The members of Mission Team North are:
Denis Luddy CSsR (Team Leader)
I joined the Redemptorists in 1982. I was 24 then and considered a “late vocation” since most of my classmates were school-leavers of 17 or 18. I was ordained in 1991 and have been giving parish missions for almost eighteen years now. I was based in Limerick in the 1990s from where half of my work consisted in giving Secondary School Retreats. I was assigned to the Dundalk Redemptorist Community in February 2000 and have been giving missions mostly in the north east of the country since then. At present I lead the mission team and organize parish missions and solemn novenas given from the Dundalk and Esker/Athenry Redemptorist s. Why do I give missions? Why go from place to place preaching the Word of God? For Redemptorists in Ireland this is surely our core ministry. We have a responsibility to the Church in Ireland to continue offering this form of renewal, parish and personal, on our island today. I am convinced that preaching parish missions is a worthwhile way of supporting and encouraging Irish Catholics in living the Christian life in this new century.
Contact Information:
Phone: +353 42 933 4042
Email: Denis Luddy CSsR
Kevin Browne CSsR
I was ordained in 1974 and spent the next eight years on the Redemptorist School Retreat Team, which was dedicated to you ministry in the 1970s and 1980s. This was followed by one year in (the now-closed) Saint Clement’s Retreat House in Belfast and then ten years preaching parish missions between Limerick, Dublin and Dundalk. After that I spent six years working in Clonard church (Belfast). Then I had a sabbatical year and a year working with asylum seekers in Limerick. For four years I worked in a parish in Lagos (Nigeria) and in the Redemptorist seminary there. On returning to Ireland I worked in the Esker Retreat House for three years and since September 2008 I am back preaching parish missions, based in Clonard Redemptorist Community. In proclaiming the Gospel on parish missions, I have the opportunity to tell God's People of God's invitation to us to share in his life which is given and achieved in Jesus. This is of the utmost importance because it gives purpose and meaning to life and is, in my view, the goal of the human project. Parish missions also bring a renewal of belief in God's love for us all and they are an instrument to bring joy to people. They are also an encouragement to people to be involved in the building of a faith community in their own areas which is essentially what Jesus meant by the ”Kingdom of God.”
Contact Information:
Phone: +44 28 9044 5950
Email: Kevin Browne CSsR
Tony Flannery CSsR (Contact for Western Missions)
I was born in 1947, am a native of Attymon, Co. Galway and the youngest of four in my family. I have spent thirty-five years preaching missions, retreats and novenas all over the country. I believe that Ireland today is more in need of hearing the Word than at any time in my working life. For many years we bought into the fallacy of consumerism, and at some level all of us believed that we could buy happiness and a meaning to our lives. Now, with the dramatic collapse, we are left floundering, but also more open to hearing an alternative message than before. So there is a fertile field now. The time is right for preaching the Kingdom of God. I write books and articles. I am probably best known for The Death of Religious Life? and From the Inside. My latest book, Fragments of Reality, is selling well. I also write a regular column for Reality magazine, and occasionally for other publications. I am a member of the Esker Redemptorist Community and the team's contact person for Parish Missions and Solemn Novenas in the west of Ireland.
Contact Information:
Phone: +353 91 844 007
Mobile: +353 87 681 4699
Email: Tony Flannery CSsR
Brendan Keane CSsR
I was ordained a Redemptorist priest in July 1972. In the past thirty-seven years I have worked as a parish missioner, given retreats in our retreat houses in Belfast and Esker (Athenry) and have been on the church ministry teams in our houses in Belfast (Clonard) and Limerick. I have also worked in various other ministries with married and engaged couples; on programmes for the bereaved and for people with addiction. I have also given retreats for religions and priests. At present, I am a member of the Clonard Redemptorist Community and I work both on the mission team and in the church ministry. I also work in the other ministries mentioned above. Over the years, I have gradually deepened in awareness that the Word of God tells people at the deepest level who they are. It reminds them of their potential for goodness and influencing others and helps them leave the wounds of sin, hurt, and all that’s negative behind and face the present and future with solid confidence. The Word of God makes people aware that God is with them in times of suffering, failure and pain, and that through suffering they can grow, change, and come to new life. The Word of God also helps people face the reality of death and breaks down barriers between peoples, races, and nations. I am also very convinced of two other things. First, that people can love God and let God’s love shine through them by being themselves and doing very ordinary things. Second, that people show God’s word of forgiveness, kindness, intimacy, justice, peace, and truth, more than they think. The word of God is within them and their experience.
Contact Information:
Phone: +44 28 9044 5950
Email: Brendan Keane CSsR
Brian Nolan CSsR
Since making first vows in 2004 I spent two years studying Theology and Cultural Studies at the Milltown Institute for Theology and Philosophy. That was followed by two years of mission experience. During those two years I lived and worked in Clonard Monastery in Belfast. It was a time where I experienced first-hand the work of a Redemptorist parish missioner. I was also involved with the Clonard youth ministry team. This involved giving retreats to secondary school children from schools all over the North of Ireland. To be a preacher of the word in the Ireland of today is both rewarding and challenging. To have the opportunity of preaching the gospel to people from so many different circumstances and situations is a huge privilege. The message that we find in the Gospels is a challenging and to get up and preach that message is not always easy. To be a preacher today takes courage, courage to accept the challenges of the Gospels and courage to try and help those who listen to accept the same challenges in their own lives. I was ordained deacon on 30 May 2009 and in September 2009 I was appointed to the Dundalk / Esker Mission Team. I was ordained a priest in December 2009. I am a member of the Cherry Orchard Redemptorist Community in west Dublin.
Contact Information:
Phone: + 353 1 626 7930
Email: Brian Nolan CSsR
Tony Rice CSsR
I was born in 1978 in Belfast and finished school in 1997. After that I worked at different jobs for a few years before joining the Redemptorists in 2001, following a long period of discernment. I first professed vows as a Redemptorist in August 2004, and I was ordained priest in December 2009. Moving to Dublin was an eye-opener – giving me a broader worldview from that which I had been used to. My formation and training as a Redemptorist has given me opportunities and experiences, in Ireland and beyond, that have greatly shaped me. I have lived and studied with people of vastly different backgrounds, journeys, gifts and theologies! Great learning has come in the guise of such a challenge. Since 2001, I have lived in Dublin (five years), Dundalk (one year) and Cork (two years). In September 2009 I took up my appointment as a member of the Dundalk Redemptorist Community. My primary ministries entail being a member of the Dundalk/Esker Mission Team and as a Director of Vocations. Both will require me to listen deeply, dialogue openly, share my faith readily and pray wholeheartedly. Perhaps my motto shall be; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight” (Proverbs 3:5).
Contact Information:
Phone: +353 42 933 4042
Email: Tony Rice CSsR also Redemptorist Vocations