Of Francesca Pollio Fenton

CNA staff, November 12, 2024 / 06:00

Servant of God Michelle Duppong was 31 years old when she died of cancer on December 25, 2015.

A young woman full of joy and a fire for the Lord, she was born in Colorado and raised on her family’s farm in North Dakota, after which she served as a missionary for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) before becoming the director of the adult department . faith formation for the Diocese of Bismarck.

Duppong’s inspiring life has now been documented in a film that will be released for one day only in theaters across the country on November 12 called “Radiant Joy: Michelle Duppong’s Story.”

The documentary features actual video footage of Duppong throughout her life up until the moment she died, and includes commentary from her parents, siblings, friends, co-workers and Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in North Dakota , who worked with Duppong to establish FOCUS at the university.

CNA spoke with Jessica Navin, the film’s executive producer and spiritual formation manager for FOCUS, and Stephany Anderson, senior operations manager for FOCUS alumni, about Duppong and the film.

Navin explained that the inspiration for the documentary came from internal videos created for FOCUS staff on the virtues using Duppong as a model. A team from FOCUS went to Duppong’s home in North Dakota to interview some of her friends and family, but while they were there, more and more people reached out wanting to share their stories about Duppong .

“We ended up getting 30 hours of video testimony,” Navin said.

With this content, a 45-minute documentary was made for FOCUS staff about missionary discipleship. Shortly after the documentary was shown to FOCUS staff, Bishop David Dennis Kagan officially opened the cause for Duppong’s canonization on November 1, 2022.

“We realized we could no longer share Michelle’s story with our staff. We had to share it with the world, so we partnered with Anderson Arts to create the current documentary, “Radiating Joy: The Michelle Duppong Story.”

Both Navin and Anderson knew Duppong personally. Anderson met Duppong when he was a freshman at South Dakota State University (SDSU). It was the first year that FOCUS was on the SDSU campus. Anderson, who had just attended a FOCUS conference, was on fire and wanted to know the Lord more deeply.

Duppong invited Anderson into her “discipleship chain”—a term used in FOCUS to describe when a missionary “disciples” several other students and teaches them how to teach others about the faith. Anderson was part of Duppong’s apprenticeship his freshman and sophomore years.

Anderson recalled visiting Duppong’s family home to take part in what was called “the Duppong experience”. The small group of students four-wheeled around the farm, attended Mass at St. Clement Catholic Church—a small, old church that Duppong loved—and spent time together.

“It was simple and beautiful and life-giving,” Anderson recalled.

Of all the memories she has of her time with Duppong, Anderson shared that the one thing she carries in her heart “is her laughter. I say my name and laugh. It was actually pretty special to watch the documentary and they have audio clips of her and it made me cry to hear her voice.”

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Navin spent a year working with Duppong at FOCUS before Duppong worked for the Diocese of Bismarck. However, even that year, Duppong left a lasting impact on Navin.

Navin said that when Duppong was ill, he contacted her asking her to pray with her before a major surgery in which Duppong’s uterus was to be removed.

Attesting to her incredible grace in suffering, Navin said, “She was certainly an example to me of incredible holiness both in ordinary life, but also in the extraordinary confidence she showed in the midst of her suffering.”

Anderson was also a witness to these incredible qualities in their friend. She told CNA about a dance that was put on for Duppong (who loved to dance) a few months before she died. A school gym was packed with people waiting to see Duppong, but no one was sure if she would make it, as she was in severe pain from her battle with cancer until then.

“She comes and sits in her chair and greets this endless line of us who want to take a moment with her. And with every person she’s responsive and she’s smiling and she’s so loving and she’s been my Michelle that I’ve known for the past few years,” Anderson said. “Even in the midst of so much pain and so much discomfort; it wasn’t about her.”

“As soon as I went up to her to hold her hand, I couldn’t say anything because it broke my heart to see someone I loved so much suffering so much and she said, ‘Oh , Stephanie, how are you? And she did that with every person who came near her.”

Both Navin and Anderson emphasized what a great role model Duppong can be, especially for young people.

“She went to school, she was exposed to technology like all of us, she had to do chores,” Anderson said. “For an average person today, living right now, who is young right now, she has been exposed to many of the same things that I am, has lived a similar life, and found in that life a path to heaven and to Lord, and she had a special love for her fellows who were searching for what is truth and who is God and what am I made for?”

Navin added: “I think today, in our digital age, we see evangelists on YouTube and think, ‘Oh, I could never do that.’ And yet, we are all called to fulfill the great mission. And so, every young person has the same call to bring people to Jesus. And when I see Michelle’s example, she was an ordinary person and evangelized through friendship.”

“And for young people, but for all people, they can also look at Michelle’s example and say, ‘I don’t need to have a degree in theology and I don’t need to have a YouTube channel to bring people more almost to Jesus. I can be their friend, walk with them on their journey and tell them what Jesus has done in my life and then teach them to teach others to do the same.

As for what he hopes people will take away from the documentary, Navin emphasized two things: “That holiness is accessible to every person—holiness is nothing but being open to God. Saying “yes” to God… And the second thing is that we are all called to evangelize and it doesn’t have to be hard. It can be as simple as reaching out in friendship to another person and telling them what Jesus has done in your life.”

Anderson said he hopes that “people who haven’t yet heard that they were made for heaven, I hope it pierces their heart. That they hear, if they haven’t yet, for the first time, and believe it—that they were made for intimacy with the Lord, and it is possible for them.”

“For those who heard this, I hope they hear that their role in this life is to share this with others and bring as many souls as possible with them to heaven, and that we are all called to evangelize.”

Francesca is the Social Media Manager for the Catholic News Agency. She received her degree in Communications with an emphasis in Digital Media from the University of Colorado – Denver.