Anna Attaway
What I do: I am committed to ensuring that you—our clergy, our fund beneficiaries, and our donors—are crystal clear on the options the Foundation provides for keeping philanthropy local, lasting, and above all Catholic. Whether it’s a Facebook post, an article in the Harvest, or a brochure you find in the vestibule, I want you to be informed and supported. And I want to help your parishes and organizations grow their endowed funds, making money the last thing you need to worry about as you serve the body of Christ.
What I did: Most recently, I managed communications for a health agency in Great Falls. Before that, I worked for several years as an editor at a science and religion magazine during graduate school in Boston, and then for a tech startup in the San Francisco Bay Area. What a relief to escape the skyscrapers for Big Sky country! (I’m originally from Yakima, Washington, so Great Falls feels a lot more like home than the big city ever did!)
Favorite place in Montana: I’ll give you two: the family ranch of a friend of mine outside Kalispell (feels like heaven on earth) and at my parish during Holy Mass or Eucharistic Adoration (which actually is heaven on earth).
If I had to choose another profession: I’d be a mental health counselor. Talking to people one-on-one and encouraging them is, hands-down, my favorite pastime.
About faith and work: There’s a beautiful Byzantine icon of Saint Joseph right by my keyboard. I never want to forget that the greatest saint of all time, besides our Blessed Mother, was a man who generously but humbly fulfilled every single duty of his state in life. Pope St. Pius X (who established our diocese and is one of its patron saints) wrote an incredible prayer to Saint Joseph for success in work. Seriously, Google it—it’s amazing! The prayer calls St. Joseph the “model of all who are devoted to labor,” and ends with this: All for Jesus, all for Mary, all after thy example, O Patriarch Saint Joseph. Such shall be my motto in life and in death. That’s the attitude I want to bring to the table here!
Fun fact about my pet: My first pet ever was a turtle that I named Sarai. The second was a fluffy little dog I named Queen Esther. Are you sensing a theme? (I wasn’t allowed to name any more pets after that!)
Fun personal fact: I converted to Catholicism in 2015 while I was getting my master’s degree in theology at Harvard! I studied mystical theology, especially in the late medieval and early Reformation periods, so many of the texts I was assigned to read were actually written by Catholic saints. It’s very doubtful that my professors intended to evangelize me…but after reading St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Anselm, St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, and many others, I knew that the Catholic faith was the only thing that could satisfy my desire for truth. Thanks be to God!
