Pioneering diligently
Mary is our focus in this edition, with a special emphasis on her representation in the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
As you may know, Liguorian and Liguori Publications are named after St. Alphonsus Liguori, a doctor of the Church and founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Even the community where Liguori Publications is based is named after him.
Redemptorists have a special connection to the icon, as Fr. Michael Brehl, CSsR, explains in our cover story. The upcoming 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX’s appointment of the Redemptorists as custodians and missionaries of the icon is special for Redemptorists and Liguori Publications.
I’m well into my second year as publisher, and I am continually gratified with the clarity of the vision St. Alphonsus and the Redemptorists provide for our publishing company.
“The preacher should employ words that are in common use,” St. Alphonsus wrote. My Redemptorist partners confirm that this means to talk to people where they are in terms they can understand.
It’s no surprise that what Pope Francis is saying and doing resonates so powerfully with Redemptorists and with the people of Liguori Publications. He’s reaching out to people where they are and going from there.
The Redemptorist Constitutions and Statutes clarifies this drive to innovate even more: Redemptorists “cannot allow themselves to settle down in surroundings and structures in which their work would no longer be missionary. On the contrary, they will diligently pioneer new ways of preaching the Gospel to every creature.”
As a Redemptorist ministry, Liguori abides by the same documents that guide the fathers and brothers. Thus, as our Congregation’s publishing mission we have a responsibility to pioneer diligently.
In all our publications, we strive to speak to people where they are, relentlessly trying new ways to convey the Good News. Some readers were surprised we published an article on Ferguson. Some are perplexed over our new book about evangelizing over beer. Some wonder if we have a political point of view? We do not.
At Liguori Publications, we proudly do what we do because, as a Redemptorist ministry, we must.
