By Karina Fabian

Mike Bloomdahl said he initially considered converting to Catholicism so that “people wouldn’t have to crawl over me on the way to Communion.” Now, as a permanent deacon at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Missoula, he not only gets to pass out Communion, but gets to deliver homilies, perform baptisms and even married his daughter and her fiancée last September.

“I got to walk her down the aisle then turn around and do the ceremony, which was really special for me,” he said.

Mike is the father of five and helping them learn about their faith helped him grow in his. “The religious education director made a plea for catechists and since we had three or four kids in the program, I felt I needed to help. My wife Julie wasn’t sure I had enough knowledge, but I thought I just had to stay a week ahead,” he said.

Then in 1992, the DRE asked if he would chaperone at World Youth Day in Denver. He agreed if Michelle, who was under the age for the trip, could go. “It was a good experience for her. It was a terrific experience for me. I got really, really on fire at the vigil and the Mass at Cherry Creek Park. I was overwhelmed by the fact that there were a million Catholics there worshipping from all over the world.

“And I don’t know if I was exhausted or tired, but I heard somebody say, ‘Come follow me,’ and no one was there, so I’ve been following in the best way I could.”

He approached his pastor who supported him in the deacon training program, and in 2000 he was ordained. His first duty as deacon was to baptize his niece. For the next two years, he would help out at church, conduct communion services in nursing homes, and occasionally preach while still working full-time at the Orange Street Food Farm, which he owned and managed.

In 2002, however, he sold his interest to his brother-in-law and began working full time as parish administrator at St. Francis Xavier. “I felt I was being called more and more to be part of the Church. In the secular world, I felt I was being pulled away from where I was going, like I was living two separate lives sometimes,” he said.

He said he very much enjoys his new job and that it’s not too different from managing a store, except one is focused on profit while the other on souls.

Naturally, a big influence in his life has been Julie, his wife of 33 years. A cradle Catholic, she’s been beside him on his faith journey, and particularly his deacon training. In fact, he calls her “deaconess” and believes she is just as qualified to be a deacon as he is. He said he depends on her for support, sanity checks when he’s tempted to work too hard, and to go over his homilies, which he feels is a special advantage.

Deacon Mike feels very privileged in his calling. “It’s a wonderful way to have a vocation. I get to be married with kids and have a job in the Church. God is great and life is good.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 23, No. 9, September 21, 2007.