Michelle Duppong: Joyful Millennial & Servant of God

 

The transforming story of Michelle Duppong has become more well-known since the debut of documentary, Radiating Joy, last autumn. This millennial woman grew up on a farm in North Dakota, was a FOCUS missionary, and worked for the Diocese of Bismark. Everywhere she went, Michelle carried the joy of the Lord. 

 

For those of us in Arizona, a fellow Marana parishioner shared her personal experience of the Duppong family. Fifty-seven years ago, Cherie Daum met Mary-Ann Duppong, Michelle’s mother, in 1968 when they were freshmen together at College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. Cherie and Mary-Ann became friends during a highly transitional and stressful season of life. They were roommates for the next three years and during their shared internship in Chicago. “We always went to Mass together every Sunday and during the week,” recalled Cherie. “Mary-Ann has a beautiful voice, and she would play guitar and sing at Mass.” 

 

For the Duppong family, “the big thing was family support and the importance of religion in the family,” Cherie observed. “They just lived their faith all the time as a family. Mary-Ann talked about how they say the Rosary all the time and practice the First Friday and First Saturday devotions. I think that was instrumental in why Michelle was the way she was. I think that’s very important.” 

 

While serving as a FOCUS missionary, Michelle encouraged her fellow missionaries, “Give everything you’ve got because it might be the only chance to save that person’s soul; you have to show them the way.” 

 

Decades later, Cherie closely followed the story of her friend’s daughter, Michelle, who was diagnosed with stage four cancer at the age of 30. “When Michelle was initially diagnosed,” Cherie remembers, “she went to the Mayo Clinic first; they told her she had two months to live and there was nothing they could do. Then she went to Chicago to the Cancer Center of America; they did a major surgery and just took out all these organs. But in doing that, Michelle had a horrendous year of pain and agony. She was in and out of the hospital a lot.” 

 

As a patient, Michelle would notice every person who entered the room. She would simply ask them, “Would you pray with me?” This simple yet profound invitation touched countless hearts, including Cherie. “She was very much into spreading her faith with anyone who would walk into the room,” she said. “Michelle was a young person who was so great at evangelizing. That’s such a strength, because most people aren’t very good at that. She was just so open with her faith with anyone she saw. That’s a very specific example of her evangelizing, where I feel like a lot of people don’t do that.” 

 

Michelle suffered tremendously. “It was just so awful,” recalls Cherie. “That girl went through a living hell that year; it was horrible. They put a tube between her ribs so that every breath was painful. But Michelle never felt sorry for herself. She hoped for a miracle throughout the whole thing, thinking she would be healed.” By offering her pain to the Lord, it became redemptive suffering that refined Michelle so much so that, at the end of her life, even her family could see her transformation right before their eyes, from the virtuous young woman she was before, to a holy saint. 

 

In October of 2015, Michelle wrote a beautiful prayer that Cherie often reads at night. “She was very sick at this time,” said Cherie. “You can see her love of Jesus, her humility, and her love coming out. I feel like it’s a good insight into Michelle’s soul.” 

 

Just two months later, Michelle died on Christmas Day, which she had actually predicted. 

 

On June 16, 2022, the announcement was made that a formal inquiry would be made into Michelle’s life. On All Saints Day that year, Michelle was declared a Servant of God and her cause for canonization is currently underway. 

 

The impact of Michelle’s life and spirituality continues to unfold, beyond just her friends and family. Many people make a pilgrimage to Michelle’s grave, which is right by the Duppong family farm. Her parents, Mary-Ann and Kenny, are actively involved in sharing their daughter’s story of radiating joy and trusting God, even in the midst of unspeakable agony. 

 

Michelle Duppong was a millennial and a young adult. “Young adults are so important,” said Cherie. “They are the future of the Church.” Millennial saints like Michelle Duppong and Blessed Carlo Acutis can inspire current young adults in a special way, because they lived at the same time as young Catholics today. Both Duppong and Acutis were ordinary people who lived out their faith in extraordinary ways: something that every person is called to do.