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November 21, 2024, Gaylord, Michigan – About 80 people attended Walking the Red Road: Recognizing Ourselves as Individuals and Part of the Whole, a conference held last month for Native and non-Native Catholics in the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan. Sister Susan Gardner, OP, Director of the Native American Apostolate for the diocese, was involved in the conference.
Walking the Red Road gave participants the opportunity to gather, engage in Native rituals, pray, listen to words of apology from the U.S. Catholic bishops, learn to live as Natives and Catholics, and dialogue with the Church.
“This is the fourth conference since I’ve been here … and the first since COVID,” Sister Sue said. The conference drew both Native and non-Native Catholics. “We always have a big group of non-Natives who come because they’re very interested in learning about Native Americans,” she said.
Father Michael Carson, Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, spoke on the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ document, Keeping Christ’s Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry, approved by the bishops at their June 2024 assembly. In the document, the bishops outline the history of the Catholic Church’s policies that harmed the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, including the Doctrine of Discovery, papal bulls that encouraged European nations to invade and conquer lands in which Christians were not living; forced relocation of the native peoples to reservations; and boarding schools in which “Indigenous children were forced to abandon their traditional languages, dress, and customs.”
The bishops further apologized for the role that the Catholic Church played in the trauma experienced by Native Americans and set forth a pastoral plan to walk with them into the future.
The conference also included a talk on Being Native and Catholic by Father Henry Sands, of the Little Traverse Bay Band and Bkejwanong First Nation, Ontario; two sessions of the Talking Circle; and a closing Mass, celebrated by Bishop of Gaylord Jeffrey Walsh.
Featured throughout the conference was a book containing the names of all children who attended Holy Childhood, a boarding school in Harbor Springs, Michigan, which was opened in the 1880s and closed in 1983. At the start of the conference, a Native woman who survived the school lit a candle, which burned all day for the former students, Sister Sue said.
The book listing the names of the boarding school students is one way that the Diocese of Gaylord is reaching out to Native Catholics. “It was a monumental task,” involving the use of a special machine that could take pictures of the school rosters, Sister Sue explained. A bound copy of the book was given to each tribal chairperson, she added.
Another way the diocese reaches out is through the conference. “The people [who] were there did appreciate the efforts and were glad we did it,” Sister Sue said. The diocese will make “any effort we can to let the Native American people know we’re sincere, but it takes a long time to develop that trust. You just keep trying to do what you can and reach out.”
Sister Susan also ministers at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Suttons Bay, Michigan, which serves both Native and non-Native Catholics. She said she tries to bring as much Native tradition to the parish as she can. “For special occasions, we have our Eagle Staff brought in by a veteran,” she said. An Eagle Staff represents a Native tribe or family. Rituals also include smudging – the ceremonial use of burned sacred herbs to cleanse items or people. On Ash Wednesday, the ashes are smudged with sage, she said.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish also offers workshops on making cedar oil, which is used to bless children when they’re born and honors the tradition of Ghost Suppers. During these suppers, which are hosted on the Feast of Holy Souls (November 2), Native Americans walk from place to place honoring those who have died. Rather than providing a ghost supper, however, the parish offers a ghost breakfast.
Along with honoring and celebrating the Native American cultures and celebrations, the diocese and the parish strive to bring healing and reconciliation to Native Catholics. “The big thing they’re asking from the Church is for their stories to be heard and for some type of remuneration” for the trauma caused at boarding schools and places, Sister Sue said.
Feature photo at top: Members of the Spirit Lake Drum Group of the Little Traverse Bay Band provide the Honor Song for the opening of the Walking the Red Road Conference, sponsored by the Diocese of Gaylord.