June 2019
Glenmary Home Missioners
Helping Tell Our Story
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
Glenmary is well known not only for developing mission communities in Appalachia and the South, but also for its role in mission education. From the beginning, 80 years ago, founder Father William Howard Bishop sought to turn the eyes of the Church in this country to the needs of regions where the Church was barely present as Roman Catholic. Father Bishop pursued two central strategies in this teaching ministry. One was his famous “No Priest Land U.S.A.” maps. He knew that there is nothing like a good graphic to lay out a challenge in a glance. The maps program grew into the Glenmary Research Center, under the leadership of Fathers James Kelly then Bernard Quinn, and lay staff behind them. They developed all manner of maps and booklets, some which are still in use today. Father Bishops’ other method was a magazine named for the effort itself: the Glenmary Challenge. In it Father Bishop sought to tell the home-mission story through narrative stories of the people Glenmary serves. Over the years, especially thanks to the artistic genius of the late Father Patrick O’Donnell, the magazine became known for great photography, too. Today’s lay Challenge editors, under guidance of an editorial board of Glenmarians, follow in those footsteps. So it was natural that, when accomplished storyteller Dale Harnett started talking with Glenmary Father Neil Pezzulo one day, it wasn’t long before Dale was headed to Glenmary country “to go and find people, find out what their hot button is, and try to convey the meaning of what Glenmary’s presence in their community has meant to them.” Dale is retired professor of journalism at State University of New York (SUNY), Geneseo campus. It’s true that the area he grew up is in the northern tier of Appalachia, far from Glenmary’s missions.
Every four years the Glenmary society elects new leadership—a president and two vice presidents. I was asked by our members to lead our society, along with vice presidents Fr. Aaron Wessman and Br. Larry Johnson. I pray that we will be open to the calling of the Holy Spirit as we lead Glenmary through the next four years. Prayer, after all, is our fourth Glenmary Oath. All religious communities take oaths or vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Glenmary adds that fourth oath of prayer for a special need of our apostolate. People everywhere pray, of course, but our missioners are sometimes working far from other Glenmarians, living extremely busy lives building communities. We need to pray all the more, and we make a pledge to do so. I ask you to join our prayer. Pray that we will fulfill God’s mission for Glenmary, and that each of us will hear and respond to God working in our lives. I’ve included a part of our Home Mission Prayer, on the back of this page, to help. We are praying for you, too, in our daily prayer at Our Lady of the Fields Chapel, and at our missions. And let’s congratulate the seven men who, a few weeks ago, took oaths to our society, two for the first time and five renewing temporrary oaths, a step along their way toward pledging a lifelong commitment to Glenmary.
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Yours in Christ,
Father Dan Dorsey President
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“We wanted to be involved in building a new Church. It is so fulfilling!” --Mary Ann Loun, St. Michael parishioner
But Dale took interest in points south. “For about 8 years, during my summer break, I would go into small-town Appalachia, looking for the most positive person in town.” He went to places like Elliott County, Ky., site of former Glenmary parish Prince of Peace, in West Liberty. He went further south to Hazard, Ky., where Father Neil recently served the Lexington diocese. That connection is how he met Father Neil and discovered Glenmary. Dale’s just started the Glenmary stories, which are finding their way onto Glenmary’s “Home Mission Stories” blog at Glenmary.org. One of his first is the story of Gary and Mary Anne Loun, two retirees who worship at Glenmary’s St. Michael the Archangel mission in Erwin, Tennessee. The couple spent careers following jobs every few years across the country, then retired in Erwin. “This is the longest I’ve lived anywhere in my adult life,” she told Dale. She and Gary were two of St. Michael’s original parishioners. “At the first Mass we connected with people,” she says. “We wanted to be involved in building a new Church. It is so fulfilling!” From fish fries to creating banners to decorate the church, writes Dale, “Gary and Mary Ann are helping build the spiritual home they’ve always wanted.” You can read more of Dale’s stories at glenmary stories.wordpress.com. —John Feister
Maria Betanco and Santiago Soto
(Above) Glenmary student Kenneth Wandera (R) shares a photo with parishioners at Glenmary’s St. Michael the Archangel parish in Erwin, Tenn. (Below) Gary and Mary Anne Loun, at St. Michael, have found a parish they love.
(Front page) At the dedication of the new St. Teresa of Kolkata church in Maynardville, Tenn., in April, two parishioners prepare the newly anointed altar for the congregation’s first celebration of the Eucharist in their new Church.
Pray with us for all Glenmarians.
BAM Inspiration
Lord Jesus Christ, who for the salvation of all people, founded your Church in the blood of sacrifice... Raise up holy and zealous apostles to bring Your words of salvation to souls now thirsting for the truth. —from the Prayer for the Home Missions
This newsletter is published monthly by Glenmary Home Missioners, P.O. Box 465618, Cincinnati, OH 45246-5618 • www.glenmary.org For more information about the Boost-A-Month Club, contact Father Don Tranel, dtranel@glenmary.org, 800-935-0975