Rev. William Howard Bishop

Rev. William Howard Bishop

Today marks the 60th Anniversary of the death of Rev. William Howard Bishop, founder of Glenmary Home Missioners. Ten years ago, Glenmary published a beautiful remembrance of Father Bishop, which can still be found on our website.   

Some of my favorite quotes from our founder are the following:

‘There was never a time when missionary activity was more needed in our beloved land than it is today.’

‘The one great central thought that brought our Society into existence in these unfavored regions was the fact that these regions, of all others in America, are, generally speaking, the least supplied with and the most in need of Christ’s Church and the means of propagating it.’

‘We are ministering to overlooked and forgotten people. Our quest for the neglected and forgotten takes us out beyond the boundaries of where the Church is at present established and obliges us to enter new lands where the Church is unknown, to settle down in these new lands, and build up Catholicity from the ground.’ 

‘Love the poor, the sick and helpless, and attend to them. They are God’s influentials. They are his aristocrats. He loves them. If you are known in your community as the contact for all the poor and unfortunate of the place, you could not have a more honorable title on earth or one that would make you more welcome in the courts of Heaven.’