The following story first appeared in the Autumn 2005 Glenmary Challenge.
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Missouri Parish Supports Its 'Sons'
Through the Sons of Dominic Savio, missionaries are supported at home and abroad.
By Margaret Gabriel

SONS OF DOMINIC SAVIO: Wayne Kinman, Nick Jacobs, Don Nash, Bob Kessler and Jack Magee have taken clothes to Glenmary’s mission in Monticello.

Jack Magee recalls a Mission Sunday 13 years ago when Father Dan Dorsey spoke at the Masses at St. Dominic Savio Church in Afton, Mo. A son of the parish, Father Dan was then serving Glenmary missions in the tomato-growing region of southeastern Arkansas.

It was on that Sunday that Jack’s parish decided to take a significant step in supporting missionary activity both at home and overseas.

“Father Dan didn’t talk about ‘tomatoes,’ but ‘tomaters,’” Jack remembers. “He also talked about the people who picked the tomatoes and were paid five cents a pound at the time. And he also talked about the people who grew the tomatoes and received only a few pennies more per pound—all while we paid a dollar a pound for them in the stores,” Jack says. “Father Dan asked, ‘Where is the justice in that?’”

Father Dan’s question of justice and the stories of the people he served in Mission Land, USA, struck a chord among members of the parish where he grew up and where his mother, Celeste Dorsey, has been a member since 1951.

“I thought the parish should support missionaries with ties to our parish,” Jack says, “partly as an obligation of the parish family to assist our own and partly as a spiritual effort to be involved in their mission work.” In addition to Father Dan, another son of the parish, Jesuit Father Dick Perl, was serving as a missionary in Central America.

And so the Sons of Dominic Savio was formed to provide support, both material and spiritual, to missionaries at home and abroad. Since then the group now has two additional “sons”: Franciscan Brother Jerry Wintz, who serves in Papua New Guinea, and former St. Dominic Savio pastor, Father Jim Michler, a diocesan priest who ministers in Bolivia.

To raise the needed funds, Jack produces a quarterly newsletter that features messages from each of their adopted missionaries and asks for donations. Jack estimates that the newsletter raises $10,000 each year.

The Spring 2005 newsletter included a message of thanks from Father Dick who told supporters that their contributions had helped provide food for his Belize parishioners during times of drought.

Father Jim wrote about the political unrest in Bolivia which caused national tension and led to job shortages for his people. “I ask for your prayers and thank you for your generous support,” he said. “May the risen Lord…lead all of us to a greater hope in God’s loving providence.”

“The physical help we get from the Sons of Dominic Savio is very important,” says Father Dan, now president of Glenmary. “But most significant is the moral support we receive. When you’re in the missions, sometimes you’re tempted to think, ‘What good is this?’ But to know that you have people who support you is a real shot in the arm. It’s great to know that people are behind you with prayers and tangible assets.”

In addition to the money raised annually for Glenmary, the Sons of Dominic Savio gather clothing and deliver the items to Glenmary’s mission in Monticello, Ark., a tradition that began when Father Dan was pastor. Since 2000 the group has worked with Father Chet Artysiewicz, the current pastor. Jack and the other members of the Sons of Dominic Savio know that, regardless of where Father Dan is assigned, their support is not only for him but for Glenmary.

“Each of our four ‘sons’ is very special,” Jack says. “I never thought our group would still be going 13 years later. And with the good Lord willing, we’ll keep going.”