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

When Sister Margaret Hogan considered joining the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Sister Mary Seraphine Sheehan told her, “You will always have someone to be there to listen to you and share with you. You will never walk alone.”

Sister Margaret joined the Sisters of Charity in 1955, teaching in elementary schools in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Colorado and Montana for 28 years. Then she felt a compulsion to change paths from teaching to parish ministry. The call, she said, surprised her because she loved teaching. Even more, it came to her, not in any daily frustration with her career, but in the quiet of prayer.

“It challenged me to be faithful to the unfolding presence of the Lord and to go where he called me,” she said.

The SCL community supported her in responding to this new call. In 1981, she went to St. Patrick Parish in Butte, then to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Hamilton, where she is pastoral assistant. She’s enjoying her work there because it uses her two masters’ degrees – one in Christian spirituality and one in elementary counseling – and for the variety of duties.

“I enjoy the balance in ministering to the ill or homebound, as well as to those who seek spiritual direction,” she said. She also finds balance in that, as she cares for the spiritual needs of others, she too is cared for by the clergy, religious and lay people. “They are so dedicated to giving life to each other and to those they serve.”

“It’s also been a wonderful experience to be back in the diocese from which I came and to minister to those who nourished my faith,” she said.

Sister Margaret grew up in Butte, and she credits her family and the community of Immaculate Conception Parish for giving her a strong foundation of faith. “Immaculate Conception Parish will always be a sacred place for me,” she said.

Although she lives alone, she says she still feels very connected to her religious community. There are 12 other Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in the diocese, but they are spread out. Still, she keeps in contact with them and others through e-mail and phone calls, and she says she feels close to them even in her day-to-day activities. “They are very present to me in all my ministries,” she said.

In her solid friendships with the people she works with, those she ministers to, and the religious community that supports her, Sister Margaret Hogan has found Sister Sheehan’s promise to be true.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 21, No. 4, April 15, 2005.