Co-Redemptorist Association
Because of the Co-Redemptorist Association, the Redemptorists have never had to refuse a student for economic reasons.
A Co-Redemptorist is a person who actively sponsors a young man, through prayer and financial support, in his spiritual journey to becoming a Redemptorist priest or Brother.
The Co-Redemptorist Association has been in existence for almost fifty years. A Catholic layman, Mr. William Davidson of St. Louis, inspired the program as an apostolic activity for friends of the Redemptorists. He determined the portion of the daily educational cost of a seminarian that the Redemptorists could not cover with their own resources [$1.42].
And he then invited people to cover that deficit for one seminarian, one day a month, or two days a month, etc. as they wished. In this way, by daily prayer and a sacrificial offering, our Co-Redemptorists share their concern for and interest in the formation and education of future Redemptorist priests and brothers.
The Co-Redemptorist program has not changed substantially in fifty years, and nor have the benefits which each Co-Redemptorist enjoys: receiving a monthly spiritual letter, being included in five novenas a year as well as the prayers said by each and every Redemptorist community. And since the advent of the Internet, the Redemptorists have also been quick to assure their Co-Redemptorist members that their names will never be shared or sold to other organizations.
Depending on whether they donate monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually, a return envelope is included and marked with the number of days they have sponsored and the total amount for that month, quarter, etc.
In this way, every Co-Redemptorist has a definite hand in shaping and educating Redemptorists for the future. The title is indeed well deserved: Co-Redemptorists.
We Redemptorists, past, present, and future, can never sufficiently put into words our thanks to our Co-Redemptorists.