‘Our house was filled with people committed to furthering God’s mission on earth.’
Jean Bach

HOME VISIT: Dave and Lisa Doseff with Father François Pellissier when he visited their home and parish in Northern Virginia.

It was when Dave and Lisa Doseff were visited by a Glenmary missioner in their home that Glenmary’s mission and ministry became real and alive to them. Although they had been donating to Glenmary for several years, it wasn’t until meeting Father François Pellissier, that “our eyes were really opened to the work Glenmary is doing,” Lisa says.

While living in Maryland in the 1980s, the Doseffs were members of St. Louis Church in Clarkesville—the parish Father Bishop pastored in the 1930s prior to moving to Cincinnati and founding Glenmary. “Because of that connection, Glenmary missioners would periodically visit the parish and that’s how we learned of Glenmary,” Dave says. “And we began making occasional donations and reading Glenmary Challenge. But we really weren’t connected beyond that.”

After moving to Northern Virginia over three years ago, the Doseffs met and struck up a friendship with Father François and planned giving officer Susan Lambert. “We had the opportunity to see what godly, dedicated people they are,” Lisa says. “Hearing and seeing how Glenmary serves Christ through their service to the needy and how they spread the Catholic faith really made our commitment to Glenmary more personal.”

When a Glenmary missioner speaks about home mission ministry, his enthusiasm is contagious, Lisa says. She caught that enthusiasm. It excited her so much, she and Dave volunteered to host a gathering on Dec 1, 2006, so others could meet some Glenmary missioners personally. The Doseffs invited their friends, current Glenmary donors in their area, as well as others interested in Glenmary to meet president Father Dan Dorsey and Father François at their home.

“We all had so much fun—even if the electricity did go off for three hours,” Lisa laughs.

Despite the electrical snafu, the Doseffs say, “The Lord really blessed us and blessed the gathering. Our house was filled with people committed to furthering God’s mission on earth.”

Gathering people with a common desire to further God’s mission was also the way Father Bishop promoted his new home mission society in the 1940s. He, too, held small gatherings of folks to spread the word and gain both prayer and financial supporters for his new society. He knew a message was much more effective when delivered personally and enthusiastically.

Both Father Dan and Father François delivered their message in Virginia in just that way. “Both Father Dan and Father François were really well received as was their message about Glenmary and the home missions,” says Lisa. So much so that they both received several invitations to return for a visit—and for dinner!

Dave says the missioners were able to connect the folks in Northern Virginia to the Glenmary mission areas in Southwest Virginia. But, maybe more importantly, the missioners connected them to the real mission need in the United States.

“So many times we think of mission as happening overseas,” he says. “Father Dan and Father François brought the larger picture of home mission need to us here in Northern Virginia.”

In hearing both Father Dan and Father François speak, it was like “seeing Christ’s hands at work through the work of their—and all Glenmarians’—hands,” Lisa says.

“We’re very grateful to the Doseffs for partnering with Glenmary and for hosting the gathering in December,” says Father François. “It was a pleasure to meet so many wonderful people interested in—and ultimately excited about—Glenmary’s home mission ministry.”