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Each Glenmary priest and brother has a unique story to tell about how he came to his vocation and how he identified the Lord’s call to serve the home missions. But most of us grew up in heavily Catholic areas where it was a shock to learn that not all U.S. communities had a Catholic church on every corner—or any Catholic presence at all!

That’s why the stories of our three home-grown missioners—Father Les Schmidt, Father Ray Orlett and prenovice John Paul Lawhead—are so unusual and so interesting! All three grew up in the very mission areas where Glenmary has served. Their stories reveal what it is like to grow up in places where other Catholics are few—and where a Glenmary mission provided the support to overcome many hurdles.

Father Ray Orlett remembers being taunted by boys in his schoolyard in a southern Ohio Appalachian county. “You don’t belong here; you’re a Catholic,” they said.

Father Les Schmidt, also a native of rural Ohio, tells of being kept home from school on the day a noted anti-Catholic activist was scheduled to speak at his high school.

Prenovice John Paul Lawhead, who is currently pursuing missionary priesthood with Glenmary, recalls telling a high school teacher in his small Alabama town that he was Catholic—and then seeing the surprised look on that teacher’s face.

When John Paul read the Bible as a child, he wanted to take the Good News to people who had never heard it. He thought that would mean someplace overseas—certainly not his own backyard! But as he grew older, he realized that there were places like his hometown of Russellville, Ala., where people might have heard the word of God, but needed encouragement in understanding and living the gospel.

John Paul’s hometown is also the home of Glenmary’s former mission and now-thriving parish, the Church of the Good Shepherd. John Paul speaks fondly of the two Glenmary priests he knew there as a boy, Fathers Bob Berson and Bob Dalton. They provided the role models that attracted him to Glenmary and influenced his decision to pursue missionary priesthood.

The Glenmary mission of Father Ray’s youth dates back to the very early days of Glenmary, when Father Bishop sent two of Glenmary’s first four priests to Pond Creek, Ohio. Pond Creek was one of a cluster of missions that Glenmary established in southern Ohio during the early 1940s. And even though no Catholic church endured in this particular mission community, one of its early sons was inspired there to respond to the home mission challenge. Father Ray Orlett joined Glenmary in 1951.

Another southern Ohio mission, Holy Trinity in West Union, was the home parish of Father Les, his parents and 11 brothers and sisters. He recalls carrying mortar for his father and Father Bill Smith when they were building the mission church. In his early teens, Father Les inquired about serving as a missionary in Africa—“where I thought there was the greatest need,” he says. But he was not accepted for health reasons. Father Bill encouraged him to consider that the Lord was calling him to the home missions. “And after all these years, I’m still here,” says Father Les, who joined Glenmary in 1957.

As you know, Glenmary’s mission is to go into counties that have few Catholics and high poverty rates with the goal of establishing a Catholic presence. To date, Glenmary has returned 95 developed parishes to their respective dioceses for continued care, and we are currently working in 50 additional missions and ministries. We hope our work will be an invitation to other young men—like John Paul—to consider a missionary vocation and to join the ranks of “home-grown home missioners.”

I thank you for your continued prayers for an increase in vocations and invite you, once again, to make a gift today. Your financial support helps us provide quality education and formation for John Paul and for our other nine Glenmary students. Your support also keeps our missioners in the field where, even today, some young man—in West Liberty, Ky., or Pontotoc, Miss., or Idabel, Okla.—may be considering a missionary vocation because of the example set by his pastor: Father Jerry Dorn, or Father Tim Murphy or Father Chet Artysiewicz.

Please pray that the new life of Easter continues to be proclaimed in the life and ministry of all our missioners—and in those who are in serious discernment for Glenmary priesthood and brotherhood. And be assured we are remembering you in our prayers.