Ask Redemptorist Father Joseph Tizio what he has enjoyed most about his 50 years of priesthood and he simply responds, “the extraordinary people who have touched my life.”
“I have lived with some wonderful Redemptorists who were men of deep prayer and who have mentored me, challenged me, and have been great to work and live with,” said Father Tizio, rector and director of San Alfonso Retreat House, West End. “I have enjoyed ministering to and with so many great people who taught me more than I could have ever taught them: people whose love for Christ and the Church has moved me toward a deeper love, people who challenged me to give more than I ever thought I could give.”
Father Tizio, who arrived at San Alfonso in 2023, was ordained a priest June 8, 1975. He completed his theological studies at Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary, Esopus, N.Y., and has served in parish ministry in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Saratoga Springs, New York and Boston. He also served as formation director for the Redemptorist college seminarians from 1984 to 1989.
Of his various ministry experiences, Father Tizio speaks of two “important things” he’s learned during his 50 years of priesthood. One, he said, is what his community’s founder, St. Alphonsus Ligouri, called detachment.
“I’m trying to learn to let go, to allow my ministry and God’s plan to simply unfold,” he said.
“I am trying to allow the Spirit to lead me and not get in the way,” he said, adding that he’s looking forward to Sept. 20, when a Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated to mark San Alfonso’s 100th anniversary.