Renata SteffensThe Redemptoris Archdiocesan Mater Seminary in Dundalk, Co. Louth, had a new church and seminary extension inaugurated last Sunday, June 28. Presiding over the event, Archbishop Eamon Martin mentioned that this is Armagh’s missionary seminary, and said that “Ireland, which once sent thousands of missionaries around the world, is now in need of mission herself.”
The archbishop said that “the Redemptoris Mater seminary was born out of a conviction that the world today still needs to hear and understand that the Kingdom of Heaven remains close at hand.”
The seminary is located in the heart of Dundalk on De La Salle Terrace and was established in 2012 as an initiative of the Archdiocese of Armagh to form priests for the New Evangelisation.
Archbishop Martin said that he, Cardinal Seán Brady, former Archbishop of Armagh, and Bishop Michael Router, Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh, “believe that Ireland can be enriched by the presence of young priests who have a strong missionary dimension to their formation.”
The archbishop said he is “committed to ensuring that the priests who are ordained from this seminary will not only serve in our own diocese but will also contribute to the wider global mission of the Church. During their lives as priests, they will be sent for certain periods, by me and by my successors, to bring their gifts and talents to the growth of the Church here in other parts of Ireland and, God willing, to other parts of the world.”