Little Flower Parish at 204 1st St. N.W., Browning, MT 59417 US - History In The Making

Charlene &Jeb Myers, Bro. Denis Murphy, Bro. Paul Ackerman, Jesse Murray, Annemarie Booth

DE LA SALLE BLACKFEET SCHOOL PROJECT By Fr. Ed Kohler ---- September 6,2001 I got a call last week from a man interested in our school project, but he was very worried about the staying power of a project so grand in nature. Before he would want to donate to such a cause he wanted to be assured that the De La Salle Christian Brothers truly had made a full commitment to oversee the long-term development of our De La Salle Blackfeet Middle School. I assured him that they have indeed made a full commitment and that they will stay here as long as we can keep our school going. But to do this we will need the help of people like him. Later that night I reviewed in my mind the long, long process we went through to get the Brothers to say yes to us. It began in 1992. That year some very bad things had happened to some of the middle school kids that were very close to the parish. All that happened was a consequence of drugs and alcohol and it upset me very much. I brought the problem to our Pastoral Council. They began to tell me of other things that had happened that had hurt some other kids that belong to the parish and of some things kids were doing to hurt each other. It became very clear to us that these kinds of happenings would destroy our kids if we did not do something radical to change their environment. The Pastoral council quickly came to the idea that we need a Catholic School in our Parish. With our own school we could protect the environment of our kids. We also knew the power of Jesus to heal--something our children need. We wanted to make the school Christ centered so our children would not have to search so hard to find out who Jesus is and what He means to them. We were all very excited about our new idea and began the process to make it happen. After a false start in trying to do this school project on our own we realized that we needed help. We then contacted the De La Salle Christian Brothers. The year was 1994. Their first response to us was that it would not be possible for them to help us at that time. But, with prayer, we kept after them. About the time we started to get discouraged one of the Brothers called simply to say that we should not give up, that they were starting to get interested in us. We contacted them again. This time they said to us that the Brothers were discerning a call to get back to teaching in poor areas and that we certainly were located in a poor area. It was now July of 1997. It was hard for the Brothers to believe that they were being called out to the far reaches of Montana to teach on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation when they had Native Americans living in the Chicago area--but it became clear at some point that was exactly what the Lord wanted, and they responded to the call. During this same period of time we kept running into another obstacle. Our school project kept being put on hold because our Bishops were being made Archbishops and then transferred. In 1993 Bishop Elden Curtiss had been made Archbishop of Omaha. It was hard to make progress without his presence. After a year of waiting we got a new Bishop—-Alexander Brunett. The Brothers began dialogue with him once he settled into the Diocese. During that period Brother Paul Ackerman came to live with us and began the process of investigating our needs. Just about the time we were getting ready to make some formal decisions concerning our school project Bishop Brunett was made the Archbishop of Seattle. (This happened in 1997. He had been in the Diocese only three years). This time we were without a Bishop for two years. The Brothers stopped the process to await a new Bishop. In that interim period the Brothers opened a number of schools in other poor areas. We were getting worried that they might not have the manpower to staff us too when we finally got a Bishop for the Helena Diocese. We simply prayed for the school and waited. There was nothing else we could do. Finally in the year 1999 we got Bishop Robert Morlino. We consider him and our new school a millennium blessing. Bishop Morlino has been very supportive of the Brothers and the De La Salle Christian Brother School. Once settled in to his new role as Bishop, the Bishop talked with the De La Salle Brother’s Provincials, Thomas Johnson and Michael Ferenbach. They together negotiated and put the school project back into action. Needless to say we at Little Flower Parish were overjoyed. We are very aware of how unique it is to get a Religious Order to commit to opening a new school these days. We believe that this event is a gift from God to us-- and we praise Him and thank Him for it. The Brothers assigned Brother Paul Ackerman and Brother Denis Murphy to The De La Salle Blackfeet Christian Brother Middle School. They in turn located four young LaSallian volunteers to be the beginning teaching staff. As a parish our job is to get students for the new school and to help raise money to finance the new school. On September 4th, 2001 we began this school of ours. This school is a reality for us now, and the Brothers are fully committed to the project. September of 2001 we started with a Fifth grade class of 20 students. Each year we will add one more grade until we reach grade eight. That would complete the first phase of our school project dream. The large vision is to have all twelve grades and to build new schools. But that is a dream and will take a miracle to complete. But it is a miracle that we got the Brothers here. We believe that it is God’s will to have these schools. Time and prayer will tell the full story. We will simply wait on the Lord. Let only His will be done. If you are interested in more information about our Parish or the school project, please see our Website: LittleFlowerParish.CatholicWeb.Com. If you would like to help us financially, please write Little Flower Parish, De La Salle School Project, Box 529, Browning, MT. 59417. Please keep us in your prayers. (Please feel free to copy these articles and share them with others)

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