2010 Lumen Christi Award Recipient Father Ed Kohler

On Thursday, October 7th, 2010, hundreds in Browning, Montana, enjoyed a feast of food, prayer and music in celebration with Father Ed Kohler. Beloved pastor of Little Flower Parish, community leader, mentor and friend, Fr. Kohler was named the 2010 recipient of Catholic Extension’s Lumen Christi Award for his loving service to the long-suffering but hope-filled people of the Blackfeet Nation.

Bishop George Leo Thomas of the Diocese of Helena and Fr. Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension, presented a tearful Fr. Kohler the award and a gift of $25,000. An additional $25,000 was awarded to the Diocese of Helena.

"Catholic Extension is deeply honored to name Father Kohler the recipient of the 2010 Lumen Christi Award for his selfless devotion to the people of the Blackfeet Nation," said Father Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension. "He is an extraordinary gift to Little Flower Parish community and the Diocese of Helena, and has become a beacon of hope and inspiration to the communities he serves." Catholic Extension has provided more than $400,000 to support Little Flower Parish since 1973, including providing for major church and facilities improvements as well as helping sustain pastoral ministries. 

Fr. Kohler has ministered to the people of Montana for the past 33 years. Currently he serves the people of the Native American Blackfeet Nation as the pastor of Little Flower Parish in Browning, an area where 70 percent are unemployed, 30 percent have drug or alcohol abuse problems and nine out of 10 children come from broken homes. In 2001 Fr. Kohler partnered with the Christian Brothers to found the De La Salle Blackfeet School, which serves students in grades 4 through 8. To date, 27 of the school's 29 alumni have graduated high school, compared to the current 56 percent high school graduation rate of Native Americans in Montana.

He has also implemented the national Cursillo de Christiandad movement ("short course of Christianity"), which begins with a three-day retreat of prayer, lecture, introspection and sharing, and continues with group reunions and interaction with the greater Cursillo community. Ninety percent of Fr. Kohler's parishioners have participated in a Cursillo retreat, which many attribute to having a profound influence on their lives.

Kohler also serves three other mission sites throughout the diocese: St. Mary's in Babb, Chapel of the Ascension in East Glacier and Sacred Heart Mission in Starr School. For more than a year, he has worked with neighboring St. Anne Parish in Heart Butte on an interim basis. In addition, Fr. Kohler has been instrumental in the increased enrollment rate of the diocese's Program of Formation for Lay Ministers (PFLM), providing people the opportunity to develop leadership skills.

Ordained in 1977, Fr. Kohler spent his first two years at St. Anne's in Heart Butte, followed by three years at St. Rose of Lima in Dillon. In 1982, he moved to Little Flower, where he has stayed, with the exception of a 5-year mission to Santa Maria de Visitacion in Guatemala.

Reflecting his commitment to Browning’s youth and the tremendous impact the school has had on its community, Fr. Kohler has decided to donate his entire $25,000 award to the De La Salle Blackfeet school. Bishop Thomas said the diocese’s $25,000 will go to support Blackfeet youth via the school and a “campership” program to send students from the Blackfeet Reservation to Legendary Lodge, the diocesan summer camp on Salmon Lake.