Glenmary Challenge - Winter 2023

T H E M AG A Z I N E O F CAT H O L I C M I S S I O N E R S TO R U RA L A M E R I CA WINTER 2023

G L E N M A RY. O R G

FAITH REVIVES IN NORTH CAROLINA

Father Vijaya, animator FRESH WAGON DELIVERS THE GOODS

Mission helps feed the hungry

VOLUNTEER

Impact

G L ENM ARY HOME MISSIONER S

We are a Catholic society of priests and brothers who, along with numerous coworkers, establish the Catholic Church in small-town and rural America. Founded in 1939 by Father William Howard Bishop, Glenmary is the only religious community devoted exclusively to serving the spiritually and materially poor in the rural US home missions. Today, supported entirely through freewill offerings, we staff missions and ministries throughout Appalachia and the South.

Glenmary missioners serve in areas where frequently less than one percent of the population is Catholic, a significant percentage have no church affiliation, and the poverty rate is often twice the national average.

Glenmary is known for respecting the many cultures encountered in the home missions. Our missionary activity includes building Catholic communities, fostering ecumenical cooperation, evangelizing the unchurched, social outreach and working for justice.

GLENMARY CHALLENGE Our quarterly magazine has three goals: to educate Catholics about the US home missions, to motivate young men to consider Glenmary priesthood or brotherhood, and to invite all Catholics to respond to their baptismal call to be missionary by partnering with Glenmary as financial contributors, prayer partners, professional coworkers, and/or volunteers.

Glenmary Challenge is sent to all donors, to US diocesan clergy, and to anyone who requests it. (To begin receiving issues, use the contact information below.)

From the Editor

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elcome to the great seasons of Advent and Christmas! Christians in our missions and everywhere will spend three weeks and a day this year, first preparing for, then celebrating the incarnation of God in our midst.

Glenmary is here to share that story. We want people to share fully in the presence of Christ, in sacrament, word, and deed.

We’re a family at work, men, women, and children: Glenmarians, lay missioners, co-workers, volunteers, parishioners, and people of good will everywhere who support our ministry. (Hopefully all of you are reading this magazine!)

Our founder, Father William Howard Bishop, wrote in 1942, “There was never a time when missionary activity was more needed in our beloved land.” That was true then; it’s all the more true as we close 2023.

You’ll read in this issue some examples of the many kinds of mission work Glenmary does: a story about working to start a mission in Tennessee, two about serving and growing missions in Appalachia and in eastern North Carolina, and another about volunteers who started in Kentucky and continue to serve.

This season, all of us in the Glenmary family are praying for peace. Maybe most on our minds is Gaza, so close to the Holy Land, at war with Israel. I’ll never forget visiting the Palestinian West Bank many years ago for a story on the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. We were required to change buses and drivers as we crossed through a fence from Israel to visit the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. So much division!

We pray for peace, too, in our families and in our missions. We pray and work that the hungry be housed and fed, that God’s liberating word will be preached and heard, that God’s presence among us in Eucharist will be shared. That is Glenmary’s mission.

We wish you a merry Christmas!

GLENMARY HOME MISSIONERS P.O. Box 465618 · Cincinnati, OH 45246-5618 513-874-8900 · 800-935-0975 · challenge@glenmary.org © 2023, Glenmary Home Missioners.

Reprint permission granted upon request.

John Feister

VOLUME 87 + NUMBER 4

VOLUNTEER

Impact

In the wake of a devastating flood, Glenmary volunteers reunite to help build a house.

BY JOHN FEISTER PAGE 6

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A NEW MISSION TAKES ROOT

The Catholic community in Overton County has begun to grow.

By Theresa Nguyen-Gillen

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GARDEN AMID A DESERT

Jesus said to feed the hungry. Fresh Wagon partners follow his word in service to their community.

By Laney Blevins

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FAITH REVIVAL

Father Vijaya is animating Holy Trinity Parish, one family at a time.

By Omar Cabrera

Publisher: Father Dan Dorsey Editor: John Feister Assistant Editors: Laney Blevins, Omar Cabrera, Theresa Nguyen-Gillen Design: E + R Design Studio

Planning-Review Board: Brother Craig Digmann, Brother David Henley, Chris Phelps, Lucy Putnam, Father Aaron Wessman

O N T H E COV E R Tom Carew started as a Glenmary volunteer in 1971. He and some 20,000 others over the decades have gone on to change communities—a lot. Photo by John Feister

Ulaanbaatar

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smiled as I typed the title of this column wondering how many readers would recognize the name—or perhaps think the editor of the Challenge needs new glasses! Actually, Ulaanbaatar is the capital city of Mongolia, where Pope Francis visited this past September.

Some interesting facts: Ulaanbaatar has about 1.5 million people and is considered to be the coldest capital city in the world—the average year-round temperature is 31 degrees! The municipality is located in north central Mongolia at an elevation of about 1,300 meters (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River.

Of a total population of 3.5 million in Mongolia, there are only about 1,500 Catholics. This raises the question: Why travel 6,000 miles to visit such a miniscule Catholic community? In his own words: “Because it is precisely there, far from the spotlight, that we often find the signs of the presence of God, who does not look at appearances, but at the heart.”

The universality of the Catholic Church, he said, is not something that “homogenizes” the faith. “This is catholicity: an embodied universality, which embraces the good where it is found and serves the people with whom it lives,” the pope said. “This is how the Church lives: bearing witness to the love of Jesus meekly, with life before words, happy with its true riches, which are service to the Lord and to our brothers and sisters.”

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The question of numbers is often asked of Glenmary missioners: Why would you go to these areas here in the United States where there are few Catholics? I think we’re right on track.

One of the pillars of Glenmary’s ministry is that of the universal nature of the Church—to connect the small mission communities with the Body of Christ throughout the world. Pope Francis’ visit reinforced in my opinion the raison d’etre, the basic reason, for Glenmary’s mission ministry: to go to the forgotten and neglected places, far from the spotlight, and to show the people that they are loved and beautiful!

Here’s an example. This past November, a number of young people from a variety of our missions were able to attend the NCYC convention in Indianapolis.

NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) is a unique three-day event of prayer, worship, community, evangelization, and empowerment for Catholic teenagers (of high school age) and their adult chaperones.

"Because it is precisely there, far from the spotlight, that we often find the signs of the presence of God, who does not look at appearances, but at the heart."

Photo by John Feister

from the pre s ident Father Dan Dorsey

GLENMARY NEWS & NOTES service / Local recognition

Brother Joe Steen Awarded

Glenmary Brother Joe Steen received last August the Earthkeeper Award from an environmental organization in Northeastern Tennessee.

The Narrow Ridge Center conferred the award to Brother Joe and six other people, “who have made notable contributions to the preservation, protection and care of the planet,” according to the organization’s website.

Narrow Ridge runs a sustainable community of people living on solar energy, using wood stoves and compostingtoilets. It protects more than 500 acres of mountain land in Washburn, Tennessee.

“Joe led the construction of Narrow Ridge’s Cedar View ( the “Intern Cabin”) as well as the bathroom/storage building at the Narrow Ridge Natural Burial Preserve,” the organization added.

“He has offered his talents to several other Narrow Ridge projects including the renovation of Strawbale Lodge, construction of the trail kiosk, and repairs to Narrow Ridge barns.”

Brother Joe has volunteered on the organization's board of directors and also as part of its maintenance committee.

Photo courtesy of Narrow Ridge

Over 25,000 teenagers from every corner of the United States attend the event! I have been privileged over the years to attend the convention and work at the Glenmary vocation booth—the energy and joy that I have encountered has been a blessing to me!

When I asked Clarisa Chavarría, one of Glenmary’s co-missioners at St. John Paul II mission in Rutledge, Tennessee, why would she put so much time and effort into getting a group to go to the NCYC, without hesitation she responded: “to connect our young people with the universal Church. There are not many Catholics in our area. Often they are the only ones in their class at school. This is good exposure and will allow them to see the bigger picture and take ownership of their faith. It will feed and inspire them and build leadership.”

In total about 20 teenagers and their chaperones were able to attend the NCYC—at a local level they raised 70% of the money themselves. Glenmary was able to give scholarships to complete the amount. Each of the groups from our missions stopped by our vocation booth to say hello and my heart was overflowing with gratitude to see the smiles and joy in their faces!

It is only because of you, our generous donors, that we were able to offer scholarships to the teenagers in the missions. Whether it is a trip to Ulaanbaatar or Indianapolis, each of us is called, in the pope’s words, to “bear witness to the love of Jesus…to embrace the good and serve the people with whom we live.”

Br. Joe Steen (center) with representatives from Narrow Ridge: director Mitzi Wood-Von Mizener and Bill Nickle, founder.

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supp ort / $147,000 raised

Photo by Omar Cabrera

Glenmary Celebrates Annual Country Raffle Glenmary’s annual Country Raffle returned in 2023 to give participants the opportunity to win big while supporting an amazing cause! This year the raffle, one of the most successful ever, raised over $147,000.

Director of Vocations Br. David Henley (l) welcomes Fr. José Carlos.

The Country Raffle is a yearly sweepstakes that allows Glenmary priests, brothers, and lay coworkers to

vo c ation s / Department grows

continue nurturing the Catholic Church

Father José Carlos Joins the Team

in areas of the United States without a

With 16 students currently in formation, the Vocations Depart-

service to our mission counties possi-

ment remains committed to inviting men to discern a religious life

ble. The raffle winners were randomly

with Glenmary.

drawn on September 8, 2023. New

In September, Father José Carlos Miguel López moved from

Catholic presence. The support of raffle participants helps make Glenmary’s

this year, the Glenmary staff gathered

our mission area in eastern North Carolina to our headquarters in

together to broadcast the drawing

Cincinnati to join Brother David Henley on the vocations team. As

live on Facebook hosted by Glenmary

the Associate Director of Vocations, Father José Carlos has been

president Father Dan Dorsey. This

busy traveling and meeting young people to raise their aware-

year’s winners of our top three prizes

ness about Glenmary.

were Claire Spellmire ($5,000), John &

For example, there is the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, in November. “At this event we meet lots of young people coming from all over the country,” he says. “The primary goal

Christine McQuade ($3,000), and Joe & Jeanne Berns, Jr. ($1,500).

Father Dan says, ”on behalf of Glen-

is to spread the word about Glenmary so more people will get to

mary, I am grateful to each and every

know us.”

person who participated in this year’s

The vocations department has been spreading the word about Glenmary in various cultures. In August, Brothers David and Thom-

raffle and look forward to doing it again in the future.”

as Nguyen attended Marian Days—a festival in Missouri that gathers tens of thousands of Vietnamese Americans to honor Mary. In October, Brother David and Brother Josiah Kimani hosted a Come and See retreat in Nairobi, Kenya. These events were in addition nessee and attending various conferences and events in the fall.

All that they do remains grounded in Christ, says Father José Carlos. “[It] is Jesus who calls,” he says, “I am just his instrument who can help in people’s discernment process.

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Lydia Roell draws a raffle winner.

Photo by John Feister

to hosting two Come and See retreats in our mission areas in Ten-

Photo by John Feister

Eleven Glenmary students, with Father Richard Toboso, are a sign of Glenmary's growth.

formation / Education

Renovations at Glenmary House of Formation Take a walk with Glenmary Father Richard Toboso,

Chipped paint and a dehumidifier on a concrete floor

Pre- and Post Novitiate director for the 11 Glenmary

show a room that has seen better days. A worn-out

students attending seminary and nearby colleges in

shower is enclosed in a metal stall; the student stud-

St. Meinrad, Indiana, and you’ll see why he’s launched

ies and sleeps in an adjacent room. Another shower

a renovation project. There are two older houses and

stall, in the red brick house, stands about 8 inches off

a new double-wide mobile home that houses the stu-

the floor. It’s actually too crowded inside to do any-

dents. Cars are parked in various spaces on the gravel

thing but stand up straight, and, if you’re tall, to crouch

driveway, for starters.

a little. And sometimes the water was cold, before the

“We are clearing a space to put in a parking pad,” he says. “So when we have guests, or even more stu-

water heater was replaced a few months back.

Third, the flooring in the red house is in disrepair. “In

dents, we will have good parking space.” That’s one of

the living room, we want to pull out the worn carpet

three renovations underway.

and put in a laminate floor. We teach and model sim-

“Number two, almost all of the bathrooms are in

plicity and humility for the students when they come

bad shape.” A walk into the basement of the white

here,” says Father Richard. “But I try, with what little I

house, where three of the students stay, tells the story.

have, to provide a decent and clean place.”

aroun d th e missions youth and the eucharist

father sundar am

eucharistic re vival e vent

About 30 youth from the Glenmary missions in North Carolina participated in the Diocese of Raleigh Eucharistic Congress, last October. Fathers Vic Subb and Vijaya Katta led the group, along with Brother Craig Digmann and parents. The event gathered around 5,000 people, according to estimates of the diocese.

Glenmary welcomes Father Sundaram Yeleti as he visits the United States from India to do ministry with Glenmary. He currently works with Father Kenn Wandera serving the Erwin, Tennessee mission parish with plans to serve other Glenmary Missions.

Peace and Integrity of Creation, has partnered with US bishops’ official Yohan Garcia to offer an Advent retreat this December as part of Glenmary’s celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival movement. At age 16, Yohan emigrated to the US from his hometown of Puebla, Mexico, in search of a better life. Now serving as the Catholic Social Teaching Education Manager, Yohan shares his story and also how the Eucharist compels each of us to be missionary disciples. The retreat is being held at Glenmary’s mission St. Michael the Archangel, in Unicoi County, Tennessee. The talks are available for viewing on our YouTube channel (at Glenmary.org)

Polly Duncan Collum, Glenmary’s Director of Justice,

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VOLUNTEER

Impact by j o h n fei s ter

In the wake of a devastating flood, Glenmary volunteers reunite to help build a house. They've lived lives of mercy.

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Photos by John Feister

hen Wilma Combs drove up the mountain hollow in Breathitt County, Eastern Kentucky, on September 26, she must have taken a deep breath. Her prayers were being answered. A construction crew, joined by a group of older volunteers, was raising the walls of her new home. The volunteers this week were together for a working reunion of friends who first volunteered in Appalachia with Glenmary in the 1970s.

“We were trying to just figure out what we were going to do,” homeowner Wilma recalls. Her old home, like thousands in the region, was destroyed by historic flooding in July 2022. She, her husband, and four

ABOVE: Chuck Garven supports a wall as the house goes up.

Volunteering with Glenmary helped shape his life.

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The volunteers this week were together for a working reunion of friends who first volunteered in Appalachia with Glenmary in the 1970s.

Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s degrees

children have been through the wringer since then: “We’ve moved six times. It’s been rough. But God got us through this, every bit of the way.”

Providentially for the Combses, there was a nonprofit housing company in nearby Hazard that quickly grew in response to the crisis. The Housing Development Alliance helped the family to secure a government loan to buy flood-free land and arrange for construction of a new house. Then the Combses waited, as work around them started. And they began a new family ritual, says Wilma: “We come up here weekly and we pray.” This day, when they came, she saw God had brought volunteers to help.

Shelter the homeless, visit the sick Each of the former Glenmary volunteers, now women and men in their 60s and 70s, could look back on how their volunteer work 50-some years ago helped to shape their lives of mercy in whatever home community they returned to.

Actually, Tom Carew and Molly Barrett never moved back home. Molly, a Minnesotan, came in

1971 to work among Franciscan sisters at Glenmary’s Holy Redeemer Parish in Lewis County. “I just was amazed at how much a different culture it was, how different it felt from the city of St. Paul, where I grew up.” She spent her career as a visiting nurse, then nurse practitioner, in nearby Rowan and Elliott counties, also once served by Glenmary.

Tom, from New York City (Queens), came to rural Lewis County in 1971 with a group from Fairfield University. “I met [Glenmary] Brother Bob, then Brother Ralph and helped a family get a house in Vanceburg.” He then stayed to manage Glenmary’s new volunteer program at a remote place that came to be known as The Farm. Tom was the first farm manager in a program that has since brought 20,000+ volunteers to Appalachia. “I was so influenced by that, that I wanted to continue some form of ministry,” he recalls.

Tom moved to Rowan County, site of Glenmary’s Jesus Our Savior Parish. There, he and Glenmary pastor ABOVE, L to R: Volunteers John Potterton, Mary Carew, and sister-in-law Molly Carew lift a wall that will shelter a family.

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Father John Garvey organized local ministers to help found a nonprofit affordable-housing company, Frontier Housing. While Molly was learning nursing in the US Navy, in faraway Virginia, Tom gathered a crew and started building houses. “I quickly realized if we didn’t figure out the money side of things we wouldn’t be doing this for long.” Glenmary pitched in about $10,000, and then others joined, as Tom recruited more and more. Then Molly returned, they married, and settled in Morehead. Molly found work in St. Clare Hospital, itself a Notre Dame Sisters’ mission effort to bring improved health care to an underserved area. Over the years, they raised four children.

While Molly was tending to the sick across the county, Tom was helping families get their first homes, hundreds as the company grew. Then Tom became a consultant to other nonprofit affordable-housing efforts across Appalachia, and served as principal author of a federal policy that would enable nonprofit housing providers across the United States (including the Kentucky Housing Alliance, above) to help families (such as the Combses) receive USDA housing loans. He served as president of the National Housing Coalition.

He was recently called out of retirement to lead Kentucky’s statewide USDA Rural Development program.

“My whole adult life was influenced by Glenmary,” Tom says. “And I’m an old man now, so that’s a long time!”

Instruct the ignorant, feed the hungry As a young woman, Annie Finn wasn’t sure she could survive elementary teaching in Boston (Dorchester).

Her principal suggested she take a year off. “That turned out to be a great gift,” she says. She came to Holy Redeemer Parish in Lewis County as a volunteer in the early 1970s.

Founding pastor Glenmary Father Pat O’Donnell, who welcomed a constant flow of volunteers and Catholic sisters, sent her to a local school to get a job.

He wanted to break down Catholic stereotypes with this pleasant, well-spoken young woman, licensed to teach. “It was an awkward interview,” she recalls, laughing about her talk with a Lewis County administrator. Here was an outsider, a Catholic, looking to work in his school. “The guy was looking at me like I had horns in there, under my hair! He wanted to 8

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Annie Finn, foreground, returned home from Glenmary’s Lewis County, Kentucky's, Holy Redeemer parish to a career as teacher and hospital chaplain.

Smiling volunteer John Potterton holds the Combs baby as volunteer Mary Carew and mom Wilma look on.

“My whole adult life was influenced by Glenmary,” Tom says. “And I’m an old man now, so that’s a long time!”

know, ‘Would you be wearing that garb?’” He meant a sister’s full habit, a strange thing he had seen in photos from elsewhere. She didn’t get the job.

Many years later she wrote a thank-you letter to Father O’Donnell, as she still calls him (he was Father Pat to most): “I thanked him.

The experience so enriched my life. I thought he should know that he had done that for me and for so many other people. And he sent me back a very nice letter, which I was touched by. He also put in a donation envelope!”

After she returned to Boston, she indeed taught children, and eventually became a hospital chaplain.

Comfort the afflicted Chuck Garven looked like a likely vocational recruit to Father Pat when he came to spend a year at Holy Redeemer in Vanceburg. It didn’t turn out that way; he went on to become a doctor back home in Cleveland, Ohio, known for his community service. Even today, postretirement, he is helping stabilize the work of an inner-city clinic that serves many people living in poverty.

He credits his Glenmary experience, in part, for his learning how to serve: “It’s a less

arrogant kind of service. It’s generally humble, a compassionate accompanying of people rather than just a handout. It’s more of a presence. It’s an awareness that we all have differences, but we all need each other. We are poor in different ways, and rich in different ways. Glenmary helps to nourish that sort of understanding.

“I tried to not be a very paternalistic doctor, either. I didn’t only look for what is wrong with people. I feel like on my better days I included with that, ‘What’s right, and how can we build on that?’”

He also spent a week a year for two decades going to serve the poor in Honduras, and repeatedly went to provide medical relief after natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina.

Each of these is one of 20,000 stories of lives exposed by Glenmary to a reality far from home. That story continues even today, as the volunteer program, now at Joppa Mountain, Tennessee, will host about 300 volunteers this year from places far from Tennessee.

For those who stayed, like Molly Carew, “it turned into something really, really wonderful, forever!” She and her fellow nurses covered five counties, seeing maybe seven to ten people daily, “surely more than a thousand over years,” she says. “Glenmary’s impact here has been huge.”

That spirit of service that Glenmary nurtured in Molly, Tom, Anne, Chuck, and thousands of former volunteers, including this writer, continues to ripple. Lives are still changing for the better within the territory Glenmary has served—and beyond.

John Feister is editor of this publication. He holds masters’ in humanities and theology from Xavier University, Cincinnati.

She and her fellow nurses covered five counties, seeing maybe seven to ten people daily, “surely more than a thousand over years,” she says.

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A New Mission Takes Root by th ere s a n g u y en - g i llen

The Catholic community in Overton County has begun to grow.

L

orenzo Ajú was no stranger to Glenmary when he received a call about our newest mission.

“What I enjoy is to live in the rural area and share with people in simple things,” says Lorenzo. He first started working for Glenmary in 2005, leading missions in Mississippi after moving from Guatemala.

But when Glenmary returned those missions back to the diocese, Lorenzo and his family stayed. He got a job with the Diocese of Jackson.

Over the years, Lorraine Vancamp, a former member of Glenmary’s department of Pastoral Services, had called Lorenzo twice to notify him of different lay missioner position openings. He said no twice.

Then, in 2020, Lorraine called a third time with the opportunity of starting a Catholic community in Overton County, Tennessee. This time, Lorenzo took it to prayer.

“If God is calling me,” he recalls, “I’d better say yes.”

Nurturing a community Glenmary has three main criteria when considering a new mission area: little or no Catholic presence in the county, a high percentage is unchurched, and a high percentage lives below the poverty level.

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Based on the 2010 US census, Overton County had a population of 22,083 people. Not one person identified as Catholic, and 63.5 percent did not belong to a church.

Ten years later, the number of Catholics there was still unknown. “Nobody knew how many Catholics lived in that county,” Lorraine says. “Very often someone isn’t going to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Catholic.’”

So in the first year, 2022, Lorenzo was busy visiting nearby churches and gathering a list of possible Catholics living in the area. “I started calling people and inviting them,” he says.

The first Mass for the Catholic community was on June 17, 2022, at the Livingston library. Father Sam Mungai, associate pastor at Glenmary’s mission in adjacent Macon County, traveled to celebrate it. Three or four families came, Lorenzo says.

Now, a year later, the monthly Mass has moved to a small chapel on the property of the First United Methodist Church, with at least 35 people in attendance.

“We know the majority of Catholics in this county,” says Lorenzo. “It’s a small group. But we are visiting them and calling and during Mass we see a new face– maybe one or two people.”

Photos by Theresa Nguyen-Gillen

Before Mass begins on a Saturday afternoon, Lorenzo welcomes each member and hands them a sheet with the day’s readings and songs in both English and Spanish. A homemade flower arrangement is placed before the table set up as an altar. Lorenzo points out to Father Samuel members who are celebrating their birthdays and those who are in need of prayers.

The Mass itself is a seamless blend of readings, songs, preaching, and prayers in both Spanish and English–a perfect reflection of the community.

After Mass, Lorenzo thanks everyone for coming and asks them to consider inviting someone to join them next month.

“Our goal is to have a strong community of faith,” he says. And part of the faith is sharing it with others. “It’s an opportunity to help this core group invite them, the unchurched people, to have this experience of community and prayer.”

Sewing seeds of faith On Thursday mornings, the hall at the Methodist church is filled with friendly chatter and the constant clicking of sewing machines. Lorenzo and his wife, Nicolasa, began their involvement in the quilting ministry after meeting Katie Randle, an active member of the Methodist church, at a weekly Bible study.

Bring your sewing machine and we’ll teach you how to sew, the ministry says to interested potential members. That’s what happened to the three Catholics who now attend the quilting ministry faithfully each week. Nicolasa says she did not know how to sew before she joined a year ago. Now she’s one of the experts, says Katie, who watches Nicolasa finish one quilt in about two hours.

The ministry delivers about 20 quilts each month for newborns at the local hospital, where an average of 320 babies are born each year.

Now, a year later, the monthly Mass has moved to a small chapel on the property of the First United Methodist Church, with at least 35 people in attendance.

In addition to the quilting ministry and monthly Mass, the community is gathering for dinner and a rosary in the days leading up to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe this December.

“You can do little things and see that people enjoy that and how life can change in the simple things that you are doing,” says Lorenzo.

In these small ways, Lorenzo is bringing the faithful together to pray in a county where the few Catholics had no local connection just a year and a half ago.

The Catholic community in Overton County is well on its way.

Assistant Editor Theresa Nguyen-Gillen holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

LEFT: Lorenzo Ajú assists Father Samuel Mungai at Mass.

ABOVE: Viviana Hernández is one of three Catholics who attend the weekly quilting ministry at the local Methodist church.

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Garden Amid a Desert te x t by l a n e y b le v i n s ph otos by a s h le y lo d g e

Jesus said to feed the hungry.

Fresh Wagon partners follow his word in service to their community.

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t’s a cold and breezy morning in Union County, Tennessee, but St. Teresa of Kolkata Parish in Maynardville is lively and warm as volunteers gather together to prepare fresh produce for distribution in their community. The church is surrounded by beautiful colors as the foliage changes into varying autumn hues, but the Fresh Wagon trailer parked in the lot steals the show with its vibrant art and even more vibrant story.

“We decided these kids aren’t getting lunch, so we’d get ‘em lunch. We’ll bring them food,” says Glenmary Father Neil Pezzulo, as he recalls the Fresh Wagon’s beginnings.

Founded when the COVID-19 pandemic shut schools down and left children without access to food, the Fresh Wagon is a trailer loaded monthly with fresh produce then driven to a destination in Union County for residents to access entirely free of charge.

Watering the food desert Unbeknownst to Father Neil, as the Fresh Wagon was being established, the American Cancer Society was conducting a study on food deserts—an area where it is harder to buy fresh food at affordable prices—and

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the impact living in a food desert has on one’s health.

They found that not only does living in a food desert put residents at greater risk for medical conditions, but also decreases life expectancy.

Union County resides as a food desert where community members have access to very few fresh food options and only one full-size grocery store in the county.

“We have made a conscious decision to respond to the food desert, the distribution issues of food. We bring healthy food, fresh food–vegetables, fruit, things you can’t get at a traditional food pantry because they have to have canned goods and boxed goods,” Father Neil informs when discussing the Fresh Wagon.

Building community “What I’m most proud of in this whole project is this is a partnership between St. Teresa church, Union County Health Department, University of Tennessee Extension Office, the American Cancer Society, the Union County government, and with cooperation from the Union County school system,” Father Neil proudly proclaims. “We all have different starting points, but the goal is to bring fresh food to people that need it.”

Father Neil makes it known that one of his goals with the Fresh Wagon is to keep money in the community. Every month, the partners of the Fresh Wagon collaborate with local farmers.

“We wanted to be unlike other distributions where we’re able to distribute local, fresh food and support our community,” Shannon Dewitt of the University of Tennessee Extension Office says. Dewitt works with the local farmers and aids in bringing fresh food to a community in need. “I didn’t know the need in our community,” she adds. “I knew it, but I didn’t fully understand it until we began distributing the food.”

In addition to providing fresh produce to the community, the Union County Health Department and government provide information on resources for programs families may be eligible to enroll in. Overall, everybody involved with the Fresh Wagon wants to help provide for their community members and aid them in accessing resources they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Addressing the need Driving to the distribution site, Father Neil expresses a concern about the lack of calls regarding the month’s distribution. Usually, people call the church asking where the wagon will be. This time, the line is silent. Would people turn up?

Any concerns that might have been present fade away upon pulling into the parking lot. As volunteers load the Fresh Wagon’s contents into bags, a line of cars stops traffic on Main Street as they patiently wait for their turn to pick up fresh produce.

The Fresh Wagon happens the third week of each month to cater to those who may be running low on money to provide for themselves. The program also coordinates with six other food pantries in the county to ensure something is open each week so the community always has access to food. This past October the Fresh Wagon served 128 different families.

“I do this because Jesus said to feed the hungry,” Father Neil says. “The health department does it because they’re in charge of the health of the county. The school system needs healthy kids to teach.”

Regardless of why each partner of the Fresh Wagon is involved, one thing is clear: They’re working hard to address the needs of their community by being a garden amid the food desert. The partners work together to better the well-being of those they serve in the county. That means everyone.

Assistant editor Laney Blevins is nearing her MA in professional communication from Purdue University. Ashley Lodge is a freelance photographer based in Kingsport, Tennessee.

OPPOSITE: The strength of the community is evident as Father Neil Pezzulo helps other volunteers prepare produce.

LEFT: St. Teresa of Kolkata parishioner Regina Dimitry takes time away from work to volunteer with the Fresh Wagon.

RIGHT: The Fresh Wagon is vibrant on an autumn morning as local Union County farmers drop off produce.

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About a dozen migrant workers and parishioners from nearby churches attend Mass at the farm, once a month.

Faith Revival by o m a r c a b rer a

Father Vijaya is animating Holy Trinity Parish, one family at a time.

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GLENMARY CHALLENGE

g l e n m a r y. o r g

T

he Catholic community in Martin County, North Carolina, is growing and reviving.

First, parishioners left the pews during the pandemic, then the pastor fell ill and was substituted for a year, then replaced. Now, the flock is revitalizing.

“The Mass is getting more crowded,” says Edi Martínez. He is a parishioner at the Glenmary mission of Holy Trinity in Williamston, which serves Martin County. “Sometimes there is no room for all the people, sometimes there are people standing outside,” adds Leticia Olguín.

One of the main drivers of this growth is Father Vijaya Katta. He became the pastor here last June, a year after coming from India to Williamston. He is the first foreign priest whom Glenmary has brought to the United States in the 84 years of the organization.

All the other international Glenmarians have come to the country as students.

Father Vijaya is visiting and blessing parishioners’ homes. He brings the Eucharist to a camp of migrant workers at a tobacco, cotton, and sweet potato farm.

Photos by Omar Cabrera

He has also organized a youth group for the first time in years and has begun weekly Eucharistic adoration.

“It’s a challenging mission here because there is no catechist, no director for religious education, no teachers,” says Father Vijaya. “I’m slowly now building up the people.”

He explains, for example, that he has recruited three youth ministers, two for English and one for Spanish.

During the summer, the groups met every week, and then they cut back to a more feasible every two weeks.

Visit to farm workers Once a month, Father Vijaya drives for half an hour to the countryside, where he visits a camp of migrant workers. They toil at a tobacco, cotton, and sweet potato farm near Colerain, North Carolina.

These men come from Mexico, under temporary visas for 7 months. They plant the crops, clear the weeds, and collect the harvest, among other tasks.

Their pay varies depending on their work—it’s piece rate. For example, they receive 50 cents per bucket of sweet potato that they collect. This means that they make anywhere between $600 and $1,000 a week, according to Alex Saldaña, one of the workers.

They live in humble, temporary homes away from their families.

Alex is one of about a dozen workers who attend Mass when Father Vijaya comes to visit. The Eucharist is celebrated outdoors, on a grassy lot next to a cotton plantation, the woods, and the temporary houses.

“I like to listen to the word of God,” says Alex.

“The Mass helps us cheer up because we are far from family.” Sometimes, Father Vijaya is joined by another priest from a neighboring town, a little farther from Williamston. Exceptionally, two priests join him.

Close to the people Back in Williamston, Father Vijaya visits and blesses homes when somebody signs up. He says that he does it because he wants to know the parishioners’ families, including relatives who don’t attend Mass. “I just want to know who are the family, the total family.”

The other reason he says is because “our Catholics ABOVE: Fr. Vijaya Katta hands communion to Glenmary co-missioner, Marco Tavares at Holy Trinity church, in Williamston, North Carolina.

need the blessing where they are living, where they are working, or wherever they are.” People comment that they like the way Father Vijaya celebrates the liturgy and the attention he gives them, says Marco Tavares, Glenmary lay co-missioner, who lives in the adjacent county.

Leticia, the parishioner, agrees: “There have been positive changes.”

The man who helped recruit him and once was pastor in the area is Father Aaron Wessman, Glenmary’s First Vice President. “Father Vijaya is somebody who has the ability to relate to people in a kind and caring way,” he says. “They feel in his presence that they are cared for. He's kind to them, he listens to them, and he really desires to serve them as a priest.”

The growth of this Catholic community has led Father Vijaya to explore options to accommodate all the people. He says that the current property is not big enough to expand the church, especially because classrooms are also needed for religious education.

“My plan is to create a group and that group will be the building committee,” he says. Based on their recommendations and resources’ availability, they will see if it’s possible to buy land and build a new church.

“I can not make a decision by myself. I also have to consult with Glenmary and the diocese. But I would like to build a new church.”

Conditions seem ripe for this Catholic flock to continue growing in numbers and in faith. Glenmary will try to make that happen.

Assistant Editor Omar Cabrera holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR love brother craig

Dear Glenmary friends, Thank you for all you do for all the less fortunate brothers and sisters in the rural areas of our country. I would like to express my thanks for your wonderful Glenmary Challenge magazine - I always enjoy reading about what Glenmarians and their coworkers are doing. I especially appreciated the article by Father Aaron Wessman highlighting Brother Craig Digmann's work on ecumenism...

Brother Craig is an inspiration to me. Stepping out of our polarized attitudes is essential not only in regard to religion but also in regard to race relations and getting along with people from foreign cultures.

Steve Eiser · Cincinnati OH

strengthening faith

Thank you, thank you! To all who write, edit, draw, photo, design this wonderful magazine for Glenmary, I wish to share many thanks for its influence and support of my prayer times, and some critical knowledge of our church strengthening the faith life of rural America, especially in Appalachia and the south. My mother introduced me to Glenmary when we lived in Cincinnati, her hometown. I’m trying to share these magazines with other friends and family. Sincerely,

the elderly. We don’t have a lot of money. Mine is just Social Security. My small pension came in this last month.

However, I was impressed by “Father Francois Pelliser’s Prison Ministry”--so I’m sending something this month.

Please pray for me and my family.

Anonymous

beautiful T H E M AG A Z I N E O F CAT H O L I C M I S S I O N E R S TO R U RA L A M E R I CA AU T U M N 2 0 2 3

G L E N M A RY. O R G

HALF A CENTURY OF SERVICE How does a missioner retire?

Katherine Sullivan · Milton, MA

DEDICATION OF A NEW CHURCH A home they can call their own

inspiring

I read each magazine carefully—never throw it away—share everything with other residents in this community for

BROTHERS

Among Us

A strikingly beautiful painting on the cover!

Vince and Alyce Dolphin · Cascade, IA

we want letters to the editor !

Send to: Editor, Glenmary Challenge, PO Box 465618, Cincinnati, OH 45246. Email: challenge@glenmary.org. Comments are printed at the discretion of the editor and may be edited for clarity and space. Please include a postal address with your letter.

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COME, HOLY SPIRIT, COME Revive our souls to experience the Real Presence of Christ.

May our body be elevated with the Body of Christ.

May our body be healed by the sharing of Christ’s blood.

May our body be consumed in Love by the consumption of Christ.

COME, HOLY SPIRIT, COME Revive our souls to share the Real Presence of Christ in our mission to Rural America.

May the Real Presence lead us to wash the feet of the poor and vulnerable.

May the Real Presence inspire us to live in communion with others regardless of class or culture.

May the Real Presence empower us to witness our faith among saints and sinners.

COME, HOLY SPIRIT, COME. Revive our souls to be missionary disciples of love, justice, and peace.

Break us in sacrificial love as you were broken as an offering for the world.

Send us to strengthen the Body of Christ in Mission Land, USA. COME, HOLY SPIRIT, COME.

Father Richard Toboso offers Mass at Glenmary's formation house in St. Meinrad. Photo by John Feister

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Find out about joining Brother Corey in a life of service at glenmary.org/vocations