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50 Years: Mary Kaye Nealen, SP
(Sr. Leonore Mary)
Providence life began for me in Wallace, Idaho, where my mother, Bernardine Crowley, the youngest of eight, grew up. Her father Patrick’s death of miners’ lung disease during the 1917 flu left her mother with several young children. I heard many stories of the Providence Sisters’ kindness to the Crowley family.
 Some of my family’s favorite outings in their hometown of Spokane, Wash., were trips to visit my mother’s sister Josephine, Sister Lawrence of Jesus, in Sprague, Wash., Wallace, Idaho, and Missoula, Mont. One day at our house, Sister Lawrence said that the community’s fundamental virtues are humility, simplicity, and charity – and these rang true with the sisters I knew. During my Holy Names Academy years, Sister Lawrence was vocations director. She patiently listened to my changing aspirations and invited me to weekend vocation retreats. Finally, as I concluded the Novena of Grace in my senior year, I applied to the Sisters of Providence, receiving the letter of acceptance on the feast of St. Joseph.
With Sister Lawrence’s continuing support, I became a postulant at Mount St. Vincent in Seattle on August 15, 1960, accompanied by my parents, Leo and Bernie, and brothers Michael and Curtis. A year later, all of us in formation moved to the new Providence Heights College in Issaquah, Wash., for the remaining four years of formation and college education.
Recess a key part of grade-school education
St. Raphael’s School in Glasgow, Mont., was my first ministry. A vivid insight that year with a restless class of seventh graders was “Do NOT discipline children by keeping them in from recess!” A treat at the end of an arduous year was attending the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) English Institute at the College of Great Falls, with its varied courses and my first trip to Glacier National Park.
Later assignments took me to Kellogg, Idaho, for two years with combined seventh and eighth grades. Three years teaching English and religion followed at DeSales High School in Walla Walla, Wash., and another three at Sacred Heart Academy in Missoula. Most summers found me with First Communion classes at Religious Vacation School, several times at Nespelem, Wash., on the Colville Indian Reservation.
I long had wanted to study theology and asked to do it following Sacred Heart Academy’s closure. After a few privileged months helping Dad care for Mother until her death, I began studies for a master’s degree at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa.
Inspiring stories of faith and dedication
A new permanent deacon program in the diocese of eastern Montana, together with pastoral ministry in three country parishes, beckoned after graduation. I put many miles on the diocesan Jeep Wagoneer over the next two and a half years. Conducting formation sessions and interviewing deacon applicants in the widespread diocese, I heard inspiring stories of people’s love for God and their desire to serve in the church. Personnel changes led me to explore ministry at the (then) College of Great Falls. A position in Student Services allowed for teaching one scripture course a semester for the next three years.
The years of renewal followed Vatican II, with ferment in the church’s mission in the world and basic Christian communities springing up throughout Latin America. Convinced that these movements were significant, I undertook doctoral studies in theology, specializing in ecclesiology, at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Research on the work of Father Juan Luis Segundo, SJ, included an interview with him at his home in Uruguay. I spent several wonderful months in Bernarda Morin Province in Chile and gained a sense “on the ground” of the life of the people and the church in several other countries before graduating and returning to the College of Great Falls.
Culture and theology bring joy and understanding
Service as councilor in the General Administration came next. The five years in Montreal opened new cultural experiences as well as the opportunity to know and love Sisters of Providence all over the world. At the conclusion, I returned to the (now) University of Great Falls as a full-time faculty member in theology. In this role my great joy continues to be helping students draw from the riches of Christian faith to light up their own life questions. In between, I explore theological topics, often related to Providence, and contribute to the Women of Providence in Collaboration.
My favorite ministry? Instead of naming one in particular, I can trace a thread that runs through almost all: helping to create new things. Most have been educational efforts: among them, an education and formation program for deacon candidates and their wives hundreds of miles apart; a program to serve under-resourced Catholic schools with college graduates who commit themselves to community, spirituality, and professional growth; a certificate program for lay ministers in eastern Montana; and a distance-delivery RN-to-BSN program for Providence nurses.
Embracing all the people, experiences, and learning of the past fifty years, I join in several jubilee celebrations, including the University of Great Falls and Mother Joseph Province, and undertake some grateful service. I sing with joy the refrain learned fifty years ago: “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? I will raise the cup of salvation; I will call on God’s name (Psalms 116).”
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