JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES MINISTRY

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES MINISTRY

Fr. Dan Gagnon

Dear Everybody,

I have been asked by a friend of mine, Fr. Dan Gagnon, to present a request for help with his ministry to Jehovah's Witnesses. Fr. Dan lives and works in Mexico City, and has put together a very successful ministry aimed at presenting the true faith to those who have become JW's. He's the first Catholic I know of to have done this. Anyhow, he has given me a list of libraries containing JW books and magazines in foreign languages. He is building a collection of JW literature in many languages, since one of the most useful tools for dealing with JWs is their own printed material. Here are some excerpts from a recent letter:

(Fr. Dan says:)

I am sending you, as I mentioned, the list of the foreign-language-More-Watchtowers that I got through the interlibrary loan office at Texas University. . . . The idea is to communicate with Catholics living near the respective libraries so that they could obtain a photocopy of the book. (Or better convince the library to trade for other better religious books!) The best thing is to photocopy the entire book including cover and advertisements which help in evangelizing JW's. I would be willing to pay the copying expenses. Have the photocopies (or the books themselves) sent to my Maine address [I'll provide this at the end of this message—Cathy]. It would help a note from them so I could know what we are getting. The titles of some of the books are not known, but if they look under Rutherford, Joseph Franklin or Russell, [Charles Taze], or Watchtower Bible and Tract, they should have no problems. Also, there may be more books in a library than I have listed since not all the books are put on interlibrary-loan computer. There also may be libraries (especially smaller ones) that are not part of the program. . . .

(End quote)

I have listings for the following states and countries:

California—Univ. of Calif. at Berkeley/Bancroft; East L.A. County Library; L.A. Central Public Library Downtown.

Canada—Nat'l Library of Canada, Ontario

Colorado—Denver Public Library

Connecticut—Central Conn. State Library, New Briton

Hawaii—Univ. of Hawaii at Honolulu

Illinois—Northwestern U. at Evanston, IL.

Indiana—Versterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Decorah, IN

Massachusetts—Boston Public Library; Widener Library, Harvard U.; Brandeis U.

Michigan—Saginaw Valley State U., Univ. Center, MI.

Minnesota—Univ. of Minnesota at Minneapolis; St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN; Concordia College, St. Paul, MN.

New York—New York Public Library, NYC; SUNY at Buffalo; SUNY at Binghamton.

Ohio—Kent State, Kent, OH; Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH.

Pennsylvania—Balk Institute of Ethics, Philadelphia

South Carolina—Univ. of S.C., Columbia; Clemson U.

Texas—Univ. of Houston

Virginia—UVA at Charlottesville

Washington, D.C.—Library of Congress

If you think you can help, please let me know and I will send you the titles in which he's interested. The address to send any materials you may happen across is:

Fr. Dan Gagnon
c/o Mr. Normand Gagnon
12 Marblehead Lane
Biddeford, ME 04005

Thanks!

Cathleen A Koenig