Glenmary
Home Missioners
P.O. Box 465618
Cincinnati, OH 45246
513-874-8900
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2008 Jubilarians
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Dedicated to serving the home missions
Six missioners celebrate 50 and 25 years since First Oath
by Margaret Gabriel
Father Bob Dalton “In 50 years as a Glenmary missioner, I’ve been blessed with so many opportunities that have led to growth,” says Father Bob Dalton. Those opportunities led to meeting and working with a variety of people. And those people, he says, are at the center of his blessings.
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| Father Bob Dalton |
He recalls the years after Vatican II when he served a mission in central Pennsylvania (a former Glenmary area). Working with pastors of other denominations, Father Bob helped facilitate ecumenism by organizing ecumenical Lenten services or calling people of different faiths together in small groups to dialog about their faith tradition. Eventually, he began working in the area of Catholic/Baptist dialogue on a national level. Father Bob also served as president and vice president of Glenmary.
Today, the native of Auburn, N.Y., is a senior member living in Houston, Miss. He describes himself as a “circuit rider,” celebrating Mass in mission communities that don’t have a resident priest. “I’m always thrilled to bring the Eucharist to struggling outposts. This is where I am the most satisfied as a Glenmary missioner because I realize the Eucharist is so important to these tiny congregations.”
“All in all,” Father Bob says, “it’s been a good ride—I’m a happy camper!”
Father Larry Goulding “Parish work” is what Father Larry Goulding says describes his years in ministry. “I always wanted to be open to whatever way the Spirit was moving the person who was in front of me. My ministry is to encounter people and see what happens.”
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| Father Larry Goulding |
Father Larry says as a senior member he “retired from meetings, not from the Ten Commandments!” He lives in Grayson, Ky., and serves as the sacramental minister for the Eastern Kentucky Glenmary missions in Grayson and Vanceburg. He also makes frequent visits to the Glenmary Farm and enjoys talking about Glenmary with volunteers who come to the Farm for an immersion in Appalachian culture.
A native of Chicago, Father Larry remembers arriving in Sylvania, Ga., to begin his first assignment as a pastor. “I got there in the middle of the night and just sat in the car and wondered what was ahead of me,” he says.
His last assignment was also in Georgia. The local ministerial association gave Father Larry a $100 gift card to a national hardware store as a going-away gift. He laughs and says he was “surprised that they would give such a nice gift to a Catholic! Looking back over the years, I can remember when Catholics in Georgia couldn’t buy property.”
“This has been a good way to spend 50 years!” Father Larry says of his time as a Glenmary missioner. “I have no regrets. There are some things I’ve missed, but I don’t regret not having them.”
Brother Terry O’Rourke For 45 years, Brother Terry O’Rourke lived in community with other Glenmarians, but upon taking senior membership, he decided to live alone. “And I love the solitude,” Brother Terry says of his small home in Aberdeen, Miss. “I’ve always wanted to help people, but now I also have time for prayer and reflection.”
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| Brother Terry O'Rourke |
Brother Terry, a native of Chicago, continues to help people as he devotes about half of his time to coordinating the work of the Monroe County Monthly Food Assistance Program. The program provides food to about 450 families a month, a number that is increasing with the difficult economy.
Like many Glenmary brothers, Brother Terry was a member of the Brothers’ Building Crew, a ministry he loved. As a gifted woodworker, he used his skills traveling through Mission Land, USA, building churches, rectories and parish halls. He’s also worked as a parish brother and in Glenmary’s formation program and as a vice president in Glenmary leadership.
Brother Terry had never had a pet before moving to Mississippi. When a friend was looking for a home for an injured service dog, Brother Terry opened his home and not only found a pet but a new ministry—raising and training leader dogs for the visually or hearing impaired.
Today, Brother Terry’s constant companion is Shannon, a chocolate Labrador retriever. “He was in the kennel for too long [as a puppy] and didn’t get the socialization he needed to be a service dog,” Brother Terry says.
The opportunity to serve—and to serve in many different ways—attracted Brother Terry to Glenmary. “I have a natural ability for manual skills and Glenmary’s rural aspect was inviting,” he says. “I wanted to provide service and Glenmary has given me that opportunity.”
Father Wil Steinbacher “It seems like yesterday!” says Father Wil Steinbacher of the First Oath he made 50 years ago. The root of his ministry over all those years, he says, has always been mission. As a senior member, Father Wil is Glenmary’s point person for home mission leadership. He lives in Nashville and serves on the advisory board for the Glenmary Research Center.
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| Father Wil Steinbacher |
“Mission gets me going,” Father Wil says. “I want to know more about mission and I like to study how different it is now from what it was 50 years ago.”
Father Wil, a native of Williamsport, Penn., identifies Vatican II as a time when the Church broadened its concept of mission.
“Church isn’t just about being fed at Mass once a week,” he says. “It’s about being fed—and then going out into the world and sharing that ‘food’ with others—especially the poor. It’s about helping to bring about the Reign of God and witnessing the gospel in our daily lives.”
In all that Father Wil has done as a Glenmary priest—administrative assignments, mission assignments, serving as vice president—nothing has been more gratifying to him than bringing the sacraments to the people. “I’ll always be humbled by the sacrament of reconciliation,” he says. “I come away with the sense of the power of the sacrament and the creation of a junction between God, the person and myself.”
Brother Ken Woods Brother Ken Woods recalls hearing a great description of Glenmary ministry from Brother Bob Hoffman: “For a Glenmary brother, the sky’s the limit!” Brother Ken has tested that serving as a builder, a nurse and a parish brother.
Today, Brother Ken helps care for Glenmary’s senior and disabled members. Every day he puts his skills as a health care professional to the service of his fellow Glenmarians.
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Brother Ken Woods |
“I’ve enjoyed all of my ministries, but I think I’ve enjoyed nursing the most,” says Brother Ken, who lives in Cincinnati.
As a licensed practical nurse Brother Ken has especially enjoyed working in nursing homes because he was able to develop long-term relationships with patients and their families. “I’ve always said that I received more from my patients than I ever gave,” he says.
When he was assigned to the Glenmary mission in Elkton, Ky., Brother Ken and several members of the parish were instrumental in launching the Helping Hands Clinic, a free clinic in Todd County, an area of western Kentucky that is underserved by the medical profession.
When he was considering a religious vocation, Brother Ken’s parish priest (in Dayton, Ohio) recommended he investigate Glenmary. He spent a week with the Glenmary community and never considered turning back. “I need to thank that priest!” he says.
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Father Mike Kerin As Father Mike Kerin celebrates 25 years since taking his First Oath, he is serving as Glenmary’s second vice president. Half of the years of Father Mike’s ministry have been spent in formation as director of novices and of post-novitiate. The other half of his ministry has been spent in Glenmary missions in West Virginia, Texas and Alabama.
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| Father Mike Kerin |
“I’ve met wonderful people in every place I’ve been,” Father Mike says. “It has been a privilege to serve others and continue the mission of Jesus.”
Father Mike counts celebrating the sacraments and liturgical moments among the greatest privileges he has been given as a Glenmary priest. He also cherishes what he calls “deeply personal moments” he has experienced through spiritual direction and counseling.
Father Mike says his years of ministry have helped him become a better and stronger Christian. “Ministry has helped me to be more consciously a disciple of Jesus and a person of prayer,” he says. “It has given me the opportunity to meet and walk with people at times of crisis and illness, as well as at other sacred moments of their lives.”
The story above first appeared in the Winter 2008 Glenmary Challenge.
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