Native Catholic schools chart a new way forward

How Native schools are wrestling with their legacy and living out their Catholic charism in the present.

It’s the Moon of Snowblindness on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It’s been a cold March with the temperature often below zero. The road passes Wounded Knee and its cemetery on the hill to the west then rises up over the land, the snow-covered plains falling away to the east. As my car rises into the sky, a herd of horses appears alongside and runs with the car, making me think of Black Elk’s vision of dancing horse nations.

When I arrive at my destination, drums signal the beginning of Yutapi Wakan, the ceremony of sacred food. Waves of purifying smoke wash over us. Images of Wanikiya, “He Who Makes Live,” and the ancestors look down at us from the walls. A star quilt hangs behind the fires burning on the altar. Today is the start of the season of purification, and ashes from the sacred fire mark our bodies.

It’s Ash Wednesday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School.

Once an outsider settles in, they see that, despite the rich Lakota texture, the ceremony is much like any Catholic school Mass across North America. Squirming children whose bodies are calling them to run around outside are packed tight in the pews. The general bustle is punctuated by seemingly impossible bouts of stillness. It’s the same liturgical structure, the same Eucharist. You can’t get more Catholic than this: Outside the church, there’s even the site of a reported apparition of the Blessed Mother.

 

Read More