By Cathy Tilzey

Ed.: Two religious sisters who knew each other in St. Louis, Mo., and were in the same novitiate class for the Sparkill Dominicans, served at parishes and missions in the St. Ignatius area. They retired recently and moved back to St. Louis, where they reflected on their time in Montana. In this issue, Sister Dolores Shortal is featured. Sister Joan Bartin will be featured in the Sept. 18 edition.


Sister Dolores Shortal said she entered the novitiate right after graduating from high school in 1953. She made her first vows in 1955, and final vows in 1960. She attended college at St. Thomas Aquinas, the Sparkill Dominicans’ school in New York State, and was part of its first graduating class in 1958.

She received a degree in elementary education and taught elemetneray grades, was a parish minister, retreat and spiritual director. In 1989, she went to the Flathead Reservation to work with Sister Joan Bartin.

Sister Dolores said that her retirement was prompted by some health issues and St. Louis was a better place for her to live. She will rest up until the end of the year, then look for part-time or volunteer ministry.

Only a couple weeks back in St. Louis, she has received a call from a group called “Women of Wisdom” for religious women in their 70s who are in transition.

“I’m giving God a blank check” about the future, she said during a telephone interview.

She was still enthused by the celebration of the feast of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order, on Aug. 8. It gave her the opportunity to become re-acquainted with a number of religious sisters whom she had not seen for a long time, and with her nieces and nephews. Several of them helped her move into an apartment.

Asked if she has heard from friends and co-workers in Montana, she said she has already received calls from staff members at St. Ignatius Mission Church and two parishioners. “It was so nice to hear their voices.”

Sister Dolores is looking forward to retirement. Once she is settled into her apartment, she will have time for prayer. “Prayer connects me to the people I left behind,” she explained.

She has a lot of friends in religious life, and being retired will give her opportunities to see them in both Montana and her home state.

She said she misses God’s creation in Montana, the wonderful spirit of the people, and working on the reservation. “There is the joy of coming together and mixing with others. I love you and my heart is connected to you. I’ll always remember you,” she stated.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 25, No. 8, August 21, 2009.