Ten Glenmarians Celebrate Silver Jubilees
by Paul Ritter

Small-town living was a culture shock for Chicagoan Father Larry Goulding, but he found a way to keep in touch with the big cities — he became a ham radio operator.

Ten Glenmarians are celebrating silver jubilees this year. As home missioners they have had similar experiences. Each has been sent to small-town and rural America, yet each has faced his own test of change, and his own personal awakening to God's daily call. To a man, they have met, accepted, and conquered unexpected challenges.

I have tried to answer the question: Who is the man inside the missionary? I had to look beyond the names and into the hearts and minds of each man. Below is the story of jubilarian Father Larry Goulding.

Like many Glenmarians, Father Larry Goulding had to make the transition from a big-city upbringing to small-town ministry. Shortly after his ordination in 1962, he was sent to North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

"I was apprehensive about the adjustment," Father Goulding admits. "I was raised in Chicago and knew nothing about the country. It was my first extended experience, other than my time in the military, of living without big buildings around me.

"There was no great trauma involved in adjusting," he adds with a chuckle, "but I remember feeling the need to drive into the city whenever I had a day off."

After twenty-five years as a Glenmary priest, he has developed a real love for life in small-town America. That love continues to grow in Morehead, Ky., where he is pastor of the Church of Jesus Our Savior.

"I have found that there are closer relationships between people living in small towns," he says. "You get the feeling you have a greater impact on your environment, and on the people you meet.