Faith on the Frontier: A New Miniseries Premiering June 24

Description:

Before there were schools… there were stories.

Before there were systems… there were relationships.

This series explores the story of Catholic education in Montana, not just how it was built, but how it began, how it changed, and why it still matters today.

From the Bitterroot Valley in 1841, where the first mission was founded at the invitation of the Salish people…
 to the plains of eastern Montana, where missions emerged in a very different moment, during the reservation era…
 to the rise of parish schools, and the challenges that nearly brought the system to its brink...

this is a story shaped by faith, culture, sacrifice, and resilience.

It is a story of encounter.
 A story of tension and transformation.
 And ultimately, a story of renewal.

Because Catholic education in Montana is not just about the past.

It is about the mission we carry forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Catholic education today exists in a world very different from the one that gave it birth.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Native Americans who have a deep respect for the land are credited with playing significant roles in bringing Catholicism to Montana.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

We have to begin with the land. The Diocese of Great Falls Billings covers 94,158 square miles, nearly two-thirds of the state of Montana. The diocese did not create Catholic education in eastern Montana. It recognized it. What began with indigenous initiative grew through mission and relationship, had now entered a new phase. A phase that would shape everything to come. Billings grew because geography made it inevitable. Railroads converged here. Trade flowed through here. Livestock, agriculture, and industry passed through this place. And for Catholic families, one question rose quickly to the surface. How would their children be formed? For many students, the sisters were the first adults outside their families to insist that their lives mattered. Central Catholic was the first diocesan Catholic high school in eastern Montana.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

During that time we were coming out of the Depression. Most of the kids I knew, their families suffered really hard during the Depression.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

In the decades that followed, Central Catholic would grow into a defining institution in Billings. We were learning at Billings Central to be a part of a community.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

And he asked this really famous question, or at least it's famous in our context, uh in this lore. They had a conversation, and Mr. Philip Fortin says, if it's all gonna close, have we made a difference?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Just look at those names of those people that really probably in some regard saved the system. I mean, I'm here for every game.