Balee laas-deawilikkuh
January 8, 2012
(Lord Have Mercy)
The trailer that myself and the other St. Xavier JVs live in is about 50 yards away from Pretty Eagle School. And in between our house and the school is the St. Xavier chapel. For the first couple of months that we lived here, we exclusively went to mass in St. Xavier. It’s an intimate environment. The priest is elderly and often sits in a folding chair in front of the alter, and his masses are interspersed with stories of the people in the surrounding areas, stories from his life, people who need our prayers. Mass is set to start at 12:00 but it often gets going closer to 1:00… Indian-time. Or, in this case, Fr. Charlie time. I enjoy the masses at St. Xavier in their absurdities. Bare-foot children running back and forth to bring the gifts, the slow and often muddled pace, the way Father calls out to the 7 people sitting in the chairs (yes, there are no pews) to do the readings.
However, recently, upon the suggestion of some people at St. Labre who were concerned at our community’s extreme isolation (This seems to resound with all who know we live out here. ”How do you like St. Xavier?” “What do ya’ll DO out there?!”) we started going to the parish 30 miles away in Crow Agency, St. Dennis. AND, I LOVE IT. The Church is circular, and modeled after a sweat lodge. (A ceremony of which I have also been fortunate enough to partake in. The Crows go in naked and the ceremonies are separated by gender, though some cultures, like the neighboring Cheyenne, are allowed to wear clothes and go in all together. I will have to recount the full tale of my “sweat” sometime. It was a night to remember.) There is a Crow Choir that sings hymns in the Crow language (Absalooke), and we burn and smudge with Cedar as well as bless with holy water (a practice that we use in the church at St. Xavier, in school, and in our home as well). It is a much more well-attended parish there, so we get to see some kids we know from school (I sat by my clan brother Terrel today), many many members of the reservation community and my friend Franciscan Sister Mary Ann from the Women’s Prayer Lodge in Busby.
However, my very favorite part of the church are the paintings. They were done by this very cool man, Fr. John Giuliani who has gone and lived with several groups of Native American people and paints them in traditional Catholic iconographic ways. He says:
My intent, therefore, in depicting Christian saints as Native Americans is to honor them and to acknowledge their original spiritual presence on this land. It is this original Native American spirituality that I attempt to celebrate in rendering the beauty and excellence of their craft as well as the dignity of their persons.
His original “Crow Series” are all around the outer circular wall of St. Dennis. They are each 3′ by 6′ and incredibly detailed acrylic. Here are some of my favorites:
In other news, I am going to meet Margaret Behan of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers next Saturday and help plan their 11th Council Gathering which will take place in July of this year in Lame Deer, Montana! Peruse their website a bit, they are VERY inspiring. Janine and I have been sitting on my bed looking and looking at all of it. We feel so blessed to have been invited!
AHO!
