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

Who’d have thought that an invitation to join a church softball league would result in a home run for the Church? But that’s how it happened for Father Greg Lively, who was ordained in 2001 and is now serving at St. William Parish in Shelby.

Father Lively had what many of the post-Vatican II generation would consider a typical upbringing in the faith. His family went to church regularly, but he was educated in the public school system. His parents ensured he received the sacraments of baptism, reconciliation and confirmation, but confirmation at 13 was considered a “graduation” of sorts from religious education. As he grew older, he strayed away from the faith.

When he moved to Kalispell, working at the lumber re-manufacturing mill, he joined the church softball league as much for companionship as anything, but after awhile, slipped away from that, too. Then he saw some of his old teammates at the store and they invited him back.

“What struck me was that they were anticipating a great season and wanted me to be a part of it. I’m an OK player, but not such a great asset that they needed me. They just wanted to share the experience with me.”

He rejoined the team, then started going to Mass, lenten suppers and finally a Cursillo weekend. “I was ‘persuaded’ to attend by Father ‘Bud’ Strom,” he remembered. “But on that weekend, I fell in love with the faith again.”

It was the first time he’d felt God’s mediated presence, he said, and it got him committed to understanding God’s faith and living it better. It was the beginning of a calling that led him, seven months later, to discuss the priesthood with Father Strom. Even so, it was a year and a half before he decided to attend Carroll College, and then the seminary in Mount Angel, Ore. “It takes a lot to get a commitment out of me, but when I commit, I stay with it,” he said.

Even in college and seminary, he found himself inspired by the example of others. He especially remembers one freshman whose example spurred him to volunteer at a local soup kitchen. “I’d been looking at doing it for a while, but when I saw her, 18, first time away from home, just taking the initiative, I stopped thinking about it and started doing it.” Many people have thus inspired him.

After his ordination in 2001, he served as associate pastor at the Cathedral of St. Helena before being named pastor of St. William’s.

From the first stirring during that Cursillo weekend to now, Father Lively has found himself drawn in to experiencing heaven on earth. “Life with the Holy Trinity is not something we experience in death, but experience even now,” he said.

Sometimes, that experience can begin with something as simple as an invitation to join a softball team.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 20, No. 11, November 19, 2004.