Be thankful and give back

Joe from Milwaukee has been a longtime friend of St. Joseph’s Indian School. He told me he still has a holy card with a picture of Our Lady of the Sioux that is at least 60 years old, from when he was a boy. Joe installs and services pipe organs, and every few years comes out to spend a few days to clean up and tune up ours. He and his friend Jay arrived yesterday.

Today during mass, I had asked them to pull out the stops and let the students hear what the pipe organ can do. We don’t have many in our area who play, and relish the chance to hear some good sacred music. The prelude music as the students were coming into chapel for mass helped set a prayerful mood that carried over to the liturgy. And instead of running right home, afterwards a few of our kids stayed afterwards just to hear more.

The four Benedictine Homes (1^st – 3^rd grades) had an early communal Thanksgiving dinner, with turkey and all the trimmings. Each home contributed its part to provide a festive banquet for everyone. Afterward, everyone helped clean up, and I had to laugh at the efforts of first graders moving chairs that in some cases were taller than they were.

The Ambrose home did their service project today. They gathered toys and took them to the domestic violence shelter to share with the residents there. One of our students remembered when his mom sought refuge there. They knew the kids didn’t have many toys to play with, and wanted to share some from campus to bring them a little joy. Not just at Thanksgiving, but all year, we try to teach our students to be thankful and give back.

 

 

Inipi – sweat lodge ceremony

As I walked through Wisdom Circle on my way to the Rec Center, I noticed one of our first grade girls sitting alone on a bench away from the other kids. I said, “You look sad – is anything wrong?” She had been playing tether ball, but when her time was up another girl came and played with her friend and she was feeling left out and probably jealous. While those are small things to us adults (hopefully we handle them OK) it was a big deal to her, and putting a damper on her whole day. Then another tether ball pole was  freed up and she was off to play, things right in her world.

Our girls had 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grade basketball games against Chamberlain. There were plenty of St. Joseph’s staff with children on the Chamberlain team. Practically everyone in the stands had divided loyalties, so there was lots of cheering for everyone. What the girls lacked in talent, they made up for in hustle and enthusiasm. It was particularly fun seeing the 4^th graders go at it.

The boys had a great time prepairing for their was inipi - sweat lodge ceremony.

This afternoon was inipi – sweat lodge ceremony – for our teenage boys who wanted to participate. Several high school students served as mentors for 8^th graders, a few who were going into the lodge for the first time. The grandfather of one of our students led the ceremony. I stopped by beforehand to see how the fire to heat the rocks was coming along. Mark, who works in the rec center, was the firekeeper. As the rocks heated up, one started to crackle and pop, which is dangerous in the small confined spaces. Since Mark has lots of experience, he culled that rock out with his pitchfork, and selected another that would be better. After the four rounds of prayer, everyone gathered for a traditional meal at Speyer Home.

 

 

The words of Jesus came alive

Chamberlain High School put on the musical “Godspell”.

Chamberlain High School put on the musical “Godspell” in the local community center. I’ve seen the production three times in the past, and it made the words of Jesus come alive for me in a unique way each time. I’ve also seen that student crews who worked on it came away with a deeper sense of faith. During the preparation, I overheard our students commenting at mass when a gospel passage connected with what they were rehearsing.  What was different about this production, was the presence of the entire 7^th and 8^th grade Chamberlain choir, and many high school students as a chorus that ringed the stage and made the background vocals stand out loud. There are lots of laughs, but many poignant moments.

We had several students involved. Chris, a junior, had a solo and was prominent in many of the skits. Trinity and Michelle did all the makeup. Jatonne played guitar as part of the musical support. The entire lighting crew of four was staffed by our St. Joseph’s Indian School youth, and others helped build the stage. Lots of staff kids’ had lead roles, and it seemed like half the town crowded in to participate. At the end we opened our programs to find the music and lyrics to Handel’s Hallelujah chorus. As the audience sang along, it sure lifted everyone’s spirits.

To make opening night even more festive, on campus the date happened to coincide with a feast that Tia, one of our high school houseparents puts on. She is from Louisiana, and her hometown has a “coming home” festival at this time. She made two kinds of gumbo, jambalaya and dirty rice. Those who dipped their ladle into the gumbo pot and pulled up a hardboiled egg also won an envelope with prize money. It was also Mark’s (the other houseparent’s) birthday, so he had some of his favorite songs on the boom box and a huge cake with one candle for each one of his years of life.

After supper, I sat and talked with three of our four seniors about graduation. This crew has been at St. Joseph’s Indian School for a lot of combined years. Erin arrived in 5^th grade, Danisha in 3^rd, Nick in 2^nd and D’Kera in first (a lifer!) They’ve seen and experienced so much in their years at St. Joseph’s. And since the kids live here, you really do see them grow up.

 

We are all God’s children

I traveled to Eagle Butte, South Dakota for the Sacred Heart Center’s Board meeting. They do some great work in working with victims of domestic violence and Indian reservation youth who find themselves needing a group home living situation to get them through some of life’s trouble spots. Access to quality health care is also a problematic area on many of South Dakota’s Indian reservations. I was happy to see how near completion the new Indian Health Service hospital is, eliminating the need for tribal members to travel hours away to take care of injuries and illnesses.

Sue, a houseparent in the Speyer Home (6^th- 8^th boys) wanted to show her appreciation to our maintenance staff for all the work they did to completely renovate the Speyer Home. She and her daughter Wendy, who owns a BBQ restaurant, prepared a feast of ribs and pulled pork and invited the entire crew to lunch. Our staff at St. Joseph’s Indian School works hard at what they do, yet it always feels good to get some added affirmation and appreciation. While my travels kept me away from lunch, I made it home in time for supper, when the boys of Speyer and Fisher got to sit down to a similar feast.

St. Joseph’s has been sponsoring the Institute for Healing Racism in our community. A year ago, a group of 24 staff members and leaders from the community went through a two-day training session and have been working to find ways of following through to address the issues that cause tension and misunderstanding in our area. As a follow-up, a second group of 21 is meeting these days, and an open meeting was held tonight to fill in anyone interested from the public to learn about these efforts.

Addressing racism has to begin by looking inside and changing ourselves and our own attitudes, especially those ways we distance ourselves from others who are different from ourselves. When we are curious and learn from other people’s stories and experiences, there is so much that we can share. All our high school students were in attendance, and they were most at attention when the speaker was addressing racism within the Native American community. Sometimes our students judge each other on the lightness or darkness of their skin. Sometimes animosity exists between “breeds” and “full bloods”. “Apple” (red on outside / white on inside) is another slur that isn’t helpful to people pulling together for the good of their own community. Race is an ongoing issue that we as a nations constantly struggle with, and have to get right.

Really there’s only one race, the human race, and we are all God’s children.

 

Changes to serve more students

Walking down the hill to church, the weather was still frigid. We had the first hard frost of the season and the grass crunched underfoot. I know this is just the first of plenty more to come, but know there is still plenty of time for lovely fall days.

In the development office, Marcia’ turned 50 today, and her co-workers decorated her office well. At mid-day break, we had carrot cake awaiting, and Marcia came in wearing oversize silver glittery glasses in the shape of 5 and 0.

Our home remodeling project is moving along well. Next year, all of our homes will be back in play, and we will be able to serve more students. What we are starting to do now is evaluate how best to make use of the beds we will have. Which age group would best be served by expansion? Should we keep an equal number of boys and girls homes or change the mix? Should we change the mix of ages any? We will start to have discussion sessions with staff to come up with good and workable ideas.

 

Benefit from their generosity

While I was in the office working on Sunday’s homily, I got a phone call from the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. A couple from Houston, Mike and Carolyn, had brought up a truck load of clothes to share with us and wanted to meet me and say hello. I was in sweat pants and an old t-shirt, but that actually worked to my advantage as we went to the storage building and unloaded. I took Mike and Carolyn on a tour of campus.

The William Home (4^th-5^th grade girls) were most gracious about showing us the home and talking about their routine. They also volunteered to try on some of the sweatshirts and a coat so the good folks back in Texas who gathered it all up could see the kids who will benefit from their generosity.

 

Hidden America – Children of the Plains

A day of some sadness with a funeral and a wake to go to today.

Fr. Brian was a 46-year-old priest who pastored in Fort Pierre, South Dakota until an inoperable brain tumor was discovered about four months ago. He had been in the hospital and hospice care since then, and died earlier this week. During the homily, Fr. Michel acknowledged so many people were saddened that a young priest who touched so many people’s hearts should die so young and so quickly. But God’s ways are not our ways. What is most important not the length of our lives, but what we do with the time God gives us. Going to a priest’s funeral makes me more deeply reflect on my own priesthood and ask how I can be a better and holier servant of God.

The moment I was most moved to tears came at the beginning of mass, with about 40 priests lining the center  aisle to greet the body. Fr. Brian’s niece and nephew sang a gospel song, “I will Rise”. I couldn’t help but think of my own cancer, which is still in remission. I had a sense of,  this could have been me. But it led to a deepening of the psalmist’s attitude – “What return can I make to the Lord, for all the good God has done for me in seeing me through?”

One of our secretaries suffered a family tragedy when her college aged son died. This evening at the wake the church and hall were packed as tightly as possible, with a tremendous outpouring of care and support from the community.

Tonight ABC news 20/20 program with Diane Sawyer ran a special on Hidden America – Children of the Plains. South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was the location for the reports. The images and stories were powerful and well done. The journalists were realistic about the tough living conditions on the Indian reservation. And they also showed some of the hope and promise in young people trying to break cycles of poverty and alcoholism. Those are much the critical issues we at St. Joseph’s Indian School try to address.

 

I value the wisdom shared

We had an all day Board of Directors meeting. The longest segment of discussion revolved around the new strategic plan that we have been working on. With the added input and approval of the Board we should be ready to begin in early 2012. We went through the annual audit; we were glad to hear there were no major problems or findings. We reviewed the plans for the museum expansion and alumni center, and heard reports from our outreach programs on the Indian reservations.

I’m always trying to make sure St. Joseph is headed in the right direction, and asking the right questions. It helps to have others who care about the mission of the school to ask the big questions too, and provide direction and recommendations.

While I finish these meetings feeling a bit worn out, I also value the wisdom shared, which makes the load of administrative leadership easier to carry.

 

Making the Akta Lakota Museum into a small town treasure

Today, 15 Northern Plains artists submitted their latest creations  to our Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center acquisition committee, and the museum picked up several nice new pieces. The things I usually like are not the same ones our more knowledgeable artists recommend, and in the long run, they have done a great job of making our museum into a small treasure in town.

Two fellow SCJs Fr. Jack and Deacon Dave arrived for tomorrow’s Board of Directors meeting. Deacon Dave was my predecessor as director of St. Joseph’s Indian School. When I saw the school secretary at 11:30 mass, I asked her if anything special was happening at school today. “Deacon Dave dropped by to see us, so that made the day pretty special.” People still appreciate all he did to build up St. Joseph’s into the place it is today.

Adrian and Merrill are two 8^th grade boys chosen to represent St. Joseph’s at our next donor luncheon, which will be in Pittsburgh in early December. I practiced with them after school, asking typical questions  our donors want to know. They’re excited and a little bit nervous, but that gives them incentive to practice harder. It will be a great chance for them to experience a big city and see what life is like there.

 

Gifts all around us

I’m back from a Donor Luncheon trip to Palm Desert/ Palm Springs California. Thirty years ago, I entered religious life with a year of Novitiate in the High Desert, about an hour away in Victorville. I remember at first being intimidated by the desert. Once I slowed down to explore and observe the myriad of life in what I thought was a wasteland, I was astounded by the beauty.

There is a lot to learn by going to the quiet.

This part of the Desert though, is well-developed and filled with hustle and bustle. Two high school girls, Erin and Danisha, represented St. Joseph’s Indian School at the luncheons. Both work part-time jobs after school and have been saving up their money to check out the clothing stores hoping to find different and unique items compared to what is available locally in Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Shopping, especially clothes shopping (it seldom takes me long to find my basic black !) requires lots of patience on my part, but I know it brings joy to them. I walked around and got my exercise, and had time to visit with Cheryl, the girls’ houseparent and trip chaperone. She told of her interaction with the students’ families. As she’s built up a trusting relationship the girls have shared with her many of the difficult circumstances that brought them to St. Joseph’s Indian School in the first place.

We were joined by about 70 donors on Saturday and 45 on Sunday. With some students, I worry they will get stage fright and be afraid to speak up. Erin and Danisha are both seniors and over the years have developed the self-confidence that made it easy for them to talk to our gathered friends and answer their questions. That bodes well for their future as they prepare to move on from St. Joseph’s in a few months. Both are applying for college.

Danisha’s family sew beautiful Star Quilts, and wanted to honor those folks whose generosity has made her education possible. Danisha brought along a beautiful quilt and at the end of the Saturday luncheon, she drew a name from those in attendance. Lucille was the lucky winner, and we couldn’t have picked someone for whom it meant so much.

Lucille herself taught for 50 years, and felt so honored that her excitement moved me to tears.

We drove by two of the huge Indian Casinos of the area. One of our donors is a member of the Morongo Tribe. They have shared their resources by taking materials to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation here in South Dakota to help those in need. While many of the Sioux tribes in South Dakota have tried casinos, the low population to draw from on the prairie has most of them struggling and not the massive operations like we saw in California.

Today I spent catching up on mail and messages. The bulldozers moved in and started the groundwork for our Akta Lakota Museum expansion. It will block off traffic flow for a while, but we look forward to the end results.

Two girls who have been here for 3 ½ years are transferring to another school. Their mom has moved and is in a better position to have them come back to live with her. Our goal isn’t to keep students here as long as possible, but prepare them for life when they and their families are ready to move on.  We easily get attached to students and miss anyone when they leave. When students transfer like this in the middle of the year, we look to our waiting list and offer the spot to another child.

Our principal Kathleen is in the midst of teacher evaluations, and this year is trying a new technique – actually videotaping lessons. This allows her to show the teachers how they present themselves and the materials in an even more concrete way. Because she also videotapes the class and how the students are responding, the teacher can observe student attentiveness and notice anyone who is having difficulty keeping to task.

I think it is a gift to see ourselves from others’ perspectives, and we can learn a lot from that.

At day’s end,  I watched the our 7^th and 8^th grade girls’ volleyball teams defeat our upstream neighbors the Crow Creek Chieftains. Many of our students are from the Crow Creek Reservation. Instead of an intense rivalry, play on the court was friendly. In the 8^th grade game, Martina started the second game with the serve. Before she relinquished it back to Crow Creek, the score was already 18 – 0! Awesome job Braves!