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 Paula Tweet celebrated her golden jubilee this June, and the years have indeed been as good as gold for her, full of love for her vocation, her order and especially for her mission of teaching elementary school, something she’s done since becoming a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth.

“I am one of the few sisters who has remained in education from the day I started and I will continue to do so as long as I have the heart and the energy – and the health,” she said.

Sister Tweet has taught first, second and third grades in Laramie, Wyo.; Denver, Colo.; Chicago, Ill.; Kansas City, Mo.; and again in Denver before coming to Butte, where she teaches at Butte Central Elementary School.

When she talks about teaching and about the children she teaches, you can hear the joy and excitement in her voice. “I enjoy teaching immensely. I enjoy sharing my faith with the children and watching them grow spiritually and academically. Every day is a special challenge in teaching and every child is unique and very special. Each year is a new challenge. Whatever class I’m teaching is my favorite class, my favorite grade.”

Despite her catholic (in the sense of all-encompassing) enthusiasm, her favorite class to teach is Catholic religion; in particular, preparing the children to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist, which she calls a joy and a privilege.

She also enjoys many of the changes going on in the schools. When she first started teaching, she said her classes would have 50 or more children, and she enjoys the smaller classes of today’s schools, which give her the opportunity to give children more individual attention.

She welcomes the advent of computers in the classroom, which she hails as yet another medium to reach students, particularly in the areas of spelling, math, reading and English.

Finally, as a native of Butte, she’s glad to be home. Her family came from Waterford, Ireland, and so she grew up with a very strong Catholic faith – a faith, she said, the community of Butte shared as well. Her first time away from home was when she joined the Sisters of Charity.

When her mother was ailing in 1991, she was blessed to be given the opportunity to return here, teach and minister to her mother for the last three years of her life.

She believes the Catholics of Butte still have a strong faith-filled community, and she does her best to encourage it herself. She is on the RCIA, lector and Eucharistic minister teams at Holy Spirit Parish, which she enjoys because it gives her the opportunity to share her faith at the adult level, and is the coordinator of the Sisters of Charity and associates in the area.

And, of course, she admonishes her students to share what they’ve learned in religion class with their parents.

Much of Sister Tweet’s happiness seems to spring from the support of her community and the rewards of watching her students learn. It’s always a special moment for her when one of her former students returns as an adult to thank her.

“It makes me feel like a mother feels when her children thank her – grateful and hopeful that I made an impression on their lives.”


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 21, No. 7, July 22, 2005.