The following article first appeared in the November 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.

Father Dennis Holly—Lafayette, Tenn.
First for Tennessee County: A Resident Pastor

There's a new face in Macon County, Tenn. In August 2003 Father Dennis Holly moved to the county seat, Lafayette, to become the first resident Catholic pastor. His first priority is visiting the 30-35 Catholic families in this county of 4,000 people.

“I want to listen and learn their expectations,” Father Dennis says. One expectation was actually a problem easily solved, he says. Parishioners wanted Mass to start on time.

Before Father Dennis moved to Lafayette, a priest in Lebanon, Tenn., served the community’s sacramental needs. Although the Mass time for Lafayette was listed as 11 a.m., Mass started much later since there is a 10 a.m. Mass in Lebanon—an hour’s drive away. Because of the uncertain Mass time, it was difficult for people to attend regularly. Father Dennis suspects this was one of the reasons for a large number of inactive Catholics in Macon County.

“My first Sunday in Lafayette, we had Mass at 8:30 a.m., and that seems to suit,” Father Dennis says.

Macon County has all the characteristics typical of Glenmary mission territory: There is very little Catholic presence and a large number of people belong to no church.

In Macon County nearly 75 percent of the population have no church affiliation. This ranks it as one of the most unchurched counties in the Diocese of Nashville where the overall percentage of those unclaimed by any church is 51.5 percent.

Macon County is just one of the new areas taken on by Glenmary in the past months. New counties in Arkansas and Georgia are also now being ministered to by Glenmary missioners. And, in the spring of 2004, missioners will begin work in several counties in eastern North Carolina.

“We think of the South as the Bible Belt,” Father Dennis says. “But a lot of people who identify themselves as Christian don’t attend churches, so they’re counted as ‘unclaimed.’ It really shows that there’s a great need for a mission presence here.”

As he has visited local Catholics, Father Dennis has learned that this 21-year-old congregation would like to expand their worship space. The current Holy Family church once belonged to a Church of God congregation.

This Protestant congregation couldn’t afford to construct an entire building, so they dug a basement and finished it as a church, intending to complete the above-ground structure when they had the resources.

The congregation dissolved, however, before the building was complete and subsequently sold the “basement church” to the Diocese of Nashville. With a twinkle in his eye, Father Dennis suggests that the church should be renamed “St. Calixtus,” which is the name of a large catacomb in Rome.

Father Dennis also pastors Glenmary’s mission in Scottsville, Ky., 20 miles from Lafayette. Although many Glenmarians pastor two or more missions, Father Dennis is in the unique position of serving missions in two different dioceses. While this doubles the number of diocesan meetings he must attend, he says that it provides a “cross-fertilization” since he knows what’s going on in both dioceses.

Holy Family has about 20 children in the parish religious education program. Upon arriving Father Dennis began an RCIA program, which has already attracted 13 people. “Ten of them are Catholic, so it’s also serving as an adult education program,” he points out.

The absence of a ministerial association in Macon County “kind of blows my mind,” Father Dennis says. Most of the churches in the county are Missionary Baptist, but there is a Methodist and a Church of Christ congregation.

“I’m told that the church communities get together a couple of times a year to plan a community Thanksgiving service,” he says. “But they don’t seem interested in any regular interaction.”

Although he would like to see a ministerial association formed in the future as part of Glenmary’s commitment to foster ecumenism, Father Dennis’s top priorities in Macon County are to visit with all of the Catholic families and to identify as many inactive Catholics as he can.

He has posted a list in church asking people to suggest times when he could visit. “So at least I know they’re the people who want to see me,” he says, adding that he’ll make phone calls to the others.

“This faith community in Macon County has shown a fidelity to the Catholic Church despite misunderstanding and prejudice and not a lot of Catholic presence in the area,” Father Dennis says. As a result: “The people in the church know each other and are genuinely concerned about each other.”

Dreaming about the future, Father Dennis would like to see Holy Family parishioners increase their outreach to the large population of unchurched people. “Not to make them Catholic,” he stresses, “but to make them aware of God’s presence.”

But for now, after his first few months in Tennessee, Father Dennis is moving step by step to listen to the people, learn what he can and reach out where he is able.

For current assignment