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

For Sister Dolores Brinkel, her work as archivist for the diocese is not just about preserving the past, but helping people understand the present and giving guidance toward the future.

Sister Brinkel was born and raised near Billings, and has been a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth for 53 years. In that time, she’s taught history, run a criminal justice ministry office for the Diocese of Kansas City, Kan., and been the director of the Rural Ministry Education Institute in St. Louis, Mo., and Washington, D.C. Also in Washington, she worked in the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Jesuit Conference and the Providence Hospital Foundation.

She said she especially enjoyed the Washington, D.C., area because of the easy access to history and historical records. “I liked being in D.C. because as a historian I could visit the historical sites in the area, the Smithsonian and national archives. I did a lot of research. I also found it fascinating moving into different aspects of ministry and using the different talents and gifts God has given me,” she said.

However, she was quite glad to return to Montana, where she started out working for the Montana Catholic Conference and as archivist for St. James Hospital in Butte. While trying to find some records of St. James Hospital at the diocese, she realized the diocese itself needed someone to organize their records, and in 1999, she took up the task.

She now has three volunteers and not only preserves the more ordinary records of the diocese – from sacramental records to parish council constitutions, bishops’ correspondence and the like – but also the artifacts of the diocese which tell the story of the growth of Catholicism in western Montana. For example, they have the sacramental books from a church in Granite, Mont., a mining camp high in the mountains, that closed around 1906. The church is no longer standing, but those books are evidence of the faith of those pioneering families.

It has been fascinating work, and many times, Sister Brinkel has had to put on her sleuthing hat. She says they sometimes get calls from folks looking up their family history who want her to look for evidence of a great-great grandmother born in “eighteen-something.”

Other times, the detective work is even more involved. “We have a collection of 5,000 photos from the early days, from gatherings of priests, to Mass celebrated in a family home, to church dedications. We found some photos I figured were probably of the bishop’s rooms. We scanned them and tried to find out whose portraits were hanging on the wall. It turned out to be Bishop Carroll; we identified his mother’s portrait. Then one of the priests recognized the crucifix as the one that was hanging in the current Bishop’s office. I found ‘hand carved crucifix’ on the inventory of Bishop Brondel and thinks it’s the same one,” she said.

While she enjoys uncovering the history, the true joy for her is in how that knowledge can help others. She said, “I really enjoy the archival work. It helps people get in touch with their own rootedness. I get calls from parishes celebrating an anniversary asking if I have records of their history. It helps them appreciate what they have.

“I have one gentleman working on sacramental records of the Blackfeet Indians. His intention is to make these records available in the high school or community library so young people can find out what their lineage is and who they are. We are planning to establish a diocesan historic preservation committee to provide guidance in how and what to preserve so we can preserve the patrimony of the Church. I see that as looking not only at what is current but also to the future.”


Published in the Montana Catholic, Vol. 22, No. 6, June 16, 2006.