Football was the theme at the diocesan mission in Guatemala as staff there gathered on Feb. 6, Super Bowl Sunday, to celebrate the 84th birthday of Father Jim Hazelton.

A football signed by Carroll College football champions served as the centerpiece for a table with a birthday cake. Father Hazelton, who pastors the mission and faithfully follows the Carroll football team, wore one of his many Carroll tshirts. He graduated from the diocesan college in 1949.

When Father Hazelton returns to Helena for an annual visit, a mission fundraiser called “Hazy Day” takes place at the Cathedral of St. Helena. His birthday this month was dubbed “Hazy’s Day.”

For Father Hazelton, the day began like any other: before dawn. He laced up his hiking boots, donned his Carroll sweatshirt and a jacket, then walked around the mission property for half an hour.

The birthday celebration with cake was on his actual birthday of Feb. 6, but well wishers were ready with birthday greetings two days earlier at the school, three miles from the mission hub, that Father Hazelton established in 1996.

Sheila McShane, who directs the mission clinic, said donations for La Asuncion School or for Father Hazelton’s education projects would be an especially meaningful birthday gift as he embarks on his 84th year. Online giving is available through the diocesan website, www.diocesehelena.org.

Father Hazelton will celebrate 50 years in the priesthood, his golden jubilee, on May 27.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 27, No. 2, February 18, 2011.