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Greetings
from the Glenmary Sisters! For over sixty years, the
Glenmary Sisters have been serving as living examples
of Christ’s love in prayer and action in small
town, rural areas of the South and Appalachia where
less than 2% of the total population is Catholic. In
these areas a large percent of the population is also
unchurched or, unclaimed, i.e., they do not belong to
any particular church or faith tradition. Thus, we truly
serve as missionaries in the home missions of our own
country, or, as we say, in Missionland, U.S.A.
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As missionaries our deepest desire is to share the real
knowledge and experience of Jesus to those we meet.
This is, of course, evangelization, a real "walking
the walk" with those who do not believe that God
loves them or even cares. Through our presence and ministries
as pastoral coordinators, associates and religious educators,
we try to implant the Catholic Church in those areas
where there is little or no Catholic presence. Because
not everyone is or will become Catholic, we, as missionaries
go beyond our traditional faith communities to live
and minister with and to all God’s people, especially
the most marginalized in our society. We also go beyond
our faith communities to extend our love and support
to those of other Christian and non-Christian traditions.
Not only are we committed to religious dialogue but
also to form communities of prayer and action in ways
that are appropriate.
In the areas where we are sent the number of people,
children, women and men, young and old, living in poverty
is high. Often we walk with people who literally "fall
through the cracks" of existing social programs.
Through direct relief assistance in the forms of food,
clothing, household needs, help with meeting bill payments,
coupled with counseling, spiritual guidance and education
in hygiene, budgeting and nutrition, we minister daily
in helping low-income people find ways to free themselves
from the terrible vise of poverty. Though we do not
own or manage institutions, we Glenmary Sisters work
with local peoples in establishing centers for distributing
food, clothing and social services when existing agencies
are not able to meet the needs. We also assist local
communities establish clinics for the working poor in
the rural areas where medical assistance is not available.
The establishment of these institutions, though initially
sponsored and funded by Glenmary, becomes autonomous
and completely managed by local people in time.
Mission Education
We hope that you will visit our web-site to see the
various programs and items we have available for mission
education. We are committed to different forms of mission
education for all ages that, most importantly, respect
the different cultures, ethnicity, life-styles and religions
of the small town and rural regions of our country,
particularly those in the south and Appalachia. No matter
what our age, vocation or employment, we believe that,
as baptized Christians, we are all called to be "in
mission." We hope that our resources will assist
us and you to continue sharing God’s gracious love
and extending God’s reign with all the peoples
of the earth.
So, as we say in the south and the mountains, "Y’all
come see us, hear?"
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