glenmary news & notes

Glenmarians elect new council

leadership / 2 continue in role, one newcomer

Father Dan Dorsey was reelected president of Glenmary Home Missioners during the society’s Chapter of Elections May 17 through 21.

Glenmary’s president leads a three-person executive council consisting of himself and two vice presidents. Father Aaron Wessman was reelected first vice president and Father Steve Pawelk was elected second vice president.

Father Dan, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, is returning to the office of president for a fourth term, after serving in that post from 2003 to 2011, and again over the past four years.

Father Aaron, who grew up in Cokato, Minnesota, will begin his second term on the council after previously serving as pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Windsor, North Carolina.

Father Steve, of Maple Lake, Minnesota, is new to Glenmary’s Executive Council. He has served as Glenmary’s novitiate director since 2019.

The new executive council’s term begins June 10 and runs through 2027.

The election marks the end of Brother Larry Johnson’s tenure on the council. Brother Larry served as second vice president for the past eight years. He remains in ministry in Macon County, Tennessee.

ABOVE: The new Glenmary Executive Council, from right, First Vice President Father Aaron Wessman, President Father Dan Dorsey, and Second Vice President Father Steve Pawelk. The group will lead Glenmary for the next four years.

Divine Mercy grows at HQ

faith / Special devotion a permanent part of campus

Glenmary’s novices have been cultivating a devotion to the Divine Mercy, and now a statue of Jesus’ divine love being poured out has a permanent home at the society’s Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters outside the novitiate house.

The devotion of Divine Mercy comes from St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish saint who lived in the early 1900s. She had a vision of Jesus with pale and red rays emanating from his sacred heart. In her visions, Jesus instructed the young sister to have the image painted with the phrase, “Jesus, I trust in you,” written upon it. The devotion was actively promoted by Pope St. John Paul II, who canonized St. Faustina in 2000.

That statue has been installed just outside the Glenmary Novitiate House. Brother-in-training Corey Soignier and novice Jude Smith, with others, built a shelter for the statue. The statue was donated by Kevin and Theresa Nguyen, parishioners at Glenmary’s Holy Trinity mission in Williamston, North Carolina.

“The Divine Mercy devotion is regularly prayed by our novices,” said Father Steve Pawelk, novitiate director and second vice president elect.“This beautiful reminder of Jesus’ love and mercy now greets all who come up the Glenmary Home Missioners’ driveway.”

The devotion has also spawned a Glenmary event known as the Festival of Mercy, which took place for the second year late in April on the Glenmary headquarters grounds.

ABOVE: Brother-in-training Corey Soignier built an enclosure for the statue of Divine Mercy. God is merciful in our lives. RIGHT: Brother-in-training Erick Orandi is one of seven men in formation to renew their temporary oath this spring.

8 Profess Oaths

formation / 1 new, 7 renewals

The Glenmary Oath calls each man to a special practice of poverty, chastity, obedience and prayer. Men in formation make their First Oath after their novitiate year, and renew that oath annually a number of times before professing a Final Oath, which is for life.

Glenmary novice Jude Smith professed his First Oath June 10 at the Glenmary Chapter of Affairs in Charleston, West Virginia.

In April, seven Glenmary men in formation renewed their temporary oaths to the society. Brother Willy Kyagulanyi, Brother Thomas Nguyen, and Brother Corey Soignier renewed their oaths on April 29, while Brother Erick Orandi, Joseph Maundu, Frederick Ochieng’ and Cavine Okello renewed theirs on April 30.

Renewing their temporary oaths is a testament to the commitment of the seven men to Glenmary and their continued growth in the society.

Catholics and Baptists connect

ecumenism / Glenmary plays leading role in new dialogue

Leaders of the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) met with representatives of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in March in Washington, DC. The meeting was facilitated by Glenmary’s Director of Ecumenism, Nathan Smith.

The NABF is an association of Baptist denominations and churches representing 19.5 million Americans and Canadians. General Secretary of the NABF Jeremy Bell said fostering unity among Baptists and Catholics in the areas of disaster relief, poverty and harm prevention was the long-term goal of the group’s meeting.

“This initial meeting could not have gone better and it gave us a chance to get to know one another on a deeper level,” Smith said. “After over two years of relationship building and meetings I was very pleased to finally host this meeting in person.”

Smith said there was a general interest from both parties in partnering moving forward.

Also of note, the NABF has added an ecumenical officer position for the first time. Though new for the NABF, many Evangelical, Pentecostal, and other denominations are creating these types of positions.

“This is a hopeful sign for the future of the ecumenical movement at large and represents new opportunities for dialogue, partnership and deepening of relations between Catholics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals,” Smith said.

• Glenmary has entered into an agreement with the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anne, a religious congregation based in Nairobi, Kenya, to provide additional staffing in the US home missions. After extensive training, two sisters will take up residence in Glenmary’s Blakely, Ga., mission. As part of the arrangement Deacon Scott Watford (see p. 11) will become pastoral coordinator, while Father Mike Kerin will be sacramental minister for the Georgia missions.

• Effective July 1, Father Kenn Wandera is named pastor of St. Michael the Archangel mission in Unicoi County, Tenn.

• Effective July 1, Father Chet Artysiewicz is named the director of the Cincinnati House, the residence at Glenmary’s headquarters. Father Dominic Duggins is named the associate director and will focus on care and oversight of Our Lady of the Fields Chapel.

• For a one-year period the Executive Council has asked all Glenmary missions to observe three feast days: the feast of Our Lady of the Fields on February 26, the feast of Founder’s Day honoring Father William Howard Bishop on June 11 and the feast of Glenmary’s Founding Day on October 19.