A Reflection from “Michelle Duppong” by Patti Armstrong and Stephanie Parks

Who Is Michelle Duppong?

How would you describe Michelle Duppong — What made her so special? By all accounts, Servant of God Michelle Duppong grew up on a farm; she studied horticulture and loved plants; she had many friends and often traveled to visit them; she loved four-wheeling, pizza, and dance parties. More than anything, she loved North Dakota and the quiet simplicity of her family’s farm.

However, in the midst of living her ordinary life, Michelle made a beautiful discovery: the love of Jesus Christ reaching out to her in every moment. Through a family life rich in traditions of the Faith and to a vibrant Catholic college community, Michelle grew in her understanding of Jesus’ great love for the world and for her, personally and uniquely. And as she grew in this love, she desired for others to know it as well—not just to know facts about the Catholic Faith or to perform the actions someone who believes in God ‘should’ complete, but a deep participation in knowing and being known by Love itself.

This desire led her to begin to make a gift of herself to her own small corners of the world; little by little pouring out her time and energy to introduce people to Jesus Christ, the love of her life. By the time she was working at the Diocese of Bismarck at the age of thirty, she gave talks about the love of God and organized conferences, parish missions, and pilgrimages to help people grow in their faith. But still, her greatest joy was living in the ordinary with the people she loved—the picnic on the farm overlooking the fields at sunset, or the conversation about prayer with friends while on a road trip.

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On December 1, 2014, Michelle published this reflection for Advent in the Dakota Catholic Action diocesan newspaper.

As the season of Advent begins, the activities in our lives shift into a mode of preparation. We start whipping together the Christmas goodies, pulling out the Christmas and winter decorations, and shopping begins for the presents on our ever-growing Christmas lists.

It’s a joyous time, but do you ever feel like it’s just too much?. . . This year, how about rather than purchasing presents to give to others, we focus on giving ourselves to the people we love—giving the gift of our presence. . . .

None of us know how much time we will be given, so let’s make the moments we have with our loved ones really count this Christmas season.

Twenty-eight days later, after a Christmas holiday spent with her beloved family, Michelle was unexpectedly diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given two months to live. She was just thirty years old. The two-month prognosis turned into one year of suffering. She died on Christmas Day, 2015, at the age of thirty-one.

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For those who knew and loved Michelle, her death represented a shocking and unimaginable loss. Especially in her last few years of life, Michelle’s faith grew stronger and brighter, following a pathway to holiness that with each passing day became more and more extraordinary. She suffered greatly, yet that suffering seemed to transform her into something, someone, deeper.

Many of those who knew her described how talking to Michelle made anyone feel like the only person in the world—she was that intentional and aware of the present moment. They described Michelle’s passion for evangelization and her zeal for people to know Jesus more deeply—not in a way that was pushy or awkward but in a truly genuine desire for people to understand how deeply they are loved and how, surely, they were created for eternal life. They described watching Michelle pray with striking intensity. And they described the way, in the midst of significant suffering throughout cancer treatment, that Michelle chose not to close up within herself but continued to show great love and care to all who accompanied her—friends, priests, doctors, nurses, and even to strangers and anyone around her.

Michelle’s way of living companionship with Christ left a profound impact on those around her. In the final months of her sickness, thousands of cards and letters arrived at the Duppong farm, forming heaps that covered the entire kitchen table. Michelle’s CaringBridge site, where the family posted updates of her journey, garnered over 230,000 views. After she passed, stories continued to surface about Michelle’s legacy and her impact on those who knew her, even if only for a brief moment.

On November 1, 2022, the feast of All Saints, Bishop Kagan of the Diocese of Bismarck, ND, announced the opening of the investigation into Michelle’s life and her cause for sainthood in the Catholic Church, just six and a half years after her death.

How did Michelle, an ordinary woman in the midwestern United States, come to know Jesus in such a transformative way? And how did her experience of illness become an experience of grace for so many who accompanied her during her suffering? Michelle’s life is an example of the hidden transformation of holiness that comes from accepting God’s will at each moment and being transformed by His mysterious love. Her ordinariness became her very path to holiness.

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