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 Edna Hunthausen came from a very spiritual background. Her hometown of Anaconda was probably 50 percent Catholic when she was growing up, she said, and of her four brothers and two sisters, two became priests (and one eventually an archbishop).

Nonetheless, she didn’t consider a religious calling until she encountered the Sisters of Charity at St. Mary’s College in Leavenworth. “They seemed very ‘real’ and down to earth. I liked their style,” she said. Through her admiration of them, she discerned that was her calling. And she’s loved her life as a religious.

After taking vows during college in 1951, she taught for 17 years in Kansas, Colorado and Montana. She then spent five years as the regional coordinator for the Sisters of Charity, working to enrich community life and counsel her sisters through transitions. This was an especially exciting time, she said, because it was just after Vatican II. After earning her degree in pastoral ministry at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., she spent six years at St. Ann’s in Butte.

These assignments prepared her for the assignment she now holds at Little Flower Parish in Browning, ministering to the Blackfeet Indians. The parish is very focused on building the lay ministry and has several programs, including the Kateri ministry, Cursillo and pilgrimage weekends. Her primary purpose lies in community building, so her main duties concern the RCIA, the “Come and See” program and training people to be Eucharistic ministers, RCIA instructors, and to minister to the sick and homebound. She also does counseling, and is involved in Step Five of the Alcoholics Anonymous program at the alcoholic treatment center. “I marvel at the healing that goes on there,” she said about the program.

Sister Edna speaks enthusiastically about every community she’s lived and worked with, but it’s clear she has a special love for the Blackfeet Indians. “I admire most their simplicity and honesty. They’re so open when sharing their lives. They’re faith-filled and generous to a fault. I admire their spirit of hope despite the pain and difficulties they face,” she said.

“I’m very grateful for people who have shared their love with me, both in this assignment and throughout my life,” she added. “I’ve gotten much more than I have given.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 20, No. 10, October 15, 2004.