HEBRON – A “life-changing experience” was the way those who participated in last summer’s Pine Ridge Mission Trip described their volunteer work at the Native American reservation in South Dakota when they hosted supporters last month at a luncheon hosted by St. Helen.
With the connection between the trio of One Catholic Family parishes – Holy Spirit in Winfield and St. Mary in Kouts with St. Helen in Hebron as the catalyst – and the Lakota people of Pine Ridge stronger than ever, Father Ian Williams, priest-in-residence at St. Helen, used the luncheon to introduce “a new partnership between the Pine Ridge parishes and our three parishes.”
This partnership would build upon “our 18 years of sending people to the Pine Ridge Reservation” as missionaries, said Father Williams, who explained that his own Native American ancestry led to him “always feeling an affinity for Native Americans.”
While on last summer’s mission trip, Father Williams said he proposed to the head of Red Cloud Indian School and a parish priest on the reservation “a lasting relationship” that “could be a real blessing for us and a real blessing for them.
“Father David Mastrangelo, SJ (the Jesuit president of the school) and the other priests at Pine Ridge were very supportive of my idea, and are talking with their families about it,” Father Williams added.
“We could send them our prayer intentions and they would send us their intentions,” suggested Father Williams.
In addition to raising funds to send school supplies to Red Cloud each year and periodically sending missionaries to help improve living conditions on the reservation, Father Williams said the partnership would cultivate a new spiritual connection and could initiate two-way travel.
“I hope for us to come to know and love the people there, with us going up there and elevating the sacraments with them, going into their homes to eat meals and just be with them, and writing to those we meet to continue our relationships,” explained Father Williams.
“I (also) picture a group of Lakota Catholics coming here to Indiana, staying in our homes, sharing a potluck meal and showing them our area and telling them about our history,” said Father Williams, who is working with St. Helen pastoral associate Karen Yankauskas on implementing his plan.
“We have had great support from our parishioners in sending school supplies to Red Cloud, and now Father Ian is looking into working with the Knights of Columbus to send boxes of winter coats and other clothing to extend that support,” said Yankauskas, who has led the mission trips to South Dakota.
“I studied the Lakota people in school and read “Black Elk Speaks” and other books about the people,” said Father Williams, calling the powwow the Lakota shared with their Hoosier guests the highlight of his trip. “The customs and the celebration of the good things in their culture was beautiful,” he said.
Pat Gorski, of St. Mary, said she has donated clothing and funding for the school backpacks and would be happy to support the partnership. “I’ve always had great empathy for the Native Americans; I feel they were cheated by the U.S. government … and have an extreme need with the poverty and problems they have to deal with,” she said. “Donating to the school is important to me, because I believe education is the path out of poverty.”
A former teacher, Pat Steffel, of St. Helen, said supporting Red Cloud Indian School and the reservation itself “is a good idea. I would like to visit their Catholic schools.”
Mike Zolfo, of Holy Spirit, participated in this year’s mission trip after learning about it in the parish bulletin. “I was sad, angry and hopeful. I saw poverty like I’ve never seen; no one should live like some of those people live.
“They were so grateful for the work that we did with the Re-Member – the volunteer organization at Pine Ridge – and it was great to be a part of it, whether building bunk beds, putting skirting around their trailers or building outhouses,” he added.
Red Cloud Indian School is a private, Catholic, K–12 school run by the Jesuits in Oglala Lakota County. Located in the Diocese of Rapid City, it serves Oglala Lakota Native American children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which covers more than 2.8 million acres in southwestern South Dakota.
To donate to Pine Ridge Reservation or learn more about the partnership, contact Karen Yankauskas at St. Helen at 996-4611.
Caption: Working on trailer skirting during their mission trip to Pine Ridge Reservation in southwest South Dakota last summer are One Catholic Family parishioners (from left) Rochelle McNamara, Paul Yankauskas, James Yankauskas and Leon Pawlowski. Photos from the trip were shared during a luncheon for supporters hosted on Sept. 14 at St. Helen in Hebron, which organized the trip. (Provided photo)
