News and Notes

Glenmary Priest Is Keynote Speaker

Glenmary Father John Rausch gave the keynote address at the Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology PreachingConference Jan. 7 and 8 in Hales Corner, Wis. The conference drew priests and deacons from around the Midwest to hear a variety of talks. Father John spoke about preaching the parables from a socioeconomic standpoint.

Glenmary men in formation Matthew Solarz and Jose Carlos Miguel Lopez are among the nearly 150 students attending Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.

The Church Keeps Growing in Tenn.

Church building is in Glenmary’s blood. Not long ago Glenmary’s St. Michael the Archangel in Unicoi County, Tenn., dedicated a new worship space. On page 8 you can read about St. Teresa of Kolkata in Union County, Tenn., doing the same.

Right on the heels of that, Glenmary’s Holy Family in Macon County, Tenn., is nearing completion of a new church for their community too. Glenmary Father Vic Subb, pastor, hopes the project will be complete and ready for worship sometime this summer.

Blessed to Invest

Glenmary is committed to investing in local communities and beingsocially responsible with its investments. Toward that end, Glenmary hasinvested $100,000 with Redbud Financial Alternatives of Hazard, Ky. Redbudis a community development financial institution that facilitates andpromotes economic development among underserved communities. Itserves a four-county region.

“Redbud, like Glenmary Home Missioners, is committed to giving a hand, not giving a hand-out,” said Glenmary first vice president Father Neil Pezzulo. Father Neil serves as sacramental minister to a trio of parishes in the area, including Mother of Good Counsel in Hazard. “This shows a concrete commitment to being with a struggling community and to building ongoing and lasting relationships.”

AROUND THE MISSIONS

• Holy Family Church in Early County, Ga., continues to benefit from partnerships with other churches. A group from the Marion Catholic Community in Maria Stein, Ohio, visited recently with several work crews. Some continued the work of Hurricane Michael cleanup, while others renovated an old gym into a space for an afterschool tutoring program.

• The Glenmary Ecumenical Commission met at the Benedictine Convent in Cullman, Ala., Jan. 22-24. "Our Commission on Ecumenism is planning to build contacts with the Churches of Christ in the hopes of establishing a Catholic-Churches of Christ dialogue and increasing local ecumenical partnerships with Glenmary missions," Glenmary Director of Catholic-Evangelical Relations Frank Lesko said. "We also brainstormed ways to continue to reach out to the Baptist community as well as the historic black churches."

• Efforts at becoming better stewards of creation have also reaped financial rewards for Glenmary. Switching to LED lights with motion sensors and updating HVAC systems at the Cincinnati headquarters has lowered the cost of office expenditures by almost 70 percent.

• Glenmary Father John S. Rausch is featured in a documentary by Salt+Light TV entitled “Magisterium of the People.” The film focuses on the Catholic Committee of Appalachia and the story of the People’s Pastoral. It can be rented online at saltandlighttv.org/magisterium.