By Sr. Christine Gebel

As Our Lady’s Missionaries remember and celebrate our 60’th Anniversary this year it is only fitting that we include in our plans a visit to the area of Glengarry where we were founded.

We wanted this visit to emphasize our gratitude to the people of Glengarry for the ways in which they have supported us from our beginnings when we lived among them until now, and we decided to showcase Sr. Patricia Kay’s documentary, “A Man and His Dream” since most of the people interviewed in it still live in Glengarry and so many of the people there either still remember Fr. Dan themselves, or remember hearing stories about him.

We also wanted to visit a small plot of land that Fr. Dan had owned and deeded to OLM’s in his will.  Zoned as wetlands, we have now donated it to the Raisin River Conservation Authority in the hope that the land and the various species that call it home will be preserved and recognized as the special eco-system that they are.

Glenda McDonell and a committee of loyal friends of OLM’s assisted us with these plans and so much more.

On June 6, eight OLM’s headed for Glengarry. First, we gathered at the plot of land where the Raisin River Conservation Authority has erected a sign and a reporter from the local paper, The Glengarry News, took photos and interviewed a few OLM’s.

On Saturday and Sunday we showed the documentary in three places, St. Raphael’s, Williamstown, and Alexandria.  The documentary and we ourselves were warmly welcomed by the people everywhere we went and at each viewing, food and company were also enjoyed.

It was the weekend of Trinity Sunday and on Saturday evening, Fr. Bob MacDonald of St. Mary’s Parish in Williamstown spoke movingly in his homily of how we image the Trinity when we live and work in loving relationships with each other.

On Sunday morning, Bishop Paul-André Durocher, Bishop of the Alexandria-Cornwall Diocese presided at mass in the Alexandria Cathedral and also spoke of how we are meant to mirror the Trinity in our work and in our lives.

In each of the places we showed the documentary it seemed that the audience was very happy and proud of it.  Getting back in touch with the people who were such an important part of our beginning years helped me to realize that many of the good qualities that Our Lady’s Missionaries are said to possess must be qualities that we learned from them:  hospitality, generosity, warmth and concern.  From the beginning until now, the people of Glengarry continue to shower us with these, and we are grateful.