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

Father Tom O’Donnell grew up in an area on the east side of Helena that has produced eight priests, all from St. Helena Cathedral Parish.

They included his younger brother, the late Father Bob O’Donnell, Fathers Jim Hazelton and Jim Flynn, Maryknoll Father Jerry Burr, Fathers Neil Chisholm and Jack Garrity and the late Father Edward F. Moran.

Father O’Donnell earned his undergraduate degree from Carroll College in 1957, and attended seminary at Theological College, Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He, Father Hazelton and five others were ordained May 27, 1961.

Before and after working for master’s and doctorate degrees from St. Louis University, Father O’Donnell taught history and social science at Carroll College. He chaired the sociology department and, from 1972 to 1978, was Carroll’s academic vice president.

Last year, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Carroll College during commencement ceremonies.

In 1978, he joined the pastoral team at St. Anthony Parish, Missoula, and served there four years, including a year as co-pastor. Then he spent two years at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, serving as president-rector.

The Helena native returned to Montana in 1984 to serve in parishes in Columbia Falls and Kalispell. He has been pastor of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Parish in East Helena since 1996.

Father O’Donnell has been diocesan director of vocations since 1985.

He said his own vocation, “like so many others, has been fostered by the family and the parish I grew up in, and the people God has put into my life.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 19, No. 3, March 21, 2003.