The following is an excerpt from a longer story published in the Glenmary Challenge, Summer 1991
by Fathers Pat O'Donnell and Bob Viacancich Cameron

Father Dominc Duggins helps Illa Powell who volunteers daily to prepare food packages at the Helping Hands food pantry.

Oklahoma's best kept secret, a forest land of mountains, lakes, roaring streams and meadows, lies in its southeast corner where you can look across the Red River into Texas, or float on into Arkansas.

Glenmary missioners arrived here in the fifties with the zeal of young blood and high hopes. After thirty-five years of prayer and preaching, knocking on doors and knocking down road blocks, there are seven churches in three counties served by four Glenmary priests and three sisters.

Hugo, Okla., named after Victor Hugo, is in Choctaw County. Father Dominic Duggins, the pastor, is noted for his liturgical competence and preaching ability.

On Good Friday he preached at the ecumenical service held at the First Baptist Church. Televised, all those with public access saw and heard him.

He is currently engaged in building a handsome new church to accomodate his growing mission parish. This will be the 10,000th home mission church funded by the Catholic Extension Society.

Assisted by Sister Joseph Fillenwarth, SP, Father Dominic and she emphasize an apostolate to the local community. One or the other of them serves with various civic agencies. Both are on the board of directors for the Choctaw County Literacy Council. Sister Joseph is the chairperson of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, dispensing FEMA monies to assist the poor.

Father Dominic serves on the board of the Eastern Oklahoma Legal Services, representing Helping Hands of Choctaw County. This ecumenical agency, chaired by Sister Joseph for four years, operates on an annual budget of $10,000, all raised locally, to help those who are unable to receive government assistance.

Oscar Perez, from Pueblo, Mexico, explains to Father Dominic Duggins his maintenance work while the circus is wintering in Hugo.

Through her connections with Birthright, Sister Joseph conducts a monthly clothing sale, and provides services and counseling for pregnant girls.

Two circuses winter in Hugo, bringing color, fourteen Catholics, and ample fertilization. Thirty elephants, one rhinoceros, six big cats, one giraffe and a host of other animal performers make up the Carson Barnes menagerie. The Kelly Miller Brothers Circus also has its own traveling zoo. When the big tops come, attendance increases substantially at the little A-frame church of the Immaculate Conception.

A few miles west of Hugo, Father Dominic serves another mission at Boswell. The thirty members are like a small family church, "with a great spirit, and tremendous dedication to their parish," said Father Dominic.

Father Dominic Duggins plays Hannibal on the elephant from the Kelly Miller Brothers Circus in Hugo.