| Glenmary Brother David Henley Takes Final Oath
Dedicates life to serving the home missions, being 'a brother to all'
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| Brother David Henley is congratulated by Glenmary Father Charlie Hughes following the Final Oath Ceremony and Mass on Aug. 21. For a slide show. |
CINCINNATI (Aug. 23. 2006) –Glenmary Brother David Henley, 35, professed his Final Oath to Glenmary Home Missioners on Aug. 21, 2006. The Glenmary Oath commits Brother David to the practice of poverty, chastity, obedience and prayer. As a Glenmary Home Missioner, he also commits himself to his fellow missioners and to the proclamation of the Gospel in rural areas and small towns of the United States. Brother David’s Final Oath celebration was held on the first night of the week-long annual Glenmary Congress held at the Sisters of Charity retreat center in Nazareth, Ky.
Glenmary president Father Dan Dorsey told those gathered for the Mass that “this man’s willingness to make a lifelong commitment to serve the neglected people in our home missions is good news worthy of celebration.”
Brother David, a native of Columbus, Ohio, has a long history with Glenmary, beginning in 1989 when he came to the Glenmary Farm in Vanceburg, Ky., as volunteer with Bishop Watterson High School. He returned to the Farm as on-site manager of Glenmary’s Appalachian Group Volunteer Program in the mid-1990s. Prior to entering Glenmary, he spent two years with the Volunteer Missionary Movement in Chicago working at San Jose Obrero Mission, a transitional shelter for homeless men. He also spent one year working at St. Elizabeth homeless shelter in Santa Fe, N.M., and traveled the country as a juggler, performing at carnivals and street fairs. A favorite quip of Brother David: “I ran away from the circus to join Glenmary.”
Fluent in Spanish, Brother David professed his Final Oath in both English and Spanish. In his years with Glenmary, he has worked primarily with the Spanish-speakers living in Glenmary mission areas in Swainsboro, Ga., Crossett and Hamburg, Ark. and Beaver Dam, Ky. A congregation of both Spanish- and English-speakers joined with Brother David for a bilingual Final Oath Mass—and they celebrated with him afterward at a reception.
This academic year, Brother David will live in Hartford, Ky., and will complete a degree in pastoral ministry at Brescia University. His goal, he says, as he looks forward to a lifetime of home mission service is to be “a brother to all, to walk in solidarity with people in a ministry of presence.”
Glenmary is a society of Catholic priests and brothers who, along with coworkers, establish the Catholic Church in rural regions of the United States. Currently, Glenmary staffs over 50 missions and ministries in 14 dioceses.
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A photo (digital or conventional) of Brother David is available by contacting Jean Bach at 513.881.7491 or jbach@glenmary.org.
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