A Glengarry welcome

Retracing congregational roots and experiencing warm hospitality

By Patricia Kay, O.L.M.
May/June 2008

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The traditional Glengarry farewell may well be legendary but last November Sr. Gwen Legault and Sr. Christine Gebel and I were privileged to experience a tremendous Glengarry welcome.

Srs. Patricia Kay, Gwen Legault and Christine Gebel during their visit to Glengarry, Ontario, to retrace their congregational roots and to speak on mission in churches and schools.

Following the meticulous planning and organization of Glenda McDonell of the Friends of Our Lady's Missionaries, we arrived in that famous eastern county of Ontario to do some retracing of our congregational roots and to speak on mission in a few schools and churches. It was in the town of Alexandria that Msgr. Dan Macdonald founded the congregation of Our Lady's Missionaries in 1949 and so we were returning to those very roots. And it was at St. Finnan's Cathedral that we were able to visit his grave.

Margaret Calbick writing about our visit in The Glengarry News of November 17, 2007, said: "Fr. Dan as we affectionately called him lives on in the minds of people who knew him as a man of astounding energy, ability and accomplishment." It was through Glenda that we were able to go to some of these very people in order to hear them reminisce about Fr. Dan and about the founding of his missionary community all those years ago. Msgr. R. Villeneuve, Msgr. D.B. Dougald, Mrs. Anna McBean, Mrs. Antoinette Valade, Bessie MacDonell, and Mrs. Cameron MacDonald all graciously recorded for me some of their memories of Fr. Dan as they knew him. These hopefully will form part of a short documentary about the early days of our founding, together with pictures of the churches and other buildings that are part of our history and still exist today.

While in Glengarry, Sr. Christine spoke at masses in Williamstown and Martintown, and Sr. Gwen spoke to classes at Iona Academy in St. Raphael's and at St. Finnan's School in Alexandria about our ministries. On a Sunday evening all three of us addressed a gathering of supporters of our Sisters at St. Mary's Parish Tea Room, Williamstown. Sr. Christine described her 15 years in the Philippines and her work with the Interfaith Forum for Peace, Harmony and Solidarity seeking to create dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Sr. Gwen told how she founded St. Francis School for the Deaf in Vandeikya, the first of its kind in all of Benue State, Nigeria. And she spoke of her joy in working with the handicapped. Having also spent many years in Nigeria, I shared my experience of working with Tiv young people in creating videos of biblical dramas and of AIDS awareness in the local language.

Questions followed about the many changes that have taken place in the congregation in recent years. "It's a big transition and our numbers are dwindling," said Sr. Gwen. "We accept and embrace this. There is a new spirituality today. It is the time of the lay people and they are doing such wonderful work."

At the meeting we met and spoke with many generous people of Glengarry who have supported our Sisters in our apostolates with so much fidelity and, yes, unconditional love over all the years since our founding.

While in Alexandria we enjoyed the hospitality of Sr. Kathryn Cameron and the Holy Cross Sisters. Returning to Toronto, we reflected with grateful hearts on the amazing Glengarry welcome we had experienced and will cherish.

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