Glenmary Elects New Leadership, Identifies Future Directions
 Key Issues: Inclusion of Laity, Vocation Ministry, Evangelization Initiatives

Newly elected Glenmary leaders (left to right): Father Jerry Dorn (president), Father Dan Dorsey (first vice president), Brother Jack Henn (second vice president).

CINCINNATI (May 5, 1999)—Father Jerry Dorn was re-elected president of the Glenmary Home Missioners at a gathering of all Glenmary priests and brothers April 26-30 in Nazareth, Kentucky. Also elected: Father Dan Dorsey to serve as first vice president and Brother Jack Henn to serve a second term as second vice president.

Before electing leaders, Glenmarians, with the aid of outside facilitators, identified the key issues facing Glenmary and the priorities they wanted leadership to adopt. Among these, says re-elected President Father Jerry Dorn:

>  To continue inclusion of the laity in the mission of Glenmary and the development of new structures to insure that "lay feet are under the table" as Glenmary defines what it means to be missionary for the new millennium. Glenmary currently has nine lay pastoral coordinators staffing missions in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee,  Mississippi and Virginia.

>  To experiment with new ways of "missionizing." One example: an evangelization initiative planned for June 2000 in The Delta area of Mississippi, which includes some of the poorest counties of rural America. The team to be assembled will include various cultural and faith perspectives and will embody a new style of evangelization based on listening to local people and being present to their needs.

>  To devote significant resources to vocation ministry—that is, the recruitment of men to share Glenmary's mission. Glenmary has recently established a special Vocation Task Force, and the June Chapter will follow up on the Task Force's report.

"One thing comes through loud and clear," says Father Dorn. "Bringing Jesus Christ and the gifts of the Catholic Church to the rural and neglected poor continues to energize the Glenmary community as we celebrate our 60^th anniversary."

The context of this mission keeps changing, however. The growing number of Latinos in rural America is one example of how a new context raises new challenges for Glenmary Missioners, expecting to evangelize the unchurched, now find growing numbers of people already Catholic who need pastoral ministry in another language. In response, 23 Glenmarians have studied Spanish to better minister in this cross-cultural context.

Likewise, the migration of many Catholics from the North is changing the complexion of many Glenmary mission parishes. "And the gap between rich and poor keeps widening," adds Father Dorn.

Glenmary Home Missioners was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1939 by Father William Howard Bishop to serve the spiritual and material needs of rural America. Today Glenmary staffs 71 missions in 12 states in Appalachia, the South and Southwest.  

New Glenmary Leadership Council Draws Men From Home Dioceses
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Father Jerry Dorn, 55, a native of Adrian, Minnesota, was first elected president in 1995. His new term extends to 2003. He had previously served as first vice president and co-director of education for Glenmary from 1991-95. Many of his 31 years as a Glenmarian have been spent in vocation ministry (1972-85). But he has also served as pastor at the Glenmary mission in Crossett, Arkansas, and as director of Glenmary's lay pastoral coordinators (1990-92). Father Dorn, who first entered Glenmary as a Brother, also served in Beaver Dam, Kentucky from 1968-72. He was ordained in 1978.  

Father Dan Dorsey, 48, a native of St. Louis, is elected to leadership for the first time. His term as first vice president extends to 2003. He comes to the leadership after spending nine years as pastor of two Glenmary missions which serve  two rural counties in southeastern Arkansas: St. Mark's in Monticello and St. Luke's in Warren. He previously served in Cincinnati as Glenmary's director of novices (1983-1990), and in Morehead, Kentucky, as associate pastor of a Glenmary mission serving six rural counties.

While in Arkansas, he has served as president of the board of the Drew County United Way and president of the County Ministerial Association and the Oasis Homeless Shelter. Named Drew County "Man of the Year" in 1993, Father Dorsey, a lover of Shakespeare, lists other hobbies as raising chickens, gardening and camping.

Brother Jack Henn, a native of Bellevue, Kentucky, was first elected to leadership in 1995 as second vice president. During this term he served as Chief Operating Officer at Glenmary headquarters and liaison to Glenmary's Justice Commission. His new term will extend to 2003.

Thirteen of his 25 years in Glenmary have been dedicated to vocation and formation ministry. He also served as a parish brother in Sylvania, Georgia (1978-82) and as an evangelization minister in Sautee, Georgia (1988-89). He completed a Master of Pastoral Studies from Loyola University in 1994.

Before entering Glenmary in 1974, Brother Henn completed a bachelor's in accounting at Thomas More College and pitched for the college baseball team.