The following story first appeared in the Winter 2004 Glenmary Challenge.
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Watering Seeds in Oklahoma
Native son of Glenmary territory, Father Joe Townsend, now pastors former missions
By Margaret Gabriel

RIDING HIGH: Father Joe Townsend, diocesan pastor of former missions in Hugo, Boswell and Antlers, Okla., continues Glenmary tradition of ministering to the circus people who winter in the area.

Joe Townsend grew up in Glenmary country. As a teenage member of the Baptist congregation in Idabel, Okla., he observed Father Frank Schenk (pastor of Glenmary’s Idabel mission) and found himself becoming more and more interested, not only in Father Frank’s ministry but in the fundamentals of the Catholic faith. Joe wanted to know more. His mother encouraged him to call about an information session Father Frank was holding, despite the fact that no one else in the family was Catholic.

Soon after, as a high school junior in 1977, Joe began to formally study the Catholic faith. He joined the Church during his freshman year of college and, a couple of years later, began to explore the possibility of priesthood. He was ordained for the Diocese of Tulsa in 1988.

If you believe “what goes around comes around,” you won’t be surprised to learn that Father Joe is now pastor of three former Glenmary missions in this same rural area of southeastern Oklahoma where he grew up and discovered the Catholic faith: Immaculate Conception (Hugo), St. Jude (Boswell) and St. Agnes (Antlers). Glenmary returned these three missions to the Diocese of Tulsa in the summer of 2003.

“It was a good transition,” Father Joe says of the transfer of the parishes from the care of Glenmary to the diocese. “We have a great love for Glenmary and we feel like we’re really a part of the Diocese of Tulsa. We have good people who have really taken ownership of the parish.”

The parishes are small by “non-mission” standards, but healthy and vital according to Father Joe. The parish in Hugo numbers about 65 families; in Antlers there are about 40; and in Boswell, about 30.

When the decision was made to return the Oklahoma parishes to the Diocese of Tulsa, Hugo and Boswell were pastored by Father Bob Poandl, with Brother Larry Jochim serving as a parish brother; Father John Marquardt was pastor of Antlers. Father Joe saw that he and his parishioners had their work cut out for them—caring for three parishes as well as the Howard McLeod Correctional Center.

But Father Joe says the folks have risen to the challenge. In the last year, new committees have formed to oversee care of grounds and facilities; other groups are visiting the sick and steering sacramental preparation for young people.

By taking this type of responsibility, Father Joe says, the congregation is growing in the knowledge that the church really belongs to them. “I love this area, but I’ll go on to another area eventually, and these folks will still be here. They have to step up to bat, and they’ve really done it,” he says.

“I’ve also challenged them in their stewardship of treasure, and our contributions are up 40 percent,” Father Joe says. They’ve also taken up the bishop’s challenge to become even more involved in Catholic charities—and have increased those contributions nearly 80 percent.

“The people have been very generous, and part of that has to do with the generosity of Glenmary,” Father Joe says. “Glenmary planted good seeds here, and we have to keep watering them.”

Although the Oklahoma parishes are no longer “missions” in the strict sense of the word, Father Joe is challenging his people to remember that, through baptism, all Christians are called to be missionary. Father Joe and the people of Immaculate Conception, St. Jude and St. Agnes are keeping the Glenmary spirit alive through their missionary spirit and commitment to share the Good News.