Fathers Bob Poandl and Ed Gorny serve South Georgia missions

CINCINNATI, May 2008 –Father Bob Poandl and Father Ed Gorny, who took their First Oath as Glenmary Home Missioners 46 years ago, are celebrating the 40th jubilee of their ordinations this year. Currently, Father Poandl is the pastor of Glenmary’s South Georgia missions in Claxton (St. Christopher), Sandhill (Our Lady of Guadalupe) and Pembroke (Holy Cross). Father Gorny, a Glenmary senior member, is living in Claxton and helps out in the surrounding Glenmary missions.

Father Poandl is a former pastor of Glenmary missions in Dahlonega, Ga. (1979-82); Blairsville and Cleveland, Ga. (1982-88); Mt. Vernon, Texas (1993-96); Pittsburg, Texas (1997-99); and Hugo and Boswell, Okla., (1999-2003). He also has served in Glenmary’s leadership as second vice president (1975-1979) and first vice president (2003-2007). In addition to his administrative work, which included heading the vocation office from 1989-93, he has served missions in Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky and Texas. He is a native of Metuchen, N.J., and is a 1959 graduate of St. Benedict Preparatory School in Newark.

Father Poandl returned to New Jersey on Sunday, May 4, the date of his ordination, and celebrated Mass at St. Francis Cathedral, Metuchen, where he celebrated his first Mass 40 years ago.

Father Gorny, the former pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Sylvania, Ga., St. Bernadette Church in Millen and St. Joseph Church in Bay Branch (1992-97), has lived in Claxton since becoming a Glenmary senior member in 2003.

In his years as a home missioner, Father Gorny, a native of Detroit, Mich., and a U.S. Navy veteran, has worked in all the home mission territories Glenmary serves—the South, Southwest and Appalachia. He served as pastor of missions in Waynesboro and Louisville, Ga. (1971-76); Beaver Dam, Ky., (1976-79); Jefferson, Texas (1979-83); Atlanta, Texas (1983); West Union, Ohio (1984-97); and Blairsville, Ga., (1988-92). He also served in missions in Virginia, Georgia, Texas and Ohio as well as held various administrative assignments such as treasurer/secretary of Glenmary. Father Gorny anticipates celebrating his jubilee with family in Michigan at some later date.

Father Poandl, Father Gorny and Father Mike Langell, pastor of two Glenmary missions in eastern North Carolina, were ordained on May 4, 1968, at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati.

Glenmary is a society of Catholic priests and brothers who, along with coworkers, establish the Catholic Church in rural regions of the United States. Currently, Glenmary staffs over 50 missions and ministries in 14 dioceses.

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