Northwest meets Southeast
Tacoma, Wash., group provides financial and prayer support for Georgia missions.
By Dale Hanson

Mission Adopters: After hearing Father Chet Artysiewicz’s mission appeal, Vivian Kondrat, second from right, organized a group of friends to adopt two of Glenmary’s Georgia missions.

“How wonderful that a group from the far Northwest has adopted churches in the far Southeast. These connections must be exactly what the early Apostles had in mind….”
—Sister Mary Bordelon to Patricia Fox

Glenmary’s Adopt-a-Mission Program typically provides a way for an established parish to help a struggling Glenmary mission. But sometimes a committed group of individuals will step forward to be adopters.

One remarkable example is a group of friends originally from Tacoma, Wash., who have adopted two Georgia missions for the past 11 years. This story began in 1997 when Glenmary Father Chet Artysiewicz gave a mission appeal at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church in Tacoma.

Parishioner Vivian Kondrat was extremely interested in supporting Glenmary. She worked with her parish to spark interest in adopting a mission. But when that wasn’t successful, she enlisted friends instead.

The initial group included Bob and Vivian Kondrat, Bob and Patricia Fox, Carol Nelms, Mary Kingston, Sonia Byrd and Gloria Yarowsky. (All are longtime members of the group except Carol and Mary, who belonged about a year.) They were joined later by the Kondrats’ son Robert and his wife Kim and Robert’s sisters, Mary Kondrat Zoppi and Colleen Kondrat.

“We were struck by Father Chet’s description of people’s needs in our own country, spiritual and material,” says Patricia Fox, Vivian’s friend for 30 years. The group chose to support missions where Father Chet was assigned—Holy Trinity and Holy Family in Swainsboro and Metter, Ga., respectively. But even after he moved to another mission, the Tacoma friends continued supporting these Georgia missions.

Small congregations of both English-speaking and Hispanic families make up the two missions. In addition, both missions help minister to Hispanic migrant workers who come to south Georgia to plant and harvest the Vidalia onion crop.

“Vivian was always looking for ways to help people,” says Patricia, who took over leadership of the group after Vivian died in 2005. “Our effort is partly a tribute to her.” The Tacoma group has supported the missions with their prayers and about $5,000 a year. What has their kindness meant?

Father John Brown leads the Holy Trinity mission, provides outreach to nearby Stillmore, and serves as sacramental minister for Holy Family. He also visits migrant camps to celebrate Mass. “Our friends in Tacoma have been amazingly generous,” he says. “Their financial and prayer support helps make it possible to serve our parishioners and the people in our counties. We keep the Tacoma group in our prayers at all times.”

Divine Providence Sister Mary Bordelon is pastoral coordinator of Holy Family. She corresponds with Patricia to thank the group and update them on parish activities, from the growing religious education program to Masses and services in both Spanish and English—as well as outreach efforts for the migrant workers.

Both Robert Kondrat and Patricia keep up ongoing correspondence with Father Dominic Duggins at Glenmary Headquarters. “It’s so good to feel we are helping in our small way,” Patricia wrote recently.
“We keep all of you in our prayers,” wrote Robert, “and are thankful for the missions spreading God’s love and truth.”