Address (Community based at Paroisse Saint-Louis-des-Français): 10565 rue Principale, St-Louis-de-Kent, NB

Redemptorist Moderator : Fr. Bernard Gauthier, C.Ss.R.

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The Unité Pastorale Elsipogtog and Our Lady of Hope brings together four Catholic and Indigenous parishes in the Diocese of Moncton, New Brunswick: Sainte-Anne in Elsipogtog, Sainte-Anne in Indian Island, Immaculate Conception in Rexton, and St Peter in South Branch.

The Redemptorist History in the Archdiocese of Moncton

The Redemptorists ran retreats and parish missions throughout the archdiocese, long before Bishop Norbert Robichaud entrusted them with the parish of Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel-Secours in Humphrey (Moncton) in 1948.

In 1954, Bishop Robichaud authorized them to build the Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel-Secours minor seminary in Humphrey. Over eight hundred young Acadians benefited from this place of education until its closure in the early 1970s. It then became a home for the elderly, the Villa du Repos, and was finally demolished in 2007.

The Redemptorists also administered and animated the former closed retreat house in Bouctouche from 1956 to 1969.

In June 1965, Redemptorists from the Bouctouche Retreat House began serving Big Cove to help the St-Charles priest. Among others, we note Father Raphael Caron and especially Father Gabriel Gagnon (1966-1969). Finally, when the Bouctouche Retreat House closed in the summer of 1969, Big Cove received its first 'resident priest' in Father Gagnon in September 1969. Since then, except between 2011 and 2015, Redemptorists have lived in Elsipogtog (Big Cove). Over time, they have also served Bass River, Indian Island... as well as the English-speaking communities of Rexton and South Branch.

Since 1998, Father Michel Mercier has been chaplain at the Stella Maris Hospital in Sainte-Anne de Kent.

In 2011, after a mandate in a pastoral unit of five parishes in the Bathurst diocese, the Redemptorists offered their services to Archbishop André Richard of Moncton, who entrusted them with the “Marie-Étoile-de-la-Mer” pastoral unit: the parishes of Sainte-Anne (Baie Sainte-Anne), Saint-Joseph (Pointe-Sapin), Saint-Louis-des-Français (Saint-Louis-de-Kent) and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola (Saint-Ignace). And in 2015, Archbishop Valery Vienneau of Moncton asked the Redemptorists to take charge of Saint Anne (Elsipogtog) and Saint Kateri (Indian Island) parishes, as well as the “Our Lady of Hope” pastoral unit: Immaculate Conception (Rexton) and St. Peter (South Branch) parishes.