The following article first appeared in the October 2003 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter.  For more information about becoming a Boost-A-Month member, call 1-800-935-0975 or contact Father Dominic Duggins.

At the start of each work day, Father Dominic gathers with Development Office staff for prayer and to share the readings of the day.

Many Glenmary missioners care for more than one mission. Some extend their ministry to as many as three or four. But Father Dominic Duggins, through his ministry as director of Glenmary’s development office, helps care for all Glenmary’s missions by guiding Glenmary’s fundraising and donor relations programs.

“My ministry is to reach out to donors, foundations and organizations and tell them of the spiritual and material needs of our missions—hopefully getting them to help support our work,” Father Dominic says. “My ministry is to get them as excited about Glenmary’s work as I am.”

As a mission pastor in Oklahoma and Georgia, Father Dominic’s work was shaped by the five facets of Glenmary’s home mission ministry: nurturing Catholics, evangelizing the unchurched, working ecumenically, reaching out to the poor and connecting the local mission parish to the Universal Church.

Today, Father Dominic’s work is to make sure his fellow missioners can carry on this important mission ministry and continue to build up vibrant Catholic church communities across Mission Land, USA. He shares the stories of Glenmary missioners and their mission work in letters to Glenmary supporters and in the many mission appeals he gives each year in parishes throughout the United States.

“I appreciate and value my time in the missions,” Father Dominic says. “And I miss interacting with people in our parishes.” But those experiences in the field provide the framework for his ministry today. They help him understand the needs of the home missions and deepen his commitment to “find ways to financially support our priests, brothers and coworkers and their ministries, as well as to encourage and challenge them in their ministries.”

Although Father Dominic had no formal development experience before taking on the position of development director in 1999, he believes—and others confirm—that he and the development job are a good fit. “I attribute that to the grace that I’ve asked for,” Father Dominic says. “Coming in, there was a lot I didn’t know, but we have good people working for Glenmary, and together we’ve been able to forge a direction.”

This has been a busy year for Father Dominic. In addition to being involved in long-range planning and the day-to-day work of the Development Office, he has had to add another ministry to his business card—that of leadership. He was elected second vice-president of the society in April 2003, adding more administrative responsibilities to his already busy schedule and more travel on official visits to missions and missioners throughout the year.

“Visiting missioners as a member of our leadership team will give me the opportunity to talk to the men, listen and give encouragement by letting them know how much their work is valued,” Father Dominic says. “Plus, I’ll have even more opportunities to see firsthand the work our donors are making possible so I can provide better reports on the amazing work being accomplished in the missions.” Thus he sees his two positions playing off one another—with each feeding his enthusiasm for his work.

Over the summer, Father Dominic traveled to Texas, New Jersey, Michigan, California and Kentucky for mission appeals. The people he meets tell him that, prior to his talk, they did not realize the extent of the poverty that still exists in this country. Many also express amazement that there are still so many counties in the United States with no Catholic presence. “They ask how they can do more and that’s very affirming,” he says.

Many times people tell him about how they heard a Glenmarian speak years before and, because of the impression he made, they continue to support Glenmary today. That support comes in large and small ways.

This last summer during a mission appeal, a woman handed him an envelope after Mass. “She apologized that she couldn’t do more,” he remembers. When he opened the envelope, he found $1.55 in change. “I was humbled to think what a sacrifice that donation to Glenmary must have meant.”

He reports a great sense of humility and gratitude for having been put in the positions he holds today. “God has been incredibly good to me,” he insists.

Father Dominic identifies the most important part of each day as the time he spends in prayer and reflection, praying the Rosary and breviary. “That quiet time in our chapel is such a life-sustaining thing for me. These moments of prayer and contemplation remind me that, in my work with donors, I can only plant seeds. Then I must step back and allow God to nourish and bring those seeds to fruition.”

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