The Private Association of the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer

 The background is important.

In 1966 there were 486 nuns in the diocese of Christchurch. How many are left today? How many do we see? The presence of Jesus and Mary alive in the consecrated sisters or nuns has been eradicated from our streets and from our schools. The loss of the religious sisters, their prayers, services and visibility is lamentable.

Soon after we were established in Christchurch, a young woman asked us to begin a branch for women who wanted to live a life of devotion similar to our own monastic-missionary life. We could not make them publicly professed nuns, we did not have the authority. But since what they desired was to live a life of devotion consecrated to Our Lord, I agreed to recognise them as our sister branch, they would be the Daughter of the Most Holy Redeemer as we are the Sons. They could not be publicly professed nuns, but since they did not seek that degree of recognition there was no problem. They would be a Private Association of devout women living a monastic life and given to works of charity. After all, the first monks and nuns were ordinary people who offered their lives in chastity to Our Lord. 

That is a background to the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer. They are not the 486 nuns of 1966. They are the eight very fine people who, in this desert of worldliness, chose to live a life of devotion, prayer and service in the spirit of St Alphonsus. 

On 13/14th July 2024 the Bishop of Christchurch publicly announced through a letter read in all the churches of the diocese that he had immediately suppressed the little community: "I am suppressing the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer, a private association established without approval from the local Ordinary."

In the Apostolic Visitator's report from Rome it was stated that the association was formed "without the knowledge or consent of the local Ordinary..."

This announcement placed these eight fine women under an atmosphere of suspicion. Perhaps it led a lot of people to consider them as frauds! Tht is how the media framed them. They were harrassed by The Press, photographed and publicly mocked. A drone took photos from above their residence. It was such that for some weeks the Daughters did not want to appear in public and went for their food in the early morning or late at night. 

That was not the way to treat women. No father would tolerate that treatment of his daughters. 

The public announcement of their "suppression" an act of public shaming and of ostracization. In this they suffered social and mental abuse. We hope this grave injury is soon healed because these valiant women live for Christ and with Christ. Any father would be proud to have them as his daughters and they deserve well of all the Catholics who see them or meet them.

Here I demonstrate that the Bishops of Christchurch positively did have knowledge of the Daughters. In varying degrees there was consent to their presence in the diocese.

First: On 24 September 2014 Bishop Jones, Bishop of Christchurch, wrote to the Daughters to tell them that he really enjoyed reading about their holy life. Therefore he knew about them. As bishop of Christchurch on his official paper he wrote to them. He did not dismiss them. He did not consider them fraudsters. In saying that he "really enjoyed reading about (their) holy life" he gave his initial consent to the early days of their fledgling community. He said that he would take it to his consultors and be in contact with them afterwards. They were later positively visited by the Vicar General of the diocese.

The Diocesan Administrator assists at the Solemn High Mass.

The Faithful file through to salute Our Lord in the Daughters' chapel.

Second: On 4 June 2018 The Administrator of the diocese, Msgr. R. Loughlan, assisted at High Mass in our Oratory. The purpose of his presence at the Mass was a further degree of consent to the presence of the Daughters in the diocese. He was present officially. He came to witness the Blessed Sacrament being placed in the tabernacle of the Daughters' chapel. Surely that is a degree of positive official consent? 

The Administrator of the diocese was accompanied by a large number of the Faithful. They publicly processed behind the Blessed Sacrament from the Oratory to the Daughters' House. The Blessed Sacrament was publicly placed in the Daughters' house precisely so that they could live with the sacramental presence of Jesus. The Faithful, waiting outside, came in turn to the Daughters' chapel and worshipped our Lord Who had taken up His residence there. It should be noted that when the Administrator of the Diocese gave his permission for the Daughters to keep the Blessed Sacrament, it was the Administrator himself who said that he would like to be present for the ceremony. 

We must conclude, against what the report from Rome stated, that the Bishops of the diocese both knew and to some degree did show their consent to the presence of the Daughters.

Third: On 19 May 2019 Bishop Paul Martin wrote to me to acknowledge reception of the Statutes of the Association of the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer. Because the Statutes were still in their formation draft he asked for a copy to be sent to him when they were finalised. 

Therefore he knew of the Daughters and he had received their draft Statutes. He never expressed any reserve either at the fact of the Association nor that I, as Rector Major, had erected their Association.

The official magazine of the diocese said of them: “The decrees Bishop Gielen issued also saw the suppression of the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer, an association established without Church approval within which a group of women presented themselves as nuns.”  This is a  statement about devout women living what Bishop Barry Jones called a "holy life", that he was "really happy to read about". It is a statement about devout women entrusted by the diocese of Christchurch with the Blessed Sacrament, living according to a draft Rule of Catholic spirituality that Bishop Paul Martin had received and accepted for what it was. To say that they "...presented themselves as nuns"  does not do justice to the esteem in which Bishop Barry held their holy life nor does it do justice to the truth.

I hope that very soon the eight Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer will be well received by all. The Holy See has suspended the Bishop's Decree of Suppression of the Daughters until it is more thoroughly evaluated. The measure also permitted the Daughters to remain in the Diocese after 8 October 2024, which was the date on which they were to be expelled from the territory.

Devotedly
Father Michael Mary, F.SS.R.