January 2006 - Sister Kathleen Mary Radich, OSF

When the cold wind scythes through Alaska's Yukon, Sister Kathleen Mary Radich, OSF, awakes from wherever her previous day's journey took her - a church basement, a sacristy floor, even on a blanketed tabletop - to find out where Jesus wants her to be today.
It could be training a handful of catechists, providing a simple meal for poor families, comforting the sick, or helping to bury the dead. In a region where priests are few and far between, Sister Kathleen is the presence of the Catholic Church to many Yup'ik Eskimo villagers here.

Her home base, when she's not firing up the motor of an all-terrain vehicle or hopping on a small single-engine plane to bring Jesus to one of the most desolate and frozen landscapes in America, is in a former Mission boarding school in St. Marys, a predominately Yup'ik village of about 500. She travels to 23 other villages in the region as the Coordinator of Rural Ministries and brings the regional concerns and needs of the villagers to the attention of Bishop of Fairbanks Donald Kettler. Sister squeezes her meager annual budget until it all but cries "Uncle." Getting the most out of a dollar to provide for the needs of the Catholics here is a talent and a hard-won skill.

In an area where there are few shopping facilities, grocery stores, doctors, dentists, newspapers, maintenance supplies, limited Internet access -- even a lack of plumbing - Sister Kathleen is hard-pressed to provide for the needs of parishioners. Yet she remains a cheerful and welcome presence here, and has made Alaska her home for the past 16 years.

"My time here among the Yup'ik people has been greatly blessed," Sister Kathleen said. "As a follower of Francis of Assisi, I have found that the way the Yup'iks live out their values of simplicity, love, and respect for creation, joy, and humility has been a wonderful witness and challenge."

Sister Kathleen recalls being stuck in Scammon Bay on the Bering Sea Coast for eight days soon after she arrived here in 1997. Each morning she would have to pack and be ready to hike to the airstrip to catch the only airplane out of the village. But weather and scheduling problems delayed the plane from even making it to the village of 465 for more than a week.

Fairbanks, the nation's largest diocese, covers numerous little villages scattered across two-thirds of northern Alaska, most of which are situated on or near the famous Yukon River. It also has a dire priest shortage with just 17 resident priests in the 47 parishes and missions. Sister grew up the fifth of nine children in a very Catholic family in the small fishing town of Astoria, Ore. She even worked one summer after high school in a tuna cannery, so she understands the life of the small Alaskan villages.

Having joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia in 1973, she's seen both urban and rural scenery. After six years of teaching and youth ministry in California, her sense of challenge first led her to the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska, where she continued her youth work and served as pastoral administrator of several remote parishes. After finishing a master's degree in clinical social work and doing some counseling work in the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Sister remembers the invitation from Father Theodore Kestler, SJ, to come to the tundraland of Fairbanks Diocese: "We are desperate!"

Sister's goal is to further the indigenous Church through education of the people to be "truly Yup'ik and truly Catholic." That entails all sorts of assignments including working with Native men preparing to become deacons, preparing lay presiders to lead Sunday worship in the absence of a priest, orienting catechists to the curriculum developed for this region, and assisting lay administrators to care for the temporal needs of the people as well as maintenance of church facilities.

"Right now we have a theme of 'The Children's Church Tomorrow: How Do We Prepare For It?'" she says. "It's a lot of evangelization and education work."

To help provide for the ministries of hard-working and compassionate religious and other missionaries like Sister Kathleen, please donate now securely. Thank you.