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

Sister Dorothy (Dot) Feehan views her life as a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a tapestry woven in brilliant colors.

Sister Feehan entered the order in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1945, and she said the liveliest colors in the fabric of her life come from being a vowed woman religious.

“Most significant have been my continual communion with God, the encounters of friendship with my BVM sisters and associates and my family; and the companionship of the men, women and children with whom I have journeyed,” she said.

Her journey as a BVM has taken her around the country. She has served in Iowa, Illinois, California, Colorado and Montana and has traveled in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Palestine, Turkey, Greece and the Caribbean.

In a sense, her vocation had even sent her back in time.

“Entering the BVM Congregation carried me back into the 19th century,” she explained. “My name was changed to Sister Mary Agnes Cecile, and I learned customs appropriate to the lifestyle of that century.”

With Vatican II, however, many of those customs changed. “We changed our habits and began wearing the dress of the day. We also returned to our baptismal names,” she said. She added that she was grateful to have been in Missoula in those early post-Vatican II years, where she felt the Church was re-energized under the leadership of Bishop Raymond G. Hunthausen.

They also rediscovered the charism of their founder, Mary Frances Clarke. For Sister Feehan, that has meant not only working as an elementary school teacher and principal, but also teaching college and serving as a pastoral associate, administrator for the BVM Congregation and spiritual retreat director.

Many of the darker colors of her tapestry, she said, came from sharing the suffering, loneliness and struggles as she ministered to children in inner city Chicago, the Native Americans in Sioux City, S.D., and with the veterans of many wars. She also shared in the difficult decisions of sisters and priests “as they left their communities for new ministries and lifestyles.”

She said the summer colors came from her experience as a pastoral minister in Colorado, helping people live their baptismal promises. “We helped them form small communities in which they studied and prayed together as a Gospel people. I saw many realize that we are the living body of Christ and awaken to the Gospel call to be a people of justice and peace,” she said.

In Missoula, where she is working in spiritual direction, she said she’s enjoying the brilliant colors of autumn. She feels a special connectedness here in Montana, where the BVMs have been in Butte for nearly 100 years. “We BVMs came to Butte in 1907, and next year, we plan to commemorate our arrival in the diocese with celebrations in Butte and Missoula. I’m very happy to be back in Missoula at this significant time,” she said.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 22, No. 11, November 15, 2006.