St. Ann's Indian Mission, Belcourt, ND
By Paul Braun | Editor of New Earth
Not even a late Spring blizzard could keep the faithful away from the first annual Turtle Mountain Marian Conference, held May 24-26 at St. Ann’s Indian Mission in Belcourt. Just over one-hundred parishioners of St. Ann’s and visitors from several other reservations joined in venerating Our Lady and asking her blessings on, and intercession for, the people of the Turtle Mountains.
The conference keynote speaker, Monsignor Chad Gion, Pastor of the Church of St. Peter at Fort Yates, which is in the Bismarck Diocese on the Standing Rock Reservation, says Native American culture has honored Mary since the day she appeared to St. Juan Diego.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe, who came to the Americas with the features and clothing of a Native Aztec princess, demonstrated that God cares about Indigenous people as Indigenous people,” said Monsignor Gion. “Our Lady's presence on the hill in Tepeyac demonstrated that abandoning (Native American) culture and way of life was unnecessary. My hopes for the conference were very modest. For me, it was enough that it was happening. What Our Lady would do with the conference was up to her.”
Native American tribes as a whole have a great deal of respect for motherhood. In most native cultures, “Mother Earth” is respected for bringing forth life, so honoring and venerating Mary our Mother closely aligns with Native American culture, while still holding with the Catholic faith.
“So many tribes are matriarchal,” said Father Roger Synek, Pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in New Town, just across Lake Sakakawea from the Three Affiliated Tribes Reservation, also in the Bismarck Diocese. “In at least one ancestral story passed on by the elders about how their people were helped or the origins of their people, there is usually a strong woman who assists or leads the people in the right way. For those who become Catholic, many times this woman is referred to as Mary. People respond to her because she is a woman, because she is a leader, because she is a mother. Her strong feminine and motherly qualities are attractive.”
The conference was organized by a team from the Turtle Mountain area led by Mary Lou Davis, St. Ann’s parishioner and wife of retired St. Ann’s Deacon Francis Davis. The three-day event involved some Native American traditions common in the Turtle Mountain area, including wearing Ribbon Skirts and Shirts during the processions for the opening and closing Masses, a Holy Hour for children (canceled due to the snow storm), and a healing ceremony, which Father Synek was asked to lead.
“When people see real healings or experience a healing themselves, they encounter Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit,” said Father Synek. “It becomes harder to deny that Jesus is here among us now and that he really does care for us. Jesus is not just a character in the Bible, someone who did all those great things long ago, but he is my God who wants to be part of my life. God certainly did show up! There were a lot of healings! Many people received physical healings and I dare say everyone felt the presence of the Holy Spirt in a powerful way. God doesn’t want to heal just our physical body, He wants to heal our entire being. God created us with a soul that experiences spiritual movements, emotions, relationships, and mental activity. Healing needs to happen in all these areas.”
Organizers hope the Marian Conference concept will rotate annually to other Native American reservations across the Dakotas. Father Synek says it’s especially important for giving hope to families, especially children on reservations. He says, similar to many rural communities, children and teens on reservations are plagued by struggles with drug use or suicide. He also sees future conferences as an opportunity to bring awareness to the concept of possibly establishing more Montessori Schools on reservations, which he says are respectful of tribal traditions and customs more than other educational systems.
“(The conference) is for evangelization. It is for healing. It is for saving the people from the allurements of the world,” said Father Synek. “Mary leads us to an encounter with Jesus, and when we believe with our whole heart and mind and soul and strength that he is Lord and Savior and give our control and lives over to Jesus, he will save us from the effects of trauma, he will save our children who have been enticed to use worldly things, especially suicide, to deal with pain from trauma. Mary will help lead us all back to our true identity, our basic identity as sons and daughters of God the Father, and all the implications of what it means to be a son or a daughter of the Father, what is mine is yours.”
