As mission areas and populations change, so does Glenmary’s approach to ministry
By Father Dan Dorsey

Father Dan Dorsey

A major theme of this year’s presidential campaign is that of change. Both candidates promise they are and will be an “agent of change.”
For many of us change is not easy. I am not speaking of the superficial change that is driven by a consumer society but of the change in how we think, act or in Glenmary’s case, minister.

As a missioner you cannot be successful if you do not change! Change within a missionary community like Glenmary Home Missioners happens very gradually as the areas and the people we serve change. Our home mission ministry today is based in the same fundamental charism that Father William Howard Bishop, Glenmary’s founder, established in 1939. But our approach to following that charism has changed as we have listened and adapted to the signs of the times.

Shortly after the end of World War II, Father Bishop wrote that the “world is reeling from the impact of a vast calamity characterized by cruelties and oppression on an unheard of scale, a calamity that is the direct result of irreligion in high places brought to bear upon the lives of millions of helpless subjects.” (Midwinter Letter, 1946)

Since 1946 the context of rural America has changed dramatically. Yet his reflections have lost neither their impact nor meaning. The question is how do we, as missioners, confront the cruelties, oppression and irreligion of today’s world as we continue to serve the population and cultures present in the home missions today.

One of the most significant changes experienced by Glenmary over the last 20 years has been in the makeup of the populations that we serve in the missions. Today our missioners serve those who have traditionally lived in the home missions as well as those from India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Germany, Poland, France, El Salvador and Mexico.

While our mission remains clearly focused on serving areas of rural America where the Catholic Church is not effectively present, Glenmary has been challenged to change our ministry approach in order to be most effective.

One way we have done this is by expanding our membership to include men from Mexico, Nigeria and Kenya. As a “home” missionary community we have made the shift to better serve and to better reflect the changing demographics of the people living in the mission areas of the United States that we serve.

Perhaps Father Bishop said it best: “We shall gladly welcome all workers that the Church can send to lead these people to the light.”

As missioners we don’t simply pastor our mission communities, but we pastor everyone who lives in the county, no matter their ethnic or religious background. Our work is about evangelization. And with our international and domestic members we continue this journey of evangelizing in rural America and the never-ending journey of change.

It’s not always an easy journey but one that I firmly believe is being led by the Holy Spirit in order to help us serve the most neglected and most needy in the home missions. And that’s an agent of change that you can really believe in.