Home Missioners of America

Glenmary Home Missioners (aka The Home Missioners of America) was founded in 1939 by Father William Howard Bishop, a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, to serve what he termed "No Priest Land, USA." At that time, he noted that more than one-third of the counties of the United States, mostly in Appalachia and the South, had no resident priest. Father Bishop foresaw that this area—then as populous as Canada, as large as Mexico and covering one-fourth of the United States—could be lost to the Church unless this vast priestless "home mission" area was recognized by and designated a specific ministry of the Church.

Father Bishop's initial dream has forged Glenmary's unique identity today as the only Catholic missionary organization working exclusively in the rural United States.

Who We Are

• A Catholic society of priests and brothers who, along with coworkers, are dedicated to serving the spiritual and material needs of people living in mission counties throughout Appalachia and the South.
• Home missioners who work exclusively within the United States and who are dedicated to bringing the Catholic Church to people who live in counties where the Church is not effectively present. 
  
  

Whom We Serve

• The Catholic minority, by establishing a Church presence in areas where frequently less than 1 percent of the total population are Catholic.
• The unchurched, by testifying to our faith in mission regions where a significant percentage of the people have no church affiliation.
• The poor, through our outreach and work for social justice in counties where the poverty levels are almost twice the national average. 

- See more at: http://www.glenmary.org