Don Turbitt retired as a Renewal Ministries country coordinator three years ago, after nearly thirty years of service. Shortly before his retirement, Don was making more than eight trips to Europe and traveling just over one-hundred days each year, which was a pace he no longer felt comfortable maintaining. He had preached the Gospel in twenty-six countries, but most of his travel was to Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, Russia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus, repeatedly for twenty-five to thirty years.
Nevertheless, at age eighty-four, he continues to travel the world, bringing men closer to Christ through the Men of St. Joseph International (MOSJI). He is trying to shift the focus of his work to the US, primarily in New England, but he recently served with MOSJI in Latvia and England and is helping establish leadership in Africa, particularly Uganda, where MOSJI is experiencing tremendous growth. In fact, one Ugandan parish has eight-hundred MOSJI members and another has 350.
According to Don,
The men in our African chapters have been getting married in the Church, and they have been treating their wives better. Thirty couples were married in one Church during its first year with Men of Saint Joseph International. It’s making a spiritual difference in these people’s lives. Uganda has a lot of unemployment and alcoholism. Men are discouraged, but we’re starting to make a difference, and we’ve been invited to several more dioceses and five different countries.
Men’s Ministry
Don’s involvement with MOSJI began nearly fifty years ago, when a priest asked him to start a chapter in Rhode Island. Thanks to Don’s involvement, MOSJI has been officially recognized by the pope as an international ministry. He explained the importance of men’s ministry:
If you evangelize a teenager, sixteen percent of the families will follow him to church. If you evangelize a mother, sixty-four percent of the families will follow her to church. If you evangelize a father, ninety-two percent of the families will follow him to church. Evangelize men, and you’ll get the whole family. I’ve talked to bishops all around the world, and they almost never invest in men’s ministry. I tell them it’s where they will get the biggest profit.
At one point, Don cried out to the Lord about the difficulty getting men to commit to men’s ministry. The Lord answered him in a dream, saying, “I died and rose in three days—seventy-two hours. If men give me seventy-two hours a year, I’ll give them a resurrected life.” This means attending a two-hour meeting each month and one six-hour conference and weekend retreat annually. Don explained that the Old Testament even says that all the men in Israel needed to come together three times a year (Ex 34:23)—which equals seventy-two hours.
Don said, “Now, when a man says, ‘I don’t have time for this,’ I just say, ‘Can you give two hours a month to God?”
MOSJI encourages men to read both the Bible and the Catechism. Don wants men to read the whole Bible more than once—and then go deeper. At retreats, MOSJI leaders also pray over participants for the fullness of the Spirit, which Don said brings about real change in men’s lives and helps them persevere.
Personal Testimony
Don was raised Catholic, but points to the miraculous healing of his wife, Pat, from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) as a turning point. She was diagnosed in 1970, when the couple had three young children and a new house. According to Don, there was no treatment—only the expectation of imminent disability and death. Don bargained with God: He would go to Mass every day for one year, and the Lord would stop him from being a sinner and heal Pat.
Don managed to attend Mass daily, sometimes at 3 a.m., due to the timing of his shifts as a firefighter. After several months, the couple heard about Marian apparitions in Garabandal, Spain, and Don ordered a book about them. When the book arrived, Pat opened it, and a scapular fell on the floor. She picked it up and put it on—and an electric shock went through her. She felt a need to go to church and pray. She was on fire for prayer and excited about her faith. She started attending daily Mass with Don and their children.
A few weeks later, a group of thirteen doctors examined Pat but couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They said she was in remission—and she still is.
“That changes you,” exclaimed Don, who has continued to attend daily Mass for fifty-five years. “You can’t commit a mortal sin and go to Mass the next day, because you can’t go to Communion with a mortal sin on your soul. So, God healed my wife and stopped me from sinning!”
Shortly thereafter, Don and Pat began attending weekly prayer meetings. Don explained,
I had heard about crazy people who prayed in tongues and waved their hands, but I wasn’t going to do that. But after two people approached us in a row, we decided to go—and we were radically changed. A few weeks later, we went through a Life in the Spirit Seminar and were baptized in the Holy Spirit. That’s when I knew I had to spend the rest of my life serving the Lord.
The couple experienced another gift from God when they befriended a priest who had spent seventeen years of silence in a monastery. He was a biblical historian who taught the couple about the Desert Fathers, the saints, and everything he had read about during his years of silence.
“He was a tremendous mentor,” said Don, who has been blessed to have many holy mentors in his life. He and Pat began hosting a weekly prayer meeting and Bible study in their home. When the meeting grew to fifty people, they moved to the church—and soon, three-hundred people were regularly attending. Those numbers continued for twenty-five years. Don still hosts the meetings; about thirty-five people still attend regularly.
An Invitation and the Cross
In 1994, Don was asked to help run a School for Evangelization in Poland. For the next two years, Don’s wife, Pat, served there with him—and then the couple was invited to speak in Slovakia, Ukraine, and other countries.
Eventually, Renewal Ministries offered to help fund Don’s travels. When three Ukrainian bishops asked Renewal Ministries to come to their country, Peter Herbeck, who knew Don had worked in Ukraine, asked him to serve as the country coordinator there. Don soon added Poland, Slovenia, Belarus, and Russia to the list of countries he served for Renewal Ministries. For a long time, their ministry in Europe focused on healing from the wounds of Communism and speaking to people about God’s love.
Don and Pat traveled and spoke together until ten years ago, when their daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Pat was diagnosed with both breast and kidney cancer the next day. Their daughter lived for three years and passed away at age fifty-three. Pat underwent treatment and was healed of both cancers within a year.
“You’re never supposed to bury your children, but God has a plan,” Don said. “My daughter had experienced a conversion and was working with my wife, teaching and doing retreats and women’s days, before her diagnosis.”
A Different Kind of Retirement
Don described three keys that have kept his love for the Lord burning strongly: One, being mentored by amazing priests and being in community with good men. Two, seeing many signs, wonders, and miracles that led him to “always want more.” And three, finding the work of bringing people into a closer relationship with Jesus “powerful and rewarding.”
“As long as I’m capable, I want to serve the Lord,” he said. “It’s an honor to bring a deeper understanding of God’s love to people around the world. People are hungry, but you have to find them. That’s what Renewal Ministries has been doing all these years, and I want to do it through men’s ministry now. God’s not weary, He’s not tired, and He’s ready for revival.”
Learn more about Men of St. Joseph International here.
This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries’ October 2025 newsletter.
rmartin@renewalministries.net
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Don and Pat are an awesome, inspirational couple who have profoundly impacted my wife and I . It has been a true blessing knowing them!