"Our Lady of America... visionary reported that St. Joseph said about himself: 'I became, in union with my holy spouse, co-redemptor of the human race. Through compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and Mary I co-operated, as no other, in the salvation of the world.' Of course, Joseph means this in the sense that Mary and Joseph are 'auxiliary' co redeemers and not equal co-redeemers with Jesus"
- Fr. Regis Scanlon
Might St. Joseph, who co-operated in salvation history, be called a co-redeemer?
Does St. Joseph have the same mission as Joseph of the Old Testament?
In a dream, the Old Testament Joseph was told how to save Egypt and therefore later he could bring the people of God into that country to save them from death by famine.
In a dream, St. Joseph was told how to save the people of God which consisted of Jesus and Mary by bringing them to Egypt to save them from being killed by King Herod.
What did a disciple of the Apostle John who Jesus made the son of Mary (and Joseph) on the cross say about St. Joseph?
The disciple of the Apostle John named St. Ignatius (30-107) wrote:
"Unknown to thee [Satan]... the removal into Egypt... the name [Joseph] of the father given to Him [Jesus] who did not beget."
(The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Epistle of Ignatius to the Philippians, Chap. VIII. - Continuation Ignorance of Satan, American Reprint of Edinburgh Edition)
The early Church Father St. Ignatius called St. Joseph "the father given to Him [Jesus]" by God the Father who Satan is powerless against in "remov[ing Jesus] into Egypt" to save Him from the murderous Herod.
As the Old Testament dreamer Joseph was the protector of the people of God, so is the dreamer St. Joseph now the protector of the New Testament people of God: Jesus, Mary and the Church?
And so now, as the secular and Church Herods, in this greatest Church crisis in salvation history, are trying to kill the people of God - the Church, again; might St. Joseph, the protector of the Church, also be a co-redeemer?
Here is theologian Fr. Regis Scanlon's take on the above question:
Recently, when six U.S bishops met to consider the efficacy of devotion to Our Lady of America, they rejected the devotion — not because it contained “doctrinal error” — but because the visionary reported that St. Joseph said about himself: “I became, in union with my holy spouse, co-redemptor of the human race. Through compassion for the sufferings of Jesus and Mary I co-operated, as no other, in the salvation of the world.” Of course, Joseph means this in the sense that Mary and Joseph are “auxiliary” co redeemers and not equal co-redeemers with Jesus. Without further explanation, it appears that the bishops declared that the entire vision could not be supported for general public devotion just because the statement about St. Joseph was an “error.”
But why is the statement incorrect?
St. Joseph saved the pregnant Mother of God from being stoned by law and saved the baby Jesus from Herod’s massacre. He dedicated his entire life to taking care of Jesus and Mary. If this doesn’t reveal St. Joseph’s co-operation in the history of salvation, what does?
Beyond that, St. Joseph has the same duty as every Christian in the salvation process. Each one of us must participate in God’s redemptive plan, which, quite literally, by God’s design, makes us co redeemers.
This truth that each one of us must freely choose to be saved is contained in Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Church. Jesus said: “But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt 10:33). And the Second Vatican Council says in no. 14 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”
So, one has to say “yes” to Jesus in order to be saved. Without that yes Jesus cannot save us. That “yes” may be infinitesimally small compared to Jesus’ act of redemption but it is our own. It is something we freely must do. Each Christian that becomes saved, and hopefully that includes you and I, are a co-redeemer of ourselves.
So, it would be good if the 6 bishops offered a further explanation as to why the statement that St. Joseph is a co-redeemer is an “error.” It would be helpful to lay people to know exactly what is incorrect about the statement.
Personally, I believe that the 6 bishops who say that it is an “error” to refer to St. Joseph as a co-redeemer do not really object to the idea that St. Joseph cooperated in the redemption of the world. Rather, they were probably objecting to the attempt to create a special title “St. Joseph as Co-redeemer.” Nor do I believe that the visions of the Our Lady of America was expressing more than the teaching of St. John Paul II in no. 20 of “Guardian of the Redeemer” that “there can be no doubt but that Joseph approached as no other person ever could that eminent dignity whereby the Mother of God towers above all creatures.” Our Lady was saying that, after herself, no other person co-operated more than St. Joseph in the salvation of the world.
[http://frregisscanlon.com/index.php/2020/06/07/what-does-it-mean-to-say-that-st-joseph-is-a-co-redeemer/]
"Saint Joseph's Rosary" on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/B2StzBb2fbo
With you St. Joseph, we pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Mass and the Church as well as for the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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