June 1977 Catholic Indian Congress and an Interview with Mike Ley

6-2-77

A group of people from the mission and the community were invited to a prayer meeting in Billings. Carla Mount is married and lives in Billings (JJ and Bernice’s daughter). At 3:00 a group of people congregated at the mission. The group went down in Mike’s truck  and Bill Fugelvand’s van. Lindey, Irene, JJ, Bernice, Roseann, Teresa Walker, Mike and Father. Carla fed everyone after the meeting and they returned to Hays at 4:00 in the morning.

6-6-77  

Over the weekend, someone stole about 20-25 poles that Mike, Tom Jones and I cut down for building the arbor. Someone saw the poles being snaked down into the swamp early in the morning and told Mike about it the next day. She told Mike who she thought it was. The next night, some people broke into the forest crew and fire crew shed and stole chain saws. Virgil and Mike both reported the incidents to the tribal police. The FBI came on the case, and two young Indian men came up this morning to see Mike about the burglaries. They told Mike that they weren’t FBI, but acted as a liaison between the FBI and the Indians. They questioned Mike about the poles and chain saws. Mike said that he was pretty sure that the poles were taken by a person he identified and that a larger group probably took the chain saws. He had seen them drunk the night before and thought they would do something like this when they were drunk. The men told Mike they thought another group was involved in it. They told Mike that if anything like this happens again to be sure to call them.

Mike said to me that it is only a matter of time before these guys were in jail. They were headed in that direction, and it would only be a matter of time before they got old enough and caught in the act. Those boys have raised themselves in that house. They have no supervisor and never have had it. There aren’t any men in the house to give them discipline.

Father came back from Havre with a truck load of food. Jan LaValley had it donated from different towns along the highline, Chester, Joplin. They donated cases of Veg-All, coffee, sugar, tomatoes, salt and Kool-Aid for the Catholic Indian Congress.

6-13-77

The Christian Mothers had a meeting tonight at 7:30 in the mission all-purpose room. Irma is the current president and is arranging their work at the Congress. Gootch is the secretary treasurer. The meeting was attended by about thirty women, mostly from Hays, but a few from Lodge Pole and the Agency. All three tribes were at the meeting and are members. The first part of the meeting, I talked about the food and cooking situation. There were not going to be enough women from Lodge Pole and Agency to form cooking crews, so they divided up into three groups and included these two districts in the new crews. They split up into four groups also to make fry bread before the Congress and fourteen women volunteered to make roasts, and I passed out the meat. Father, me, Gordon and Matt Gone were the only men at the meeting.

Then Irma took over and each of the Christian Mothers brought in a blanket. Some of the senior citizens brought in star quilts and afgans. Each blanket was marked as to who it belonged to and they told Irma who in the honor they wanted the blanket to be given away for. The Christian Mothers were going to have a giveaway after the Memorial mass on Saturday morning of the Congress. The giveaway is in the honor of deceased Christian Mothers and the women all chose one of their relatives to give away for. All the visitors would be given a blanket in their honor. Some of the women who made the star quilts asked specifically that they be given to either the Bishop, Father MacNutt, Father Schaaf or Barbara Schlemon. Then the meeting turned into a discussion of the Christian Mothers Group. They voted to decide when new members would be chosen. The group had been defunct since December 8^th and was starting now because of the Congress. The women started to reminisce about the beautiful banquets they had in December. They voted overwhelmingly to have new members brought in then. It was the traditional time, and they decided to keep it that way.

6-19-77  

After several meetings with the Christian Mothers and with other people in the community, cooking crews, menus and ingredients were established for the Congress. This is the basic information concerning the three days of food for the Congress. We planned on feeding 1,000 people a day. On Friday we had about 600, Saturday 1,500 and Sunday 900. The mission volunteers made breakfast every morning. On Friday for lunch and dinner, Ona Bell and her crew from the Agency made lunch and dinner. On Saturday it was the Hays crew, Irma, Edith, Margaret Cuts the Rope, Hazel, Lou Kirkaldie, Itty, Gootch and Bernice Mount. On Sunday it was the senior citizen’s crew: Clemence, Rosey, Lilly Fox, Jeanette Warrior, and Ruby Jones. Charles, Frank and several whites from Havre and Great Falls helped to carry the food out to the serving arbor. Several white women also helped in the kitchen from Havre and Lewistown. About ten women also made rolls for breakfast – from Lewistown, about 1,000 rolls. We served them for breakfast. A Havre man donated 200 eggs. We made these for breakfast on Saturday morning. The menu for the three days was the same with a few exceptions:

Breakfast:

Coffee, tea, donuts, rolls.

Lunch:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches, pork and beans (cold), assorted chips, coffee, tea, Kool-Aid.

We didn’t have enough roasts to make roast beef sandwiches for everyone, so we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had a large Hobart mixer in the kitchen that Beatrice and Mary used to make rolls for the kids. My brother had the brilliant idea of putting all the peanut butter and jelly together into the mixer. It made making the sandwiches a great deal faster.

Dinner:

Boiled meat, soup, fry bread, fruit (apples and oranges), coffee, tea, Kool-Aid.

The people who made the fry bread were: Isabelle Werk, Gootch, Clemence, Target, Leona Fox, Roseann, Edith, Lou Kirkaldie, Jeanne Shambo, and the all of the senior citizens.

The ingredients for the soup every evening: 1 beef, 40 gallons of water, 24 lbs. of rice, 12 gallons of Veg-All, 16 onions and 12 gallons of tomatoes.

The ingredients for 2,500 pieces of fry bread: 300 lbs. of flour, 75 lbs. of sugar, 30 lbs. of salt, 3 lbs. of yeast, 30 gallons of shortening and 3 boxes of powdered milk.

6-28-77 

Mike and I were talking about the Congress. He said that he was involved in a physical healing on Saturday night at the Congress. When Father MacNutt asked for all people to raise their hands in need a physical healing, a man and his young daughter raised their hand. She was maybe eight years old. Jan and I went up to her, and we laid our hands on her and prayed for her. I felt like there had been a real physical healing. Jan agreed with me. On Wednesday after the Congress her mother came to the prayer meeting, and she gave a testimonial of what happened to her daughter. She said that her daughter was cured of her kidney trouble. When she was younger, she took almost a whole bottle of aspirin. It did a lot of damage to her kidneys. The doctors worked on her for a while and then they gave her medicine. Nothing seemed to work, and the doctors told us that there wasn’t much more that they could do. Then at the Congress she was healed during the prayer. This is the only physical healing that I know of, but I know that there was a lot of emotional healing.

6-29-77

Since the Catholic Indian Congress, Father has changed mass from Wednesday morning to after the prayer meeting on Wednesday night. The prayer meetings have been very well attended since the Congress was held.

In earlier blogs that I published in May, I talked a lot about all the preparations that took place leading up to the Congress. Mike and I, with lots of help from some people in the community, cut poles, stripped the bark for the tipi poles, gathered brush and built the three arbors for the Congress. We also had some of the kids who were working in the summer for SPEDY to cut grass around the camping and Congress grounds.

St. Paul’s Mission Catholic Indian Congress, June 15-20

Just before the Catholic Indian Congress was to begin, there was a complete double rainbow that spanned across the entire mission and the grounds where the Congress was going to be held. It started on one side of the camping grounds and went all the way over to the mission cemetery. I couldn’t run away fast enough to capture the entire double arc. I just kept turning around and captured what I could. I will now keep all my brilliant opinions to myself about spiritual signs (and superstition) which ran rampant by everyone who saw it and attended the Congress.

Wednesday, June 15

The last-minute preparations for the Congress were taken care of. Mike made a sign designating the location of the mission and he put it up at the Hays turn off. I made parking signs and put them up around the mission. The women were bringing me roasts to cut into slices for roast beef and the women were making fry bread. They came to pick up the ingredients. Mike hired Lee Allen, Keith, Alvin and Kim to strip polls for the tipis. He paid them $0.30 a poll and they worked on it all day. In the evening, Howard Mount came up to do the electrical work. Charles came up to help and Mike and I assisted. The electricity was run from the House of Loretto to the arbors. The Congress was located in the northwest field of the mission. There were three arbors. The serving arbor had three lines to get food, a spectator’s arbor with benches from the old gym and a speakers arbor with a platform. Howard put up a breaker box at the speaker’s arbor and ran a cord out on poles. We put in lights in both arbors and cut the steps off the electrical poles so kids wouldn't climb on them.

A group of kids came up and offered to help. Mike had them cut the grass around the arbors and they cut grass around the Congress area for camping sites. They also cut tipi pegs and tipi stakes. Then Mike took a group down to JJ's and they cut aspen branches to cover the arbors. Father got an electrical cord donated from the Malta REA. He also had a man from Havre come down with a bulldozer and he fixed the road leading to the Congress area. His time was also donated.

Thursday, June 16

This was camping day for the Congress. The first arrivals came at 4:00 in the morning. They were from Fort Totten, North Dakota - Turtle Mountain and they are members of the Little Shell Band. It was two families, and they were coming back from Everett, WA and decided to stop on their way home after someone told them about the Congress. Both families spent the whole day helping us get ready.

The Christian mothers brought in the fry bread all day. We had 2000 pieces by the evening. More brush was cut and the arbors were finished. Howard finished the electrical work. BJ told us that all tribal employees were given Friday off if they wanted to attend the Catholic Indian Congress.

Charter buses pulled in during the day and people started to arrive by car and truck. The camp was in a huge circle around the arbors. People pitched tents. Some had campers. There was a group of older women and young children. About 250 people slept on the floor in the new gym. They took down the mats off the walls and slept on these, and they were in sleeping bags and on blankets. By late Thursday night, there were about 500 people there.

Friday, June 17

The Catholic Indian Congress officially started on Friday.

There were about fifteen priests who came from all over the area. They stayed in cabins in Zortman and travelled back and forth during the Catholic Indian Congress. The Living Sound arrived in their own bus on Friday early afternoon. The attendance at the Congress was very good. On Friday there were about 900 people, on Saturday about 1,500 and Sunday about 1,200. About 1/3 of these people were whites from Havre, Great Falls, Billings, Malta, Lewistown and surrounding areas. The feelings between people were very good and there was a good atmosphere between Indians and whites throughout the Congress. There were two groups of women, one from Havre and the other from Lewistown, who helped in the kitchen all weekend. There was also a family from Great Falls who helped in the kitchen all weekend. A Vista worker from the Crow Reservation also spent most of the weekend helping. The attendance at the Catholic Indian Congress was very good, more than expected. But there were other events that took place during the weekend which took a lot of people away from the Congress. Most of these people wouldn't have come to the Congress even if nothing else was going on, but some may have come out of curiosity. There was a pow wow in Idaho in the honor of Chief Joseph. It was put on by the Nez Perce. The Chief Joseph Memorial Dance Committee from Fort Belknap at the Agency arranged for cars and buses to travel to the pow wow in Idaho. Quite a few people went there from Fort Belknap. There was also a rodeo in the area, and a lot of people went to that.

A lot of people from Hays didn't attend. Most older people and women came from Hays. A lot of women came just because of the involvement in the Christian Mothers, the giveaway and the cooking. There were very few teenagers and young adults and people of middle age. A lot of people who are active in the church didn’t come. This movement – the Charismatic Renewal – is too new and different from the traditional church for a lot of people. Hays and the whole reservation is a very conservative Catholic community. A lot of people would like to see the Latin mass again. So, changes like this are not accepted easily. A lot of the older women who came didn’t really understand what was going on (the healing prayers) but they were most excited about all the people, and the big thing that was going on at the mission.

The women from the Christian Mothers brought blankets in all week for their give away after mass on Saturday morning. Each of the women was going to give away a blanket to someone (priests, guests, visitors) in honor of a deceased Christian Mother, one of their relatives, a mother, aunt, sister. Irma took care of the giveaway. She’s the president of the Christian Mothers. Each woman put her name on the blanket with a piece of masking tape and then Irma kept a list of the deceased Christian Mothers. Roseann brought about $50 worth of beaded jewelry for the giveaway. Allen kept his store open until 10:00 every night during the Catholic Indian Congress. He said that they did a really good business on cigarettes, pop, chips and other junk food. Bruce also had his store open over the weekend. He sold out everything he had in the store, all the beer, wine and chips.

The Catholic Indian Congress started at 7:30 on Friday morning with breakfast. We started making breakfast at 6:00 and coffee and tea were made and carried out to the arbors in the back of a pickup. The food was served in two lines buffet style and the kitchen crews had volunteers outside serve the meals. All the utensils, cups and napkins were taken out to the arbors in the back of a pickup. As soon as the breakfast was returned to the kitchen, coffee, tea and rolls were taken into the gym for the older women who couldn’t get out for breakfast. For all the meals, the older women were either taken to the front of the lines, or a plate was made for them and taken to them, so they wouldn’t have to stand in the lines. A number of people told us that in the Indian ways this was the right thing to do, to serve the old people first. Frank and Charles helped load the truck for us with food and also helped unload at the arbors.

When breakfast was done and the kitchen cleaned, lunch was started. The sandwiches were made, the coffee and iced tea, the fruit, chips were loaded into the truck with all the utensils. Just before the lunch was taken out, the meat was started boiling in the school and gym kitchens for the soup and boiled meat.

At noon, lunch was taken out and served. Brian and Bill picked up trash and took it to the Hays dump. Then we returned for the dinner preparations. The soup was made, fry bread, left over rolls and utensils and fruit loaded onto the truck. At 5:00 we got 15 volunteers to carry out soup, coffee and tea to the arbors. The dinner was served and the kitchen cleaned. It was an all-day job. Each day there was a different kitchen crew working. Most of the women were from the Christian Mothers, but there were a few men who helped load the truck and about 10-15 white men and women helped each day. This was the procedure for meals all three days of the Congress. After breakfast was served, everyone went to the new gym and Father set up an altar to say mass. This mass and all the masses at the Congress were celebrated. While they were setting up for mass, a guest register was put out for people to sign, and the Congress schedules were put out. Then later in the day and on Saturday and Sunday the register and schedules were moved outside by the arbor for people to use.

There were about 400 people at this morning mass. Father celebrated most of the mass. He was really excited during the service. During the mass, a choir from Fort Peck sang and were led by Father Pete Guthnic. They sang all the hymns in Sioux. After mass they had a handshake of welcome. Two lines were formed around the gym, one line outside the other and facing each other. They walked around in the gym in opposite directions and shook each other’s hands.

At 10:00 the St. Joseph’s Society and St. Mary’s Society held their meetings in the all-purpose room of the school. These meetings went on all day and only about 35-40 people went to these meetings. Everyone else spent the afternoons and mornings relaxing, visiting and helping in the kitchen. The St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s Societies are Catholic Indian Societies from Montana and North Dakota. Most of the members are from Ft. Peck and the Sioux choir is in these groups. During their meeting, they sang songs, prayed and conducted their business. At noon, lunch was served and afterward, the meetings continued.

In the afternoon, two tipis were set up next to the arbors. They took about three hours to set up. It may not have taken so long, but the men putting them up had a hard time deciding how to set them up since they were from different tribes. All the tribes do it a little differently. It was an intertribal tipi. The covering was Sioux (Joe Red Thunder) and the pole arrangement was Crow. Russel Plainfeather directed setting up the poles. These tipis were supposed to be used for the sacrament and for confessions, but they were never used during the Congress except the kids played in them.

Also, during the day, boys played basketball in the new gym. There were complaints from some people that their belongings were disturbed, and some things were stolen from the gym.

A group arrived and they wanted to sell religious books. Father told them to go ahead. Mike was mad because the Congress committee decided that nothing would be sold. They wanted to avoid turning the Congress into anything commercial. So, Mike confronted Father about it and Father told them they could only sell the books at mealtimes.

During the afternoon a small plane landed on the canyon road. A priest came in. The plane came back for him and landed and took off on the canyon road.

At 5:00 dinner was served. At 6:30 the spiritual conference began, the major and central part of the Congress. It opened with a prayer by Bishop Schuster. After the Bishop’s prayer, an honor song was sung by the Hays Singers, Gordon, Edith, Bobby, Caroline, Ray, Lyle, Matthew and Cyndee. Father decided on the symbolism of these honor songs. On Friday, the honor song was for the Father, on Saturday it was in honor of the holy spirit and the deceased Christian Mothers and on Sunday in honor of the Father – because it was Father’s Day. When the honor song was first sung only a few people danced, but Father McNutt and the others joined in, and before long there was a full circle of dancers around the entire speaker’s arbor and about 5-6 people deep dancing in the honor (brave heart) dance. When the song was completed, and it was very long, people returned to the arbor. People sat on the benches under the arbor, but as many sat on chairs and blankets on either side of the spectator’s arbor. Both Indians and whites danced together. Gerald was standing by the arbor and Mike told him he was glad to see him at the Congress. Gerald said he was there because he was asked to be the MC at the Christian Mother’s give away the next morning. Then Father MacNutt, Barbara Schlemon and Paul each got up and introduced themselves. They talked about their backgrounds and how they got involved in the Congress. Then the Living Sound did a few songs. Then the ‘team’ talked about healing and introduced the idea to the people of healing through prayer. The people all talked about how much they enjoyed the music of the Living Sound. After the spiritual conference, people went back to their camps.

Saturday, June 18

Breakfast was served at 7:30. At 9:30 Bishop Schuster celebrated a memorial mass for the deceased Christian Mothers. This mass was also concelebrated. Then after the mass, the Christian Mothers formed a line behind Irma who held a banner with a picture of the Blessed Mother on it. All the blankets and other material were placed in front of the speaker’s arbor. The Hays Singers played an honor song and Irma led the Christian Mothers around the arbor (clockwise). A lot of people joined in dancing, Indian and whites, and all the priests. There were so many people that a full circle was formed around the arbor. After the honor song, Gerald went to the microphone and with Irma (president) and Gootch (secretary treasurer) at his side, he started the giveaway to all the visitors. It started at 11:15. The blankets were piled high. They gave away to all the priests and all visitors (my family and Mike’s family), some of the volunteers and some of the people from the community, especially the older people. The giveaway was very long and we brought lunch out at 12:15 to get out of the way of the women making dinner. About 200 people got in line at the serving arbor, but I went up to Irma and asked her if we should start. She asked me to wait until the end of the giveaway. People in the line were getting upset and were making comments about having to wait. Freddie came up to me and noticed the flack I was taking. He said I shouldn’t listen to them. That it was the right thing to do, to be waiting. It’s the Indian way to respect things. The giveaway concluded after 2:00.

The Christian Mothers gave $20 to Gerald for announcing the giveaway and they gave $20 to the Hays Singers for doing the honor song. Then lunch was served at 2:15. It lasted a long time, because we had about 1,500 people there.

After lunch there was a spiritual conference which started at about 3:15. The conference centered on the basic theme of the Congress, ‘healing between people.’ The team, Fathers MacNutt, Schaaf and Barbara Schlemon, talked about healing for people and forgiveness. They had the sacrament of penance (confession). The priests sat all over the conference grounds on chairs and people came up to them all afternoon. Then at 4:00 the Living Sound played some music. Dinner was served at 5:00.

At 7:00 the spiritual conference began with the Living Sound playing mood music in the background. They had three healings, one was for physical problems, one for emotional and one for spiritual problems. Each time they would ask for whoever had a problem to raise their hand. Then other people went up to them and laid their hands on their heads, arms or shoulders. Sometimes, two or three people. And everyone prayed for their problems. The team members sang in tongues in the microphone and quite a few people in the audience also sang in tongues. This lasted for about five minutes. So, the whole prayer session lasted for about 45 minutes. A lot of Indian people raised their hands to be prayed for, but only two or three Indians went up to pray for someone. Bill prayed for Jim. (That was very sweet). Then everyone formed a circle and stood. I was standing next to Sonny, and I supported him while he was standing. Then he sat down. Then they asked us to pray for someone next to you, so I prayed for Sonny. He was in a euphoric state and kept uttering, ‘praise the lord.’ Earlier a few people prayed for him, during the physical healing and when it was over, they stood him up, but he fell back down. Sonny has MS and it is advanced. Jan gave a testimony about how at the last Congress she had an ulcer and had it healed. She has muscular dystrophy. That wasn’t healed.

After the prayer session, Tom Doney went up to the microphone, and he said that one of the leading members of the community was here and was his cousin. His mother was very sick in the Great Falls hospital, and he asked that everyone join him in saying three Hail Mary’s for her. So, everyone did. Then he said that the Congress this year was so good and all those who want it back at St. Paul’s Mission. There was a loud applause. Father Noel came up to me and said, ‘for your sake, I’m not applauding.’ Father Noel said that it would most likely be at St. Labre’s next year, because of their facilities or to Fort Toten, North Dakota. The spiritual conference ended at 10:30. A lot of people returned to the camp site and a lot of people prayed together throughout the evening.

During the afternoon, Howard came up to me and asked me if I would take some medals up to Father MacNutt and have him bless the medals for him. I told Howard that he should feel comfortable to ask Father to do this for him. I suggested that he ask him during the giveaway. Howard did go up and ask him to bless the medals, and he was really happy about it.

I was talking to Jan at one of the arbors. Sister Bart came up to us and said that she was just interviewed by the Living Sound. She said that she was on a video tape, and they asked her what she thought of the group. She then proceeded to tell us everything she had said to them in the interview – verbatim. Then she said, “I guess I talk too much.” Jan said, “Yes you do, Sister.” She said, “my father was a business man, I came about it honestly.”

Roseann said that she was glad because there weren’t people drunk at the Congress. There was one person who did get really drunk. In the afternoon, he lied down under a car to get out of the sun and took a nap.

At the Christian Mother’s give away, my sister received two blankets, one from Edith in honor of her mother and one from Irma in honor of her sister. Both were deceased Christian Mothers. This was a very big deal and really reflected the feelings and relationship we had with these two families. My sister received this honor because she had come from so far away. We had explained to my sister what the appropriate behavior was after receiving the blankets. She shook Edith’s and Irma’s hands and shook the hands of all the Christian Mothers standing next to the arbor. My brother received a shoeshine kit. Susie and I received a blanket from Joyce Gone. Mike’s father, mother and brother received beadwork from Roseann.

In the afternoon, Freddie came up to me and told me that he was building a sweat lodge up toward the canyon this afternoon. “We’re building it where the mission was, near the mouth of the canyon. I want you to come and sweat with us.” I told him I would have to wait and see what was happening tonight. At 6:30, one of Freddie’s friends from Crow came to get me. We were in the middle of serving dinner and I told him I couldn’t leave. When the spiritual conference ended at night, Roseann and Charles decided whether they would leave for Great Falls that night to be with Charles’ mother who was dying from kidney failure. She was on dialysis for over a year in Great Falls. They couldn’t decide and finally Roseann said, “let’s go see Diana. She has visions.” Charles said, “visions?” He allowed himself to be dragged off by Roseann.

Sunday, June 19

The last day of the Catholic Indian Congress began at 5:45 with a sunrise mass. Mass was held early because a lot of people came a long distance, and they wanted to hold mass for those who wouldn’t be there for the mass in the afternoon. The mass was held in the arbor and was concelebrated, as were all the masses. Father Noel said the major part of the mass. During the masses at the Congress, the priests wore red vestments. A lot of people went up for communion. At Friday’s mass, Father gave the people a choice of having either water or the wafer dipped in the wine. He’s sensitive to the alcohol issues. Everyone took both species.

After the sunrise mass, breakfast was served at 7:30. While we made breakfast and lunch, people came into the kitchen to get coffee. They said that they were leaving in the morning, and they filled their thermoses. We still had 1,200 people on Sunday. The local people from Hays went home every night. They didn’t camp at the Congress. One Indian woman came in while we were making sandwiches. She said that she had two boys and was leaving in the morning. She asked if she could take two sandwiches. I told her that would be fine. She said, well, there are six people in my family, can I have six sandwiches. I told her that was fine, and she left.

After breakfast there was a business meeting of the St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s Societies in the all-purpose room, and most of the priests attended this meeting. They were to decide the future plans for the Catholic Indian Congress and where the meeting would be held next year. It was later announced that it would be held at Ft. Totten, North Dakota. After the business meeting, there was a spiritual conference at 10:30. The Living Sound played a few songs first and then Father MacNutt and Barbara Schlemon introduced the next healing session. About 10-15 groups or teams lined up in front of the speaker’s arbor and people were told they could come forward for healing prayer. There were so many people who came forward for healing prayer. It lasted until 12:30. A lot of the people from Hays came forward, including some of the younger people. Father MacNutt, Jan and a few others laid their hands on people and then the person told them what the problem was, physical, emotional, spiritual, and the team prayed for them.

Lunch was served at 1:00. After lunch, the Living Sound played a few songs and Fathers MacNutt, Schaff, Retzel and Pete Guthnic concelebrated the mass. When the mass was completed, The Catholic Indian Congress committee, Father, Mike, JJ and Lindey prepared for the Congress committee giveaway. The Hays Singers moved their drum next to the speaker’s arbor. Then Father announced the honor song was going to be in honor of ‘Our Father’ because today was Father’s Day. Then the Hays Singers started the honor song. The Catholic Indian Congress committee led the honor song dance. About three quarters of the people there danced in the honor song. As I was dancing around the arbor, Barbara Schlemon came in and started dancing next to me. She asked me about my research here and then asked me what the singers were singing in their song. I told her that there weren’t words, they were syllables. It was more like a chant. She said that was interesting, because it was a lot like singing in tongues.

After the honor song, everyone sat down, and the committee stood up in front of the arbor where all the blankets and materials were. Mike was the MC for most of the giveaway and JJ helped out. Father and Lindey also stood up in front of the arbor. Mike called me up first and I thanked the Christian Mothers for all their help in preparing the meals and I gave them each some bread, fruit and chips that had been left over. I called each of the leaders in the group, Irma, Gootch and Lou Kirkaldie. Irma thanked everyone for coming to the Congress and Gootch and Lou also thanked everyone. Then we sat down.

Mike called me up again. He gave a short speech telling people that I was responsible for most of the meals. I was given a blanket from Vera Buckman in honor of one of her deceased relatives from the Christian Mothers. Vera was a student of mine from Urban Rural. I was so honored.

When I sat down, Father Retzel walked to the microphone and said that he would like to thank me. He said that this was an ecumenical effort, that Susie and I are a Jewish married couple that have worked at the mission for the past year and will be working for another year. “Sandy’s working on a PhD in education.” If Father had indicated that I was getting my degree in cultural anthropology, a body part might have fallen off. His internal conflict about my research never dissipated. I do have to also say that his noting that Susie and I were a Jewish couple was amazing. The priests and sisters, and the community people on the school board were courageous in allowing a Jewish couple to come to work at the mission. They knew we wouldn’t be spreading the gospel. (Just preparing meals for 1500 people).

Then Mike called me up and gave me a Pendleton shirt. Susie was called up, and she was also given a Pendleton shirt. The Hays Singers were given $25 from the Catholic Indian Congress committee. Fathers MacNutt and Schaaf, Father, Mike were each given vests that were made by Beatrice and had an Indian design on them. Barbara Schlemon also got one. Each one of them thanked the committee. Since everyone was going to the microphone, everyone else had to go there to thank the committee. This doesn’t usually happen at a giveaway. Ray accepted the Hays Singers gift. Frank was called up to accept a Pendleton shirt. When he got up there he said, “handing me this microphone is like handing me the reins of a horse. I can’t ride. Thank you.” Blankets and beadwork were given to all the people involved in preparing the Congress. Frank had made and donated the posters and helped in getting things from the tribe as a tribal councilman. He also helped build the arbors. Lester Doney for drawing the cover of the schedule, Howard for doing the electrical work. JJ and Lindey for their work on the committee. JJ’s daughter from Billings who helped get $600 donated from their parish in Billings, and the Living Sound. There were many others who helped and were recognized at the giveaway.

After the giveaway, dinner was served at 5:30. Just before dinner, they had the handshake again. It was done the same way as Friday. At this handshake, a lot of people got into the food line and ignored the handshake. The Living Sound played during the handshake. Quentin went to the microphone and sang an honor song that he had written. After dinner the Congress grounds emptied out. At 8:00, Father and Jan drove Father MacNutt and Barbara Schlemon down to Billings to catch a plane. There was no one around but the mission crew by 8:30 Sunday evening.

I was talking to Gordon and Edith while they were eating dinner. Gordon, the manager of the Living Sound and an evangelist came up to us. I told him that he should exchange records with Gordon and Edith, they made a record with the Hays Singers. He gave the Living Sounds record to Gordon and Edith. Edith thanked him.

At the end of the day, I gave a lot of the leftover food to the cooking crews. Soup, chips, fruit, rolls, bread and meat. Some people came up who hadn’t cooked and asked if they could have leftovers. They brought plastic containers for the food. Of course, I told them that was fine.

Monday, June 20

On Monday the mission was faced with the cleanup of a gigantic mess. There was trash all over the ground. On Saturday, I asked Father if he could take a few minutes and announce for everyone to pick up the trash around them. He said that he wouldn’t because time was too precious.

On Monday morning a SPEDY crew of 20 guys came in the back of a pickup with hard hats on. Another carload of girls came up with them. They came at 8:15 and by 10:30, they had the mission ground cleaned up, all the brush stacked up into a pile from the arbors, all the arbor poles down, the school all-purpose room cleaned and the rectory and the church cleaned. There wasn’t as much damage as had been anticipated. The stove top was cracked in the gym kitchen. Jim and Brian hauled the trash, and we hired Beatrice to clean the mission school kitchen. She worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for a total of twenty hours, so she made $60.

When Jim was done working on Monday night, Father took Jim and Beatrice into the rectory office. He prayed over Jim and told him that it would take a lot of prayer to cure him of his problem. Jim said that his hearing had improved a lot since Saturday when people had prayed for his healing. Father said that he has been praying for everyone since the Congress. He’s thinking about going to Steubenville, Ohio next week for another Charismatic Conference. A lot of the priests that were here are going to that conference. At the mass on Sunday, there was a freewill offering. JJ and Lindey took the collection. The committee paid off most of its bills. Father says that the mission didn’t spend much money. But it did. For all the functions and fund raisers, it cost the mission for utilities and other costs. There was travel using the mission gas and other expenses. The committee paid the bills on the food, travel and rooms for the team members and the Living Sound. They paid the Living Sound $2,800. They ask only for what you can afford. Last year they got $400 and they didn’t expect that much money.

June 20th An Interview with Mike

I did an interview with Mike about the Congress, the reactions in the Hays Community, the impact on the mission prayer meetings and the worldwide Charismatic Renewal. The following is my interview with Mike. He’s been involved in the Charismatic Renewal and has been almost solely responsible for the prayer meetings at the mission and planning the Catholic Indian Congress.

Father MacNutt has been involved in the Charismatic Renewal for the past ten years. He was the first Catholic priest to get involved in it. His ministry is prayer for healing and he’s the leader in the United States and world for that matter. He’s written two books about healing. The Charismatic Renewal is the renewal of the Christian church. It’s a return back to a reliance on more scripture. It’s back to the basics of scripture. And it’s the realization of the use of the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, healing through prayer, prophecy and other manifestations of the spirit. It’s a worldwide movement, and it’s a very big change for the Catholic Church. It’s radical, but I don’t like to use that word, because it is a return back to what the Church used to be, before it got so rigid and structured and put all the emphasis on ritual. The movement is calling people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and to have a personal relationship with Christ.

The prayer meetings have come out of the Charismatic Renewal. The prayer meetings started at the mission this year and I’m not bragging, but if it weren’t for me, the prayer group here wouldn’t have stayed together and made it. The core of the group is small; the same people every week, Lindey, Irene, JJ and Bernice, Roseann and Charles, Diana Mount, Eddie and Julia, Andrew and Teresa Lamebull, Louraine Grey, Anita Haakinson, Sister Bart, Father and me. Don and Pat Addy have been very involved in our group, but recently they’ve started their own at the Agency and Harlem. But they still come to our group occasionally. Since the Congress, the group has expanded. Last week we had 35 people. And we’ve changed the time of mass on Wednesday. It is usually said at 7:30 every weekday morning, but on Wednesday it’s celebrated after the prayer meeting at around 9:00 in the evening. Since the Congress, there have been some new people coming to the prayer meetings, Joyce, Rosey, Jeanette, Prince and his wife and daughter. Lindey has brought his whole family.

The prayer meetings have a number of different purposes and goals, but they’re all related. To praise God, thank him, pray for our needs, to learn our faith, and we all sing together, which helps bring the group closer, and to unify us which is another purpose. One of the main goals is to unite people. Another major goal of the prayer group and meetings is to change things in Hays. It’s brought up at every prayer meeting every week. It’s become so common that it’s not even talked about anymore. At the end of the prayer meeting we have petitions, people ask that we pray for their needs. The prayer for changes in Hays is brought up. The changes that they talk about in Hays usually concern, hate, jealousy, between people in the community, the drinking problem and the youth problem and marital problems. We’re at the prayer meetings to pray for people’s personal needs. We often pray for personal needs, physical, emotional and spiritual needs. We practice the ‘laying on of hands’ when we pray for people, and we pray over them. The people in the prayer group have become much more active than they were at the beginning of our group last August. If you’ve been to our prayer meetings you might think that they’re not active, but being with it all year, you can really see an improvement. They are so much more talkative, they participate more, they’re more active. Part of it is that it takes time for people to get close to each other, enough so that they can operate and open up in front of each other. The group is getting much closer now.

The Congress has helped the prayer group a lot too. It gave the people something concrete to believe in, and they started to realize this through their feelings. They realize this through their emotional inner feelings and in the inner healing, especially emotionally, that took place. They saw it and felt it in themselves, their faith became alive. They realize that Christ is really with us, all the time. The prayer group gained its biggest understanding when we made the trip down to Billings and joined in with a prayer group down there one night before the Congress. They saw what it would be like, and what it’s all about. It really helped the people here to understand what the prayer meetings are all about. The Billings prayer group has been together for four years. It really takes a long time before the prayer group can be developed, and this Billings group has made it. They use more spiritual gifts, and they feel more free to speak. As people in the group are together more, they trust each other more. There’s more closeness and fellowship and love between the members of the prayer group. And as a result, there’s not a fear of speaking at the prayer meeting. They began to realize that they all have one goal together; the human goal and people start to forget their differences. I can see this in our own group now more and more. Lindey, JJ, Bernice and Diana, Roseann, Charles and Lee Allen. These people are opening up more. The new people in the group aren’t so much, but it takes time.

There are six people in the community that I know of, and all in our prayer group who speak in tongues. One person received the gift at the Congress. Speaking in tongues is an ability everyone has, they just have to be willing to accept it in themselves. All six of these people have received the gift within the year. To speak in tongues, you have to set yourself free. We all have the ability. It’s a very humbling experience; It’s the peak of opening yourself up to one another. There you are babbling in front of people. According to a lot of people, though, it’s a language, maybe modern and some ancient. But it is a language. Some people have been able to identify the language they are speaking. But most can’t.

Father MacNutt is from St. Louis. He really didn’t start the Charismatic Renewal. The rebirth of the Charismatic Renewal was started by a small group of priests at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. It was about ten people who started it. I call it a rebirth because of all of what is in the renewal now used to be normal in the Catholic Church; this was before the Reformation. In the early Church, spiritual gifts were a normal thing. Father MacNutt was a pioneer in the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church. Father Schaaf is also very involved in the Renewal. His ministry is emotional healing. He has a special gift for emotional healing, but he will also do physical healing. Different people have different abilities of gifts in healing. His is emotional healing. He’s from Dayton, Ohio and he’s been in the Renewal for a while. He and Father MacNutt travel all over the world and the country. Barbara Schlemon was originally from Illinois but lives in Florida now. She’s married and has five children. She was a nurse and then discovered the value of prayer in healing. She felt that the Lord was calling her into a full-time ministry. So, she quit nursing. She only goes to a conference like this about once a month. The rest of the time she spends with her husband and children. The Living Sound is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. They have been in the music ministry for over five years. Their manager, Gordon, is an evangelist. They have toured her all over Europe and Africa. Gordon believes that Christianity should be introduced but not forced on people.

Before the Congress, most of the reactions I got from people here were a mixture of curiosity and fear. People thought that they would have to take a stand on their faith in front of a crowd, and they were afraid that they would have to show their faith in front of others. There was such a lack of understanding about the Congress. Some people thought it was going to be a bunch of holy rollers. A lot of people asked me what was the reason for having it, and they wanted to know what they were going to do at the Congress. There were a lot of people from Hays who didn’t come at all. I think there were a few reasons why they didn’t come. They were afraid of what they didn’t understand. They have the security of belonging to the Church and not having to participate. People come and sit in the back of the church; there’s hardly any response in the prayers and the only ones who sing the hymns are the sisters. At our last prayer meeting, this man said that the distance between them really bothered him, and he asked that everyone move up. We stood around the altar while he said mass and it was so much better. People said that they liked it more and felt they were a part of the mass. But this was the prayer group. They’ve been together now for a year, and their attitude is different. And they’re a small minority in Hays.

Most of the people don’t want to see a change in the church to an outward faith. They’re not comfortable participating in the church. One man told me that he thought Father was foolish for having the Congress. The people aren’t comfortable with what Father wants of them. They don’t want to have to show their faith, and they don’t want to participate in the church. So many people don’t understand much about the church. All they understand are the tangible, the ritual. They are almost completely ignorant about their faith and the beliefs that underlie all this extra stuff. Most people here think that the holy days that have something tangible associated with them are the most important ones. They’re most concerned with the tangible. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of lent; 40 days before Easter. Ashes are used to show the humbleness of man, but it’s only something symbolic. It’s not that important. But a lot of people come that day just to get the ashes. Our biggest attendance at church is when there is a holiday where something tangible is given out or used. But they don’t understand what it is all about. This community and the whole reservation for that matter is a very conservative Catholic community. They like the traditions, the old way of doing things. There are so many people here who would like to see the Latin Mass brought back. They don’t like the mass in English. They’re comfortable with the traditional practices and they don’t want to see changes. They don’t like the changes at all. A lot of people complain that they don’t like the hugging and touching and holding that goes on now. During the service when the priest says show peace to the people around you, I know a lot of people feel uncomfortable. I’ve told the prayer group about this, and I keep telling them that you have to do what’s in your personality. If it’s outside your personality, then it’s wrong for you. If you feel uncomfortable about it, then you shouldn’t do it. I haven’t heard anything negative about the Congress. I haven’t heard anything negative from either people who were there or from people who weren’t. Some people who weren’t there said that they heard about it and wished they’d come. I’ve heard a lot of positive comments from the people who were at the Congress. Most people said the same things about it. They enjoyed the universality of the Congress. So many people coming together and all the goodness that was felt there. And the love that was felt and shown between people in Hays. A lot of people said that they never saw such a large gathering of people in Hays in years, since the old Hays Fair, and where everyone got along so well. There was no alcohol or disorderly conduct, and they just felt so good being there. One of the police was on duty one night at the Congress and he told me that he was so happy to see such a large gathering where everyone got along so well. Howard said that he never saw such a large crowd of people that were so happy, and it made him feel good just to be there. A lot of people were impressed with the gentleness of Father MacNutt and Barbara and how easy they were to understand and how down to earth their talks were. They said that they were very comfortable being there. A lot of people told Sister Laura that they were comfortable there, they didn’t feel on the spot, and they felt they could just sit back and listen to the talks. She said she was impressed with it. I thought there were about 100 people there from Hays, but about half of them were curiosity seekers. A lot of people came for other reasons, too, who weren’t interested in it. Some of the Christian Mothers were there only because they were in the kitchen crews and they had to participate in the giveaway. Same with the Hays Singers. Most of them were here because they were asked to sing but weren’t interested in it. Curiosity brought most of the people here from Hays who came and that wasn’t too many. It made me feel good to see Jim go up for healing prayer and there were a few others.

Everyone enjoyed the Living Sound, and they liked the songs and the singers. They said they were nice and friendly. When the Living Sound played background music during the healing, I enjoyed it. It set the mood. You can’t separate the emotional from the spiritual. I didn’t even realize that Father MacNutt and Barbara were singing in tongues. I was too busy praying for people. A lot of people came to me to pray for them for emotional healing. I enjoy praying for emotional healing and I think that is my gift. I prayed in teams mostly with Father Noel, my brother Phil and Jan. Through the whole Congress and afterward, I never heard any comments from the Indians about the whites who were there, and I never heard any whites say anything about the Indians. I think that all the people there got along really well, and there was a good feeling about and between everyone. The ratio of Indian to white this year was much higher than it was last year at the Poplar Congress. There weren’t too many people who understood healing before the Congress and even now there aren’t many people who understand it. But Father MacNutt and Barbara gave them a foundation. They opened a new idea for them of Christian faith if they want to accept it. The Congress started something here, but the renewal of faith depends on the people here to keep it moving and to keep it growing. Since the Congress, we’ve had 35 people at our prayer meeting which is quite an increase. It’s really up to a few people, the core group, JJ, Lindey, Sister Bart, Father and myself to keep it going. It’s up to us to keep the group developing and growing and it’s up to the people themselves. But since the Congress at least they have the foundation now. There are some new people at the meetings. It’s going to be hard to get the young people here interested and involved in the Charismatic Renewal and in the church for that matter. But this is my philosophy. When the prayer meeting and group starts to grow, they will also grow closer together. It’s already started to happen and has happened. We are becoming strong by praying together and singing together, and you can feel the closeness of the group. And the people in the prayer group are growing and developing themselves. The love between the people is also developing and growing. When the love becomes strong enough, we won’t have to advertise. All people understand the language of love; it’s something we can all feel and understand. Everyone needs love, and they will go to where they can get it. The love in our prayer group will draw people into the prayer meeting and group, and into the Charismatic Renewal and into the church. Some younger people went up for prayer at the Congress, some young people opened themselves up. It can happen. It will take a long time, though.

Our mass is lacking so much here, and I can’t blame it all on Father. It’s the people. They don’t want to become involved. It’s the total lack of involvement. There’s no response, no one will sing along in the hymns. It’s just dead in there. At the Congress, we had meetings before each of the spiritual conferences. The team wanted to know what the people’s mood was and where people were at, because they wanted to plan and direct the conference to where people were at. These meetings before the conferences were attended by Francis MacNutt, Barbara, me, Jan, Father, Gordon from Living Sound, JJ, Lindey, Father Guthnic and Joe Red Thunder. We had these meetings every morning and before each of the spiritual conferences. Father MacNutt who led and directed the Congress was most interested in what JJ and Lindey had to say because he felt that they knew the people better and he wanted to know where the people were at so he could get some idea of what area his talks should narrow in on and what areas the healing should emphasize. He wanted to know where the healing was needed most here.

JJ and Lindey both told him about the problems in Hays, and they emphasized the hostilities between tribes here and the prejudice against the Chippewa French. They told him about the word ‘breed’ and about the emphasis on the amount of blood an Indian has. And they talked about the hatreds that existed between families and the fighting between families in Hays. MacNutt talked about it at one of the spiritual conferences and brought in the theme of the Congress, ‘healing between people.’ He talked about his travels in Korea and Africa and how the different tribes there hated each other. He talked about it as a worldwide problem and then talked about a solution. He talked about the importance of forgiveness, and he talked about the teaching of Jesus and the necessity that we forgive each other. Each of the spiritual conferences had a different theme or emphasis. Friday evening, the introduction of team members and a general talk on healing, the importance and necessity of forgiveness. Saturday morning, Barbara talked about inner healing or emotional healing. Saturday afternoon, the importance of forgiveness. Then all the priests heard confessions on the Congress grounds. This took most of the afternoon. The priests sat on chairs out on the grounds and people walked out to the priest they wanted to confess to. We call this the sacrament of penance or reconciliation now, not confession. Then the group got back together and talked about forgiveness. They emphasized forgiveness between families and people in the community, within families, and between husband and wife.

Saturday evening, the team members explained healing and Jan gave a testimony of her experience with healing at the Catholic Indian Congress last year. They encouraged people to pray together for healing. They explained that the Lord hears everyone and that we all have the ability to heal through prayer for others. We should realize that we all have these special gifts, and it’s everyone’s duty as a Christian to pray for their ‘brother.’ Then they held healing prayers. We all prayed for each other for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. People with problems raised their hands and someone from the crowd went up to pray for them. I did this with Jan, Father Noel and Phil. We went around and prayed for people.

Sunday morning, the team really pinpointed the talks and encouraged people to pray for each other. They held a prayer session. This was the highlight of the Congress. They asked people to come forward and to ask the Lord for any healing they wanted. There were teams there to pray over whoever came up. They also had blessed oil, the anointing of oil. Some teams anointed people with the blessed oil. It’s a sign of strength and the love and the power of Jesus Christ. Also, oil is a sign of healing. This comes from way back in the early church when the early physicians used oil for curing and healing. Father MacNutt led the healing session, and he asked people to come forward and to ask for prayer for whatever healing people wanted, to increase one’s faith, to become a stronger and better Christian, and emotional, physical and spiritual healing. There were about ten prayer teams. Some prayed alone and some prayed in groups. The groups were Father MacNutt, Barbara, Father Schaaf, Joe Red Thunder, Father Guthnic, Jan, Phil and me, Father Noel, Father and there were a lot of priests. A lot of people came up for prayer for healing. 

Father MacNutt said that he was really happy because Saturday evening after the conference, people went back to the camps and prayed together. And Indians and whites prayed together. This made him happy because he’s trying to teach people that they can pray for each other for healing. It doesn’t have to be a priest. When the Congress ended on Sunday, before the handshake, the people were really spiritually high. The Living Sound played, ‘God Can Do It Again.’ Everyone sang along and made the Living Sound play it three times. People came to the Catholic Indian Congress from all over the country. There were several chartered buses, but most everyone drove. They came from the reservations all over Montana and the plains and from cities all over. From the guest roster, I found that people came from New York, Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Indiana, Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Iowa, Texas, Mexico, California, and Ohio.

All the masses during the Congress were concelebrated but each of the masses was directed by a priest. Father directed the Friday morning mass. On Saturday morning, Bishop Shuster celebrated a memorial mass in the honor of the deceased Christian Mothers. We prayed for these people. The sunrise mass was directed by Father Noel and Sunday afternoon was celebrated by Father MacNutt, but Father Schaaf and Father Guthnic and Father also celebrated the mass with him.

The Catholic Indian Congress had some major goals and they were: to let people know that Jesus Christ loves them and that he wants to be a part of every part of their lives; that through Jesus any area of our lives that are broken can be healed, that Jesus wants to be our own personal lord and savior, the whole idea of love, that Jesus loves us and that we in turn owe it to love our brothers, this is where the theme of ‘healing between people’ comes in, and that when people see and experience healing in themselves and in other people, they realize that Jesus is alive and he’s with us.

You know, Sandy, what’s really interesting is that if you came here to do your research two years ago or even one year ago, you would have found something completely different in this community. As far as the religious part of these people, it has really changed in the past two years. If you came two years ago, you would have found the church the same way it was fifty years ago. There were no changes in the church, and the community was so traditional and conservative in their religion. About a year or two ago this church and community started to change. It’s not the whole community yet, but it’s growing slowly, and it’s reaching more and more people. And it has changed the people who it has reached, and it has changed the church, and it is changing the community. There’s been a revival of faith around here. These people have never been around real faith before, and now they have and it’s changing them. This reservation and the community is in the early stages of a revival. The Charismatic Renewal is in the church, and it is getting stronger and it has reached the reservation. There are a lot of reasons why the revival is happening now and why the renewal is changing the church and starting to flourish. More and more people are accepting the spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy) and the prayer meetings are getting better. We’re really growing and the people are growing. I really think that the changes in the community and the turn toward the renewal in this community were started by the Catholic Indian Congress last June in Poplar and with the people who went to that Congress. And the prayer group has kept the movement and the revival going here and has involved more people. The Congress this year really gave things a lift here. It was so good for the people who weren’t previously interested or involved.

Charismatic Renewal to a lot of people who weren’t interested before are becoming now. Also, there are other prayer meetings and groups starting on the reservation. We have prayer meeting in Hays, Don Addy and Eddie have started one together at the Agency and Joe McConnel has one at 3 Buttes and People’s Creek. They meet in his home (he’s on the tribal council). It’s not just here in Hays. The Charismatic Renewal, the revival, is spreading and growing all over the reservation. There really is a revival going on here and you’re seeing it. Father has changed. He used to not pay too much attention to it, and now he’s getting deeply involved with it. His change has come in the past two years.

When I first got here, he was pretty skeptical about the renewal. But in the past year, he has changed spiritually, and this is going to help along the revival in the community. Things are changing here. At a prayer meeting a few weeks ago, a man and a woman said that they were alcoholics, and they wanted everyone to pray for them to be healed from drinking. That took a lot of guts to admit in front of everyone. Our group is becoming close, and the people are opening up to each other. This also shows that we are trusting each other more and are willing to ask for help from each other. Things are changing here in Hays, and the revival is starting here in Hays and in the mission.

Postscript

Mike died a few years ago. I’m sad that he isn’t here to read this interview. His reaction would have been really interesting. Over our decades-long friendship, Mike and I often spoke about our faith and spirituality. We came from such different places in our upbringings and life experiences regarding religion. Mike left the reservation and eventually joined the seminary and became a priest. He later left the priesthood and married Ligia and had a beautiful family. I was thrilled for him. When Mike told Susie and I that he wanted to be a priest, we told him that we were not surprised but were disappointed. We told him that he would have been such a wonderful husband and great father, and we were sad that he was going to miss out on those experiences. Well, he came back to those experiences and created a beautiful life for himself, Ligia and their children.

Over the many years, our beliefs and our faith evolved. This evolution was not in any way linear or particularly rational. I would say that both of us were all over the place. Our last serious conversation was in 2017. I had inadvertently left Pauline’s wheelchair at the Hays pow wow and didn’t realize it until we got out of our car in Havre. Long story. Not going into it. Anyway, Mike took the trip back to the reservation with me to retrieve it, so we were in the car together for a few hours.

Being a cultural anthropologist and a humanist (I tend to like humans), my personal perspectives on faith are seriously colored by my life experiences. I think it is that way for everyone. All of what we believe goes through the prism of our socialization, our life experiences and our personalities. I am Jewish be virtue of accidentally being the child of two Jewish parents. If I was born into Mike’s family, I would have been Catholic. If I was born into a Dugam Dani family, I would have inculcated their beliefs. All accidents of birth. The world’s cultures each have their unique religions. Every one of these groups believes that they are the chosen people, the real people. Everyone who thinks differently are not the chosen ones; the others are dazed and confused. Religion provides the answers to all the unanswerable questions. They are unanswerable because they are not knowable from empirical information. They are the mysteries of life. Each religion has their own take on the unanswerable. As I have a brain and some minimal amount of logic and reason, I have finally concluded that we make it all up. Every society has a set of beliefs and rituals that support their way of life, explain where they came from (origin stories), and provide all the dos and don’ts with matching rewards and consequences. Every society does it and every society does it differently.

So, I lay all of this out in front of Mike, the former priest and devote Catholic. Mike and I truly loved and respected each other. He would never tell me that I was crazy or wrong. He listened to me. Our ensuing conversation was laced with more agreement and understanding than differences.

And I always hold out the possibility that I will learn the ultimate answer when I die. Or I won't.

He was a unique and wonderful human being.

In thinking back to our time in Hays, our time at the mission and the Charismatic Renewal, Mike was the perfect guy to introduce all this touchy-feely stuff to the community. As noted previously, one of the most important traditional values was bravery … demonstrated in warfare, horse stealing and hunting. This was a community of Indians and Indian cowboys. Father was difficult for the men to relate to … touchy feely was way too much in his wheelhouse. When it came from Father, the touchy-feely message had a difficult time crossing the barrier that was his personality.

Not Mike. Mike had just returned from the army serving in Vietnam. Many of the people in Hays had done military service and they all related to Mike’s experiences. He was an avid hunter and was an excellent marksman. And he was totally open to all of what I would refer to as ‘the crazy shit’ that was going on regularly in Hays, i.e., racing after antelope on the prairie at 40 mph in a truck or jumping off a cliff with the boys in his mission school gym class.

He was an excellent carpenter, and he was good with his hands and could fix anything. And he was fearless. I never saw him turn away from trouble or a problem. He faced it and did what he could to fix it … mechanical problems, animal problems, human problems. Mike was a manly man with a huge heart. The prefect messenger to this community of the most touchy-feely stuff known to humankind. His words carried weight in the community. Mike was respected and loved in the community.

May his memory be a blessing.