How Does St. Clement Hofbauer Continue to Guide or Inspire You? Voices of the Redemptorist Family
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March 15, 2023As I think about the Redemptorist mission today, I am inspired most by how Clement was able to hold the tension between ‘contemplation’ and ‘action.’ I try to be guided by Clement’s example in reading the signs of the times and his circumstances, and then his courage to adapt and change the means by which he carried out the Redemptorist mission. Clement is also a model for me in his perseverance through failure and uncertainty.- David Louch, CSsR, Province of Canada
My Understanding of the Redemptorist Mission is that we are called to preach the Gospel as missionaries of hope everyday, everywhere and every time St Clement inspires us to preach the gospel anew and to live out what we preach by caring for the needy around us. He applied a balanced approach to the work of the mission in the footsteps of the Most Holy Redeemer.
Following the examples of St Clement, I have come to realize that it is in listening to the needs and yearnings of the ones to whom we are sent, that we become effective preachers.
In addition, as a Lay Missionary of the Most Holy Redeemer, I constantly remind mysel that St Clement took the Congregation outside Naples and we as Missionaries, are called to do likewise by going beyond borders in spreading the message of Hope, having the poor and most abandoned always at heart.
-Lady Judith Agu, Lay Missionary of the Most Holy Redeemer, Vice-Province of Nigeria, General Commission for PIM.
Saint Clement Hofbauer inspires me (us) with his resilience, the practice of his faith regardless of his station in life, and his willingness to collaborate with whatever partners in mission or supportive benefactors came his way. Throughout his life, first as a baker, then hermit, then parish priest, he equally addressed the temporal needs of those he encountered as well as their spiritual needs -- we all have both necessities. Thwarted in his vocation by economic constraints and in his ministry by political opposition, he overcame adversity by adapting rather than fighting his foe.
Exemplified by a boys’ orphanage he established that expanded into a girls’ academy when he collaborated with women in that youth ministry, partnering with laity was key to his missionary endeavors flourishing.- Skip Doyle, Partners in Mission Province of Baltimore.
When I reflect on our Redemptorist Mission today I draw immense inspiration from St. Clement with regard to his zeal, enthusiasm, fidelity to the Congregation and its charism, his ability to respond with new initiatives for the mission, and so much more.
However, Clement realised that he could not live and carry out the mission of the Congregation alone, it was to be done always in and through the Community. He was following Jesus, sent by the Father to proclaim the Good News alongside and with a Community of Disciples. Alphonsus did the very same with his first companions.
Clement did precisely this, yet the community also included the lay people whom invited to be part of the mission in Warsaw (the Oblates whom he empowered to run the Schools, the orphanage and the boarding houses) and in Vienna (the professors, the student leaders, the group of lay friends including protestants with whom he was able to counter the harshness of Jansenism and the rejection of the faith by the philosophy of the Enlightenment).
Mission belongs to the Lord and it is His, we are all workers in his vineyard, working as one Church, together Redemptorists and lay faithful in a missionary Church for the mission of the Lord.-Ivel Mendanha, CSsR, General Council CSsR.
Saint Clement inspires me in creative fidelity to Jesus Christ, to the gospel and to the mission of our congregation. He was carefully listening to the needs of the people in his time an was than very creative in his answers. In this way he became a missionary of hope for many. He helped them to go ahead.-Martin Leitgöb, CSsR, Provincial, Bratislava-Prague
St. Clement inspires me today, because he never gave up when faced with difficulties. He was creative. He was courageous. He was flexible. His example makes me want to be a good leader for our Province and our Congregation.- Michael Smolinski, CSsR, Provincial, Province of Canada
St. Clement continues to be an inspiration. Day to day we face the challenges of life – despair is at the door of many a heart. St. Clement reminds us that whether we suffer from the confusion of mental illness, seek food for the poor, reach out to the hearts of the intellectual and the artistic, call for accountability of politicians, get displaced by war, or just the simple personal needs of the day ... the starting point and the end point – it is a closed ring – of our prayers is the will of our Loving God for Whom nothing is impossible.- Bon Fagan, Redemptorist Associate, St. John’s, NL
Thank you for inviting me to write about how St Clement Hofbauer inspires me, so here goes. I’m inspired by the wide range of people across different nationalities that St Clement influenced in serving the poor and to do good works. He was relentless in finding new ways to proclaim the good news to the many he met along the way.– Lidia Allen, Redemptorist Associate, Our Lady of the Desert, Tucson, AZ
St. Clement continues to inspire me to find new ways to witness to the Gospel and bringing its message to the people who do not see it as good news. In St. Clement's times, people were hungry for the prayerful atmosphere in their churches and for the good homilies. In our times, people want to be heard, they are hungry to tell about their stories and pain to someone who would listen and pray for them... they want us to be that "presence of Jesus" in their lives.- Ivan Dzhur, CSsR, Province of Canada
St Clement inspires us through his perseverance, his constant search for God and his ability to translate the Gospel into different languages for the simplest people to the intellectuals of his time. He is a saint who always invites us to seek new horizons!- Rogério Gomes, CSsR, Superior General CSsR
We would like to touch upon three overlapping aspects regarding how St. Clement can inspire both lay partners in mission and Redemptorists in today’s pastoral landscape.
First, St. Clement’s missionary-pastoral orientation propelled him to be creative and innovative in evangelizing and engaging in outreach, adapting his pastoral practice to the particular needs he encountered in the conditions he faced, with the goal of drawing everyone to the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Like St. Alphonsus, he had a special concern for the poor, marginalized, and spiritually abandoned.
Second, St. Clement was concerned for the spiritual welfare of all he encountered and was a spiritual shepherd to all. He demonstrated pastoral solicitude, in so many ways, for people from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds, from the poorest, powerless, and least educated to the most affluent, highly educated, influential, and powerful.
Third, it must be emphasized that St. Clement exemplified and valued fruitful collaboration with laypersons, both women and men in Warsaw and Vienna, in service of the Gospel that was suitable for their time and place. As especially relevant today and for the future of the Redemptorist mission, St. Clement inspires relational approaches to awaken the faith and foster the spiritual growth of laypersons.
Also, in turn, by mobilizing their energies and talents in service of the Gospel, he inspires paradigms of mature robust partnership and fruitful collaboration between laypersons and Redemptorists that could be emulated, or even expanded in efforts to proclaim the Gospel ever anew in the contemporary pastoral landscape.- Francisco & Lucille Otero, Redemptorist Associates, Province of Denver
Clement recognized that the mission of the Congregation had to adapt to the audience, the time, place, and circumstances of the mission field. However, he never wavered from the unchanging core content of the mission— preach the love of Christ, the kingdom of God, and bringing good news to the poor.– Ed Eherer, CSsR, Province of Canada
