June 16 – June 19, 2025. Equally stunning was the extraordinary heat that kept everyone happy to remain in the various meeting places in the various buildings on the retreat campus, which are comfortably air-cooled.
Since beginning with these gatherings last Fall in New Jersey’s San Alfonso Retreat Center, continuing in our beautiful Redemptorist retreat center in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and gathering in Mexico this year, each gathering had a goodly number of men from each Province and Vice-Province attending. The goal was not so much to address and hash-out the particulars of unification, best left to the work of the Unification Commission and the respective leadership Councils, but to invite confreres to articulate their understanding of our particular discipleship in Christ, shaped by their culture and their province history, and especially, to get to know each other and to gaze upon each other as a single Redemptorist Province of committed religious.After a general round of introducing ourselves, a confrere from each Province and Vice-Province, gave an overview of their (V-) Province in an effective PowerPoint presentation, including the basic statistics of professed religious and students in formation, showing photos of sites and events of their ministry. It served at least as an initial introduction to each Province and Vice-Province.Tuesday also included a half-hour reflection on our Redemptorist Identity, by Fr. Jose Luis Gomez Garcia, C.Ss.R., of Mexico, followed by small group discussion. This was the basic format for each day – major input presentation, followed by small group discussion.
Wednesday’s reflection, by our own Fr. John Collins, C.Ss.R., Provincial, was on the special dynamism of our religious vocation as Redemptorists, while Thursdays by Fr. Anthony Nguyen, C.Ss.R., Consultor of Denver, was on our missionary thrust... Each offered the small groups a summary of their input and pointed questions for their forty-five minutes of conversation.Morning Prayers were nicely crafted in the Lectio Divina prayer style, sharing the power of the word or phrase that spoke to our hearts within our same small group, and each day’s Eucharist was planned and offered by ministers of each Province and Vice- Province.A special little trip to one of the oldest Missions founded by Jesuit Priest, Fr. Keno SJ, “San Xavier,” enlivened Wednesday afternoon, with Mass celebrated there, though the heat dampened it from becoming too lively! And, of course, it was in the sharing of three super fine meals of the day and pre-dinner “Gaudeamus,” and later evening convivial gatherings, where the un-structured, but just as important connecting of confreres from one Province to another happened, as well as opportunity for men from the same Province to fraternize and enjoy each other’s companionship.Not hopefully as a mere reflex comment, but we could testify the Spirit was alive among us, by this week’s end, and though the unknown lies before us, with many challenges yet to be addressed and faced, this week was a very good continuation of the unification process for us all.One unified Redemptorist Family of confreres of the United States with the Ex- Patriam Vietnamese confreres, confreres of Mexico along with all the “Partners in Mission,” and our many Lay Associates, lies before us! †(Photos by Br. Ken Stigner.)