Alphonsian Spirituality and Me

August 26, 2022

by John & Diana Davenport, Redemptorist Associates

Fr. Paul Coury recently spoke to a group of about 100 Our Lady of the Desert parishioners, friends, colleagues and confreres about how Alphonsian Spirituality became the central focus of his life. His talk, “Alphonsian Spirituality and Me,” was sponsored by the Our Lady of the Desert Redemptorist Associates Circle in Tucson, which Fr. Paul formed in 2018.

Fr. Paul told us he grew up in a Redemptorist parish in Detroit. His whole family was active in parish life, but the two people whose commitment to caring for society’s outcasts most impressed him were his grandfather and his mother. As a child, he sometimes went with his grandfather, a postal worker, on his daily route. His grandfather always gave whatever money he could spare to the destitute people he met on his route every day. All of them came to his funeral when he died.

Fr. Paul’s mother also always tried to help anyone she met who was down on their luck. She was especially solicitous in finding them shoes, because walking the streets when you have no home takes a big toll on your feet.

The story Fr. Paul told of how the Redemptorists came to Michigan really reflected their Alphonsian view of the sacrament of confession. In the 1800s, the bishop of Michigan asked them to come to serve the French fur trappers, because his diocesan priests felt the trappers were basically unredeemable barbarians. In confession, they were told they were surely going to hell. The bishop felt the Redemptorists were “kind confessors” who would not drive the trappers away from the faith.

Fr. Paul spoke fondly of Ken Sedlak, C.Ss.R., a dear friend who greatly influenced his view of God. While Fr. Ken was pastor of St. Michael Parish in Chicago, he founded Pathways, a program for young professionals seeking to integrate body, mind, and spirit, and he served on the core team of STILLPOINT, a contemplative outreach center. Fr. Paul shared an excerpt from Fr. Ken’s book, "Why God Loves Us…No Matter What."

Fr. Paul held up a small statue of the Sacred Heart from the Redemptorist Renewal Center (RRC) office that had served to remind everyone who visited the Renewal Center of Jesus’ unconditional love for us. Fr. Paul told us that it had belonged to Rosy Kubiak, a frequent and much-loved volunteer in our parish.

Our church pilgrimage to the Amalfi Coast and other areas of Italy, led by Fr. Paul, offered some insights into the deep core of St. Alphonsus’ spirituality. Alphonsus often went to a small cave at Amalfi to find solitude and to pray. He is said to have had dialogues with Our Lady while he prayed there.

Later, there was a picture of Mary in a church where Alphonsus preached that sent a beam of light over him while he spoke. Fr. Paul showed a photograph of that picture and the beam of light that came from it. He said that they could not see the light while they were there, but somehow the camera captured it.

After a closing prayer for vocations to the Redemptorist Congregation, Fr. Paul gave us a blessing, and we sang “Happy Birthday” before we headed off to a delicious dinner at the RRC dining hall. Jan and Bob Keogh kindly provided a beautiful cake to celebrate Fr. Paul’s 76 years of life and 50 years of service as a priest.

North American Conference of Redemptorists

Washington, DC

Alphonsian Spirituality and Me