We invite readers to send short stories about the ways in which their lives have been personally blessed by the life and work of priests and religious in our diocese.

By Karina Fabian

In his life, Father Victor “Vic” Langhans has helped America reach the lifeless moon and college students understand life on Earth. Now, he’s concerned with the spiritual life of his parishioners.

Father Vic’s experiences span the globe and reach beyond. Raised in an Air Force family, he has lived all over the United States, in Japan and in Germany. He attended Georgia Tech, where he got a degree in physics, and was subsequently hired by NASA. From 1967 to 1972, he worked at Kennedy Space Center on the Saturn/Apollo project as a measurement and instrumentation engineer. He never met the astronauts, who were under quarantine at Kennedy, but he did get to see most of the launches.

After Kennedy, he turned his mind to something more down to earth, studying plant pathology at Mississippi State University where he got his Ph.D., then teaching and doing research at Montana State University. While in Bozeman, his mind turned toward the spiritual. “A vocation was something I’d considered off and on, and as I became more involved in church there, I finally felt that was what God was calling me to,” he said. He was ordained in 1984.

Father Vic served as associate pastor for Little Flower Parish in Browning for three years. In 1987, he became associate pastor in St. Mary’s in Helena for a year, then moved to St. Helena Cathedral for two years. In 1990, he took a four-month position at Holy Rosary in Bozeman, then moved to Frenchtown/Alberton/Superior, where he was pastor for 10 years. While there, he helped build the new church in Alberton. In 2000, he moved to St. Matthew’s in Kalispell.

Life as a priest is very different, yet very rewarding, he believes. Life is much busier, even compared to the scramble to get and keep an American presence in space. Life, too, was more predictable then than now, he said, but there are compensations.

He has a particular love for homilies. “When I went to the seminary, I got my master’s in scripture. I’ve always loved the scripture and God has always given me good homilies. There are lessons in them I need to learn,” he said.

Life as a priest means a lot of moving, something he’s well-accustomed to after growing up in the Air Force. Even while in Germany, his family lived on three different bases, and by the time he was 13, he’d lived at 14 different addresses.

However, he’s hoping that he will be allowed to remain at St. Matthew’s for a long time.

“In Frenchtown was the longest I’d ever lived in one place, so that holds a special place for me. I’ve spent my whole life moving, and I think parishes generally need long-term pastors. It’s healthier for parishes and for diocese,” he said.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 22, No. 10, October 20, 2006.