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March 1, 2024The world premiere of Radiating Joy: The Michelle Duppong Story was shown simultaneously in two North Dakota locations on January 25, the day that would have been Servant of God Michelle Christine Duppong’s 40th birthday.
At the University of Mary, a dinner at the Crow’s Nest cafeteria was hosted prior to the movie. Three rooms were set up to accommodate the over 1,000 people who came, including Michelle’s parents Ken and Mary Ann and sister Renae. Michelle was a FOCUS missionary team leader at UMary’s inaugural year for FOCUS on their campus 2010-2011, the last of her six years at four colleges as a FOCUS missionary.
The movie was also shown at the North Dakota State University’s St. Paul Newman Center in Fargo. Michelle graduated in horticulture at NDSU and was very involved at the Newman Center just as all her five siblings were.
The National Denver office of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students, a Catholic outreach program for college students) hired Anderson Art Productions to document Michelle’s life through interviews with loved ones. She also appears in the movie herself in several videos including one she made to promote the first Thirst Eucharistic conference in Bismarck, an event that she began while serving as the director of adult faith formation for the Bismarck Diocese beginning in 2012.
Michelle had noted that the first Thirst conference in 2013 was an opportunity to get closer to Jesus. “As He was dying on the cross, he said, ‘I thirst,’ and that thirst is He thirsts for each of our souls; He wants us to be with Him forever in heaven.”
Memories and images gleaned from 30 hours of interviews recreated Michelle’s life from her vivacious girlhood on the windswept prairie of their Haymarsh farm (40 miles from Bismarck) to the cancer diagnosis on December 29, 2014, and passing away at age 31 on December 25, 2015. An earlier 50-minute movie about Michelle had been made as a training video for FOCUS volunteers, but this 75-minute movie is 90% new material.
Memories of Michelle
Monsignor James Shea, University of Mary President, explained prior to the showing, “We are constantly trying to inspire our students to embrace a life of deep faith and joy and Michelle brings that home for them. Her example helps us to begin to embrace difficulties in our own lives. Our stories are very different from hers, but all of us in our own way are called to embrace our crosses and share the faith. This film is a how-to manual to inspire sanctity. Michelle made holiness real.”
Fellow Focus Missionaries and students Michelle had encountered shared their memories. Here are a few:
“She had a deep joy that was contagious.”
“She was not all pious walking around with a halo over her head. Michelle was a goofball. She was also natural at invitation.”
“She saw something in me and that’s why I’m here, that’s why I’m a priest.”
“I was afraid of religious life [becoming a nun]. Michelle recognized my call to religious life.”
“She had such a strong and lasting impact on my conversion.”
Michelle’s last year
It was in the fall of 2014 when Michelle learned she had ovarian cysts. On December 29, surgery to remove them revealed stage 4 cancer. Her sister, Renae, who had a degree in nursing, accompanied Michelle through the next 12 months full of surgeries and hospital stays, until she went home for hospice and died on Christmas day in 2015.
Mary Ann explained that Michelle had much to endure that last year. “The pain she had from the tubes,” she said, “doctors admitted she would feel it with every breath.”
“It was torture for us just thinking about it,” Ken recalled. “For her, she just accepted it. There was a better purpose for this.”
Renae revealed, “In the last three months of Michelle’s life, I could see this radical abandonment. Whenever people came to see her, she did not want to focus too much on herself but to the other person in front of her…. She became a well-known figure at the hospital.”
Medical director of the cancer care center in Chicago where Michelle was last cared for, Dr. Leo Taiberg, shared, “We prayed all the time. They knew I was not religious or the same faith. She would put out her hands and say, ‘Let’s pray.’ Someone like Michelle is the example of a soul who always sees the good in everyone.”
Cause for canonization
Toward the end of the movie are scenes from the All Saints Day Mass on Nov. 1, 2022 at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck, where Bishop Kagan officially opened Michelle’s cause for canonization. Once the lengthy diocesan investigation is complete, it will be forwarded to the cause for beatification and canonization to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican in Rome. If approved, it will proceed from there for possible beatification and canonization.
Bishop Kagan explained that even after Michelle died, she remained alive in the hearts of many as her reputation continued to spread. Cards and letters began arriving at the Bismarck Diocese with personal testimony. He shared one of the dramatic stories.
“One person was pretty clear of describing her own cancer diagnosis. She prayed every day to Michelle and asked her intercession for a cure or at least to have the courage to bear the illness.”
The woman had an MRI done but the results baffled the doctor who asked if she was willing to do it again. “The doctor said: ‘I can’t explain this. I compared your last MRI with cancer that was continuing to progress. I can’t find any evidence of cancer now. I’d like you to come back in three weeks.’ She did come back and was still cancer free. ‘Your cancer was not responding to our treatments,’ the doctor said. ‘Now I can’t find any cancer anywhere. This is a miracle.’”
“Michelle would not have wanted all the attention,” Bishop Kagan noted, “but what she always wanted to do is really happening—holding up her life to draw people to Christ.”
Family reaction
Her parents, Ken and Mary Ann, expressed their thoughts following the movie. “The movie brought tears to my eyes,” Ken said. “We didn’t realize a lot of things she was doing at the time. Seeing that is getting to know her even more through others. Her goal was to bring people to Jesus and introduce them to Him and He would do the rest. It’s amazing to see that happening.”
“We’re so grateful at all the people who came out tonight,” Mary Ann said, “and what the University of Mary and people involved in the cause are doing for her to get the message out. It is a message of hope, and this is what Michelle wanted. Her whole thought was, ‘Don’t worry about what lies ahead. Realize there’s hope, and in the end, love wins; God wins; it’s His plan.
The movie was shown in a few select theaters during February in Denver, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. FOCUS is looking at opportunities for a full theatrical release as well as streaming options. Once plans are determined, it will be announced.
The guild
Earlier in the process, a group was established associated with Michelle’s cause known as the Servant of God Michelle Duppong Guild. It consists of individuals tasked with promoting an awareness of Michelle’s life. They have recently launched a website at michelleduppongcause.org. There is also a new email available to report a favor associated with Michelle at [email protected].