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July 7, 2010
James P. McCabe, a native of Red Bank, NJ, will profess his final vows in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) July 17 in the main chapel at Stella Maris in Timonium, MD. His profession will take place during an 11 a.m. Mass that will also celebrate the jubilee anniversaries of more than 40 Redemptorist priests and brothers in the Baltimore Province.“I think it’s important that we take final vows before ordination. It’s important to realize that I am first a Redemptorist — that I am committing to a way of life dedicated to Jesus Christ and to the Redemptorist motto: plentiful redemption,” McCabe said. “That is why Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead, to bring the Good News that God loves creation and wants all creation to be united with him.”
McCabe, 53, is the oldest of four children of Robert and Vivian McCabe. He earned a bachelor’s in business administration from The Citadel in 1979, and then served as an electronic warfare officer (lieutenant) aboard the USS Peleliu in Long Beach, CA, from 1979-83.
He first entered the Redemptorists in 1983. He pursued philosophy and theology studies and completed novitiate, but chose to leave the order in 1987.
McCabe then pursued a career in economic and community development in the Staten Island and New York City areas. He was also active in Nativity Parish in Fair Haven, NJ, serving as a lector and a Eucharistic minister. He married in 1993, but divorced and was granted an annulment in 2002.
He earned a master’s in business administration from Dowling College in 2005, and re-entered the Redemptorists in 2006, pursuing theology studies at Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. In 2009, the Redemptorists relocated their theology program to Boston College where McCabe finished his master’s in divinity in May.
“The Redemptorists realize that Christ redeemed the world and did not judge it, and I was attracted to that charism — they are men committed to reminding people that we are redeemed,” McCabe said. “I was also impressed with the quality of the men — their lives are centered on Jesus Christ.”
McCabe is scheduled to be ordained a deacon Sept. 4, 2010, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be ordained to the priesthood in May 2011. His pastoral assignment before ordination is to St. Martin of Tours Church, a Redemptorist parish in Bethpage, NY.
To learn more about becoming a Redemptorist, click here.