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In
Search of the Spirit
A
monthly letter from the Glenmary Vocation Office
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January 2007
Why Glenmary Needs You!
Some facts:
- The Diocese of Birmingham (Ala.) still has at least six counties without a Catholic Church.
- Glenmary will not be moving into any of the counties of this diocese which still lack an official Catholic presence.
These facts are part of the Glenmary reality today. It is a very different reality from the past. Let me explain…
Glenmary has always celebrated the maturation of a mission parish, the point when it can stand on its own among other diocesan parishes. For Glenmary the measure of maturity means that a mission has a stable and growing congregation; is financial independent; can count on solid and educated lay leadership; has a strong Catholic identity as well as positive relationships with other Christian churches; and, finally, is connected to the larger community through many social outreach projects. Certainly our mission, Holy Spirit in Winfield, Ala., has reached that point, and Glenmary rejoices for what the Holy Spirit has produced during our care.
But, in the past, as we returned a mature mission to the diocese, we would have considered moving to the submission of Fayette and beginning a very focused missionary effort in Lamar County. This year we will not be doing so. How come?
The reason is simple. We do not have enough priests and brothers to maintain the mission territory we already have—much less reach out to new territory still needing our assistance.
Our interest and drive to continue to open new missions is evident with our recent efforts to take on new mission territory in North Carolina, Oklahoma and, most recently, Arkansas. And, yes, we would love to take on the challenge of the six counties without a Catholic Church in Alabama, or all the other counties without a Catholic Church in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi, just to mention a few. But it just cannot happen until more priests and brothers join us.
When our founder, Father William Howard Bishop, began counting in 1938, there were over 1,000 counties in the United States without a resident priest. Today, our latest Glenmary data reveals that in 2000, there were still 369 counties just in the southern United States without a Catholic congregation or a resident pastoral minister.
Since the population in many of these 369 counties may be small and isolated, the Catholics few and far between, no one may be pounding on the bishop’s door asking for a church to be established. Whereas, many established churches do have individuals knocking on the bishops’ door to provide them with a priest or pastoral agent to assist them. Yet, as long as there is one rural county without a Catholic church, the mission of Glenmary given to us by Christ remains.
Glenmary’s style has never been to wait for someone to come to our door. We go out to the doors of the poor, the lonely, the unchurched, the inactive and all seekers of a spiritual life. We go to them just as Christ did as he walked from town to town, from hillside to seashore announcing the Good News, healing the sick and proclaiming a kingdom of peace, love and justice with a spirit of mercy, forgiveness and compassion. This is our mission.
Even if we become smaller and can only carry on our home mission ministry in a few places, we will be faithful to our call. But if more men join us as priests and brothers, we can expand and reach out to serve those remaining counties. We can then continue to be alive with the fire of the Spirit, going “out to rural and small-town USA, where the Catholic Church is not yet effectively present, proclaiming and witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ and the power of God’s love, mercy and justice transforming the world”( Glenmary mission statement).
From 12 disciples came Catholic churches in every nation today. If a few more men step forward every year, our band of home mission disciples can grow and provide a Catholic church for every U.S. county.
If you are thinking about Glenmary and see missionary priesthood or brotherhood as the least bit exciting or challenging, step up and take the plunge! Trust in the Spirit! Act in faith! Join our mission effort and discover the Spirit in a whole new way.
As we say in our vocation advertising, “Times change. Needs don’t!” We still need you in order to meet the needs of others.
