Glenmary Home Missioners - Serving Rural America Since 1939

Glenmary Home Missioners
P.O. Box 465618
Cincinnati, OH 45246
513-874-8900
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The following first appeared in the July 2002 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter

Taking Time to Ask...Why Glenmary?
By Father Jerry Dorn

Glenmary pastoral coordinator Amy Giorgio assists Bishop William Houck in 1999 as he blesses the new worship space for the Catholic community in Bruce, Miss., a community which she called together 10 years ago. She was one of the first to participate in Glenmary’s pioneering effort to establish new mission churches with lay leaders. Today, the growing Bruce Catholic community has been named St. Luke Catholic Church.

This is an invitation to take a look at the big picture of Glenmary and to reflect on the why behind what we do.

We can get so focused on a particular ministry initiative or a particular mission success story that we forget to occasionally restate all the big-picture reasons for partnering with us in mission.

But as we reach out to new supporters, we need to be able to clearly state and share the reasons why Glenmary and our home mission ministry deserve support when there are so many good causes out there competing for attention. That's why I am asking you to help us best articulate these reasons by sharing why Glenmary is important to you. Any feedback you can provide will be most appreciated.

Please read the following statement which tries to capture the importance of Glenmary and the reasons why Glenmary deserves the support of U.S. Catholics like you. Then please respond by e-mailing your responses to the following questions:

1. Which of the following list best captures your reasons for supporting Glenmary? (Indicate by letter).

2. Have we missed something in this list that is particularly important to you?

3. Are there particular missions or missioners you would like to see featured on the Web site this coming year?

We really are partners in home mission ministry, and I care very much what you think. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Why Glenmary?

A. Glenmary is the only Catholic missionary organization working exclusively in the United States.

Since its founding in 1939, Glenmary has been building up the Church here at home. To date, more than 170 parishes have been established, nurtured to maturity and turned back to local dioceses for continued care.
Glenmary’s new five-year strategic plan analyzes areas of greatest missionary need today and targets counties in six states for future Glenmary expansion.

B. Glenmary plays a unique role in providing home mission leadership for the entire U.S. church.

For over 30 years, the Glenmary Research Center has collected the only reliable data on the number of U.S. Catholics as part of its larger effort to publish its every-10-year study on U.S. religious affiliation in cooperation with other major religious bodies. (The book, which includes the 2000 census data, will be available Aug. 26, 2002.)
Just this year Glenmary, in cooperation with the United States Catholic Mission Association and leading foreign mission organizations, launched www.mission-education.org, a portal Web site dedicated to providing mission education resources for all age groups.

C. Glenmary, by pioneering collaboration with lay ministry professionals, has provided a model for the larger American church.

Over the last 10 years, all new Glenmary missions have been established and nurtured by lay leaders.
Lay leaders have been incorporated into Glenmary at various levels from the General Assembly to Glenmary’s commissions on evangelization and justice.

D. Glenmary, because of its commitment to building up the Body of Christ, has made facilitating ecumenical cooperation one of the hallmarks of its style of home mission ministry.

In many rural counties, it is the Glenmary missioner who first calls other Christians together to form a ministerial association.
Glenmary missioners, committed to doing nothing alone that can be done with other Christian churches, spearhead ecumenical efforts that result in food banks, thrift stores, homebuilding efforts, community service centers and economic development projects that serve everyone in a county—not just members of a particular church.

E. Glenmary, working in areas where the poverty rate is at least twice the national average, serves entire rural counties by providing social outreach and working for justice.

Migrant workers and newly arrived immigrants—from Asia as well as Mexico and Central America—help define the multicultural context in which Glenmary works. Emergency food and shelter, translation services, protection from domestic abuse—these are just a few of the pressing needs brought to the doors of Glenmary’s missions throughout Appalachia, the South and Southwest.
Working with the poorest of the poor, Glenmary is in a privileged position to raise up social justice concerns and push for the systemic change our Catholic social tradition demands. Thus the Glenmary Commission on Justice played a key role in facilitating Voices and Choices, the pastoral message of 41 Catholic bishops from the South in 2000 on the U.S. poultry industry.

Glenmary priests, brothers and coworkers staff over 50 Catholic missions and ministries,
establishing the Catholic Church in small-town and rural America. 513-874-8900

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