The Catholic Church in Ireland - and the hierarchy in particular - strongly condemned the military campaign of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. However, within the Church, there was also a parallel strategy of engagement with republican leaders. This latter strategy was primarily pursued through the Redemptorist Order in Belfast where there existed a belief that the Catholic Church had a responsibility wider than just condemnation of the Republican Movement. This article examines the role of the Redemptorist Order based on interviews with Fr Alex Reid, the main architect of its strategy, and through access to private documents prepared as the Irish government first became involved in the peace process in the late 1980s. The article concludes that the Redemptorists made a significant political contribution to establishing and developing the peace process in Northern Ireland.