This past week I had the privilege of speaking at a banquet in Seattle marking the golden jubilee of Archbishop Alex Joseph Brunett, Archbishop of Seattle and eighth Bishop of Helena.

Archbishop Brunett is a man who has served the Church for five decades as priest and pastor, scholar and ecumenist, Bishop and Archbishop. He is a man whose unique and moving life story is not widely known within Church circles or by the public at large.

Archbishop Brunett’s call to priesthood reflects the wisdom found in the Code of Canon Law that states “a duty rests upon the entire Christian community to foster vocations.”

Parents and parish priests have a special responsibility to share the duty of the Diocesan Bishop to promote and foster vocations to ecclesial lay ministry and ordained life, so that the needs of the entire Church may be met.

The fostering of priestly vocations is particularly important for the life of the Church.

Alexander Joseph Brunett was born on January 17th, 1934, on the cusp of the Great Depression. He hailed from a very poor family and grew up at a time where jobs and dollars were scarce, and the promise of the New Deal had not yet yielded its promised fruits. His father, Raymond, was a plumber by trade and accustomed to long hours and back-breaking labor. His mother, Cecelia, was a faith-filled woman who immersed herself in the vocation of motherhood, nurturing the 14 sons and daughters born into this marriage. She filled the home with love, laughter, music and grace.

Although his parents were not able to provide him with material benefits, they gave young Alex and his 13 siblings a solid foundation in life – belief in self, single-minded love of Christ and the Church, and the capacity not only to dream, but to dream big.

William Butler Yeats wrote words that capture poetically what young Alex discovered at a tender age – “But I, being poor, have only my dreams … tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”

In his childhood, Alex Brunett dreamed of one day becoming a priest, and experienced the call of Christ very early in his life. His vocation was highly influenced by the example and dedication of his parish priests.

Alex Brunett, the seminarian, learned early in life that every limitation and obstacle could be overcome by faith in God, intestinal fortitude, tenacity and pugnacity if the situation merited.

During his pivotal years of seminary formation, he was received tenderly by a second mother, a surrogate mother as it were, described by Pope John XXIII in personal and endearing language, “The Church is mother and teacher … giving life to her children and teaching them and guiding them with maternal care.” The Archdiocese of Detroit played a catalytic and maternal role, calling forth and developing the remarkable gifts and talents found in this young man.

As his second mother, the Church of Detroit was demanding, unrelenting and indefatigable, proving the truth found in Sacred Scripture that “to those who have been given much, much will be expected.”

The Church of Detroit continually raised the bar and challenged her son, Alex, to meet the Church’s ever-increasing pastoral needs, expectations and demands.

At a time of enormous ecclesial and societal change, John Cardinal Deardon of Detroit instructed the newly ordained Father Brunett to secure advanced degrees in secondary school administration and doctoral studies in theology at Marquette University.

As scholar and theologian, Father Brunett helped guide the Archdiocese in its effort to carry out the mind and mission of the Second Vatican Council.

Unrelenting in her challenges to this young priest, the Archdiocese not only appointed Father Brunett to serve as founding pastor of a new parish, but also assigned him to lead pioneering efforts in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, efforts that have continued on the international level right up to the present day.

On July 6th of 1994, Monsignor Alex J. Brunett was ordained to the episcopacy and installed as the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Helena. Three years later he was once again confronted with a new and complicated challenge when he was appointed by Pope John Paul II to serve as Archbishop of Seattle, where he has led a dynamic and complex Archdiocese with nearly three quarters of a million Catholics.

Archbishop Brunett’s remarkable vocation story is instructive to all of us as we seek ways to propagate vocations to priestly life and ministry in the Diocese of Helena.

Our responsibilities are rooted in the conviction that God continues to plant the seeds of priestly life abundantly in the hearts and minds of the men he is calling to serve as priests.

The role of parents and families is indispensible in the vocations process, where Catholic families have a special duty to recognize and cultivate the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of their sons.

So, too, the pastors of the Church have a profound responsibility to awaken and nourish vocations to priesthood in the lives of the parish youth and young adults, remembering the words of Albert Schweitzer that “example is not the main thing in life, it is the only thing.”

Finally the Diocesan Bishop and those deputed to assist in the promotion and support of seminary life have the ongoing responsibility to create a climate where the seeds of priestly life can germinate, flourish and bear fruit.

The Diocese of Helena, too, will keep the bar high, and demand much from its seminarians so that their human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral development will yield a harvest of plenty for the people they will be ordained to serve.

This autumn the Diocese of Helena will enroll 13 men into preparation for priestly life and ministry. While this number is strong for a small Diocese, we will remain unrelenting in our efforts to identify, support and assist those who are discerning a call to priesthood.

Blessed John XXIII stated what I feel deeply in my heart as I share this important responsibility with all of you as we seek ways together to provide priestly life and ministry for our people throughout the Diocese of Helena. “I belong to a Church that is alive and young and that is carrying on her work fearlessly into the future.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 7, July 18, 2008.