Native Indian parish and archdiocese clash

Today’s Mineapolis StarTribune reports on a clash between the Church of Gichitwaa Kateri and the chancery over the incorporation of Indian elements into the celebration of Mass. Fr. James Notebaart, pastor of the parish for nearly 20 years, encouraged such inculturation of the liturgy.

Not sure whyย the Stribย went all the way to Virginiaย to find a religious studies professor to mangle sacramental theology so thoroughly in the last paragraph. Maybe there aren’t any liturgists at the University of St. Thomas or St. Catherine’s University or the College of Saint Benedict or St. John’s University or the College of St. Scholastic in Minnesota?

Let’s hope and pray that Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche can bring a peaceful resolution to the situation.

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36 responses to “Native Indian parish and archdiocese clash”

  1. Lynn Thomas

    Maybe they went to Virginia – a hotbed of Catholic theology – to find someone who would say what they wanted to hear?

    Ok, now off to get my tongue out of my cheek; I think it got stuck there on ‘hotbed’. . .

    Reply
    1. Linda Reid

      “โ€“ to find someone who would say what they wanted to hear?”
      Exactly the case, I fear.

      Reply
  2. Brigid Rauch

    Oh, for a Church that is more Catholic and less Roman!

    Reply
    1. Lynn Thomas

      Amen. AMEN. AMEN!!!!

      Reply
  3. Jeanne Marie Miles

    I’m not sure why this is news, but mustum is considered valid matter for Eucharist, by decree of the CDW some years ago:
    “Mustum, which is grape juice that is either fresh or-preserved by methods that-suspend its fermentation without altering its nature (for example, freezing), is valid matter for the celebration of the Eucharist.” (“Gluten Allergies/Alcohol Intolerance and the Bread and Wine used at Mass,” CDW July 24, 2003, Prot. 89/78-174 98)

    Reply
  4. Ben Blackhawk

    I was invited by this community to provide some music for their liturgy but I chose not to go back because I felt the inculturation was not done well. I got the sense that Indian culture was first and the Catholic faith was second, if it fit in OK with the culture. Catholic things that did not “fit” were jettisoned.

    The other typical thing with this article was that the reporter failed to mention that most Catholic churches do not distribute the precious blood on a routine basis at Sunday mass. Wouldn’t this have been a salient fact to include.

    Reply
  5. George Andrews

    If you can prove to me that the Blessed Kateri worshiped the way described in the article, then you can convert me. These – 70’s- additions to Catholic worship strike me as very condescending.

    >…wigwam, contains a bundle that holds sacred things, including the Eucharist. Traditional Ojibwe medicines such as tobacco, cedar, sage and sweet grass are used as regular parts of the Sunday Eucharist<

    What the heck?!! This reminds me too much of the statue of Buddha being placed on top of a tabernacle at Assissi…

    Reply
    1. Anthony Ruff, OSB Avatar
      Anthony Ruff, OSB

      But that statue of Buddha was placed there by Buddhists, not by Christians incorporating native elements of their culture. I don’t defend the Buddha statue being placed there – but I don’t think it’s something entirely different.
      awr

      Reply
  6. Fr. Jan Michael Joncas

    Mr. Blackhawk and Mr. Andrews raise an important point for any discussion of particular communities’ worship: the outsider vs. the insider perspective. Mr. Blackhawk reports that he chose to attend one service and judged that the community’s worship prized “Indian culture” more than “Catholic faith” without indicating what elements of those realities lead to his judgment. It would probably be helpful to know more precisely what the concrete elements were that led him to this judgement. He also states that he “felt the inculturation was not done well” (which I would characterize as a judgement rather than a feeling). It would probably be helpful to know what he would consider to be successful examples of this kind of liturgical inculturation and how specifically this community was deficient. All of this would be important information from one who chooses not to worship with this community and would therefore be an “outsider” to this style of worship. I would think that it would be of some interest to seek out information from “insiders” as well: those who regularly worship with this community, those who know the history of how these elements came to be grafted onto Roman Rite eucharist, those who could articulate how they are positively received by the worshipers. Mr. Andrews reports that he is tending toward a judgement that the reported additions to Roman Rite worship strike him as “very condescending.” Once again it would seem to me that one would wish to interview members of the community who regularly worship with these additions to judge whether or not they feel condescension in their celebrations and/or I suppose one could investigate the process by which these elements were incorporated into the community’s worship to try to determine the power exercised in incorporating them, by whom and in what way. This is part of the reason that I think the social sciences may be helpful in our analysis of the liturgy.

    Reply
  7. George Andrews

    Father J>>to judge whether or not they feel condescension in their celebrations and/or I suppose one could investigate the process by which these elements were incorporated into the communityโ€™s worship <<

    ok, Father is right, but the article was inadequate to explain all that. I only had the retired priest's name to go on. I am assuming he was not Amerindian and- because of his 20 year tenure- that many of these questioned elements flowered under his supervision and maybe his encouragement.

    If these accretions were strictly something the father was forced into, then I could accept that they are not 'condescending'. ntl they still sound like they are things which would make 99.9% of the world's Catholics wonder what sort of Church they have wandered into.

    This is why I take issue with Brigid's comment that these idiosyncracies make it more Catholic. They make it unwelcoming to those are not on the 'in'.
    (or at least to those who have not taken the 'sensitivity training'). That is uncatholic.

    Reply
    1. Brigid Rauch

      cathยทoยทlic
      โ€‚ โ€‚/หˆkรฆฮธษ™lษชk, หˆkรฆฮธlษชk/ Show Spelled[kath-uh-lik, kath-lik]
      โ€“adjective
      1.
      broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.
      2.
      universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.
      3.
      pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.

      My interpretation is that we should be a universal Church which allows local expression of common belief.

      For example, there was a recent article here lauding the enormous censer used at a Spanish Church. Not my cup of tea, but then I don’t live in Spain!

      Reply
      1. Fritz Bauerschmidt Avatar
        Fritz Bauerschmidt

        I think the tensions arise between definitions 1and 2 and definition 3.

      2. George Andrews

        Dear Brigid,

        Suppose I were a klansman who detested the Catholic Church for its ‘mixing of the races’ and wanted a plan to bring Dr. King’s ‘The Most Segregated Hour in America’ – being the hour of worship-to the Catholic Church I would love a program which lets each parish slip into its own provincial way of doing things. Right back to the good old ‘separate but equal’ days! People will segregate. It’s natural once you give them the smorgasboard of choices/parishes/flavors.

        I mentioned earlier how, (back in the pre-conciliar Church)powerfully impressed Day and Bonhoeffer were by the sight of all races, rich and poor worshipping, communing at the same Mass. This treasure has been lost.

        Under the best of intentions….but ntl lost! That’s why I made the pronouncement that experiments like Fr. Notebaart’s are uncatholic.

      3. Rita Ferrone

        “sight of all races, rich and poor worshipping, communing at the same Mass. This treasure has been lost.”

        George, perhaps your experience has been colored (or washed out) by living in some homogenous enclave, but that’s still no excuse for such a vast generalization. Come to New York sometime, and see what Dorothy Day was talking about. Visit urban churches, or even suburban churches in multi-cultural neighborhoods. It hasn’t been lost. Not by any means. Really, I can’t even believe you are suggesting this. My whole life has been lived in the reality you describe as “lost.” I can assure you it exists in great quantities.

        What IS at risk of being lost, on the other hand, is the unique and important spiritual and cultural patrimony of “conquered” peoples such as Native Americans, whom the dominant white cultures sought for generations to stamp out, homogenize, and suppress.

        To attempt some forms of redress to curb the effects of such horrendous history is not the work of a day or even twenty years, but literally takes generations. I am proud that the people of God undertake such efforts, and I am sure the long-term gains are worth their commitment. Surely we can refrain from judging their efforts as an impoverishment of OUR experience, and ask what this had added to THEIR experience of God, worship, and church.

  8. Judy Schwager

    It’s my understanding that mustum is allowable for the celebrant if he is alcoholic or recovering alcoholic…but I did not think this applies also to an entire assembly. I know the distribution of communion under both bread and wine is preferred now by many dioceses, but communion under one of the species is by no means uncommon. In a situation like this, the best option seems to be distribution of the Body of Christ to the assembly, save the wine for the celebrant’s communion, but by all means don’t close the church over this!

    Reply
  9. Sebastian Pollock

    Ben Blackhawk: The other typical thing with this article was that the reporter failed to mention that most Catholic churches do not distribute the precious blood on a routine basis at Sunday mass. Wouldnโ€™t this have been a salient fact to include.

    but communion under one of the species is by no means uncommon.

    I think that both of these are untrue. Communion under both kinds is the norm. Churches where this does not happen in North America are the exception rather than the rule. Sure, some people are now going to post saying that they don’t have it in their churches, but they should look around at the wider Church. It is normative and normal. Most churches do it.

    Reply
    1. Chuck Middendorf

      You beat me to it. In fact, I’m pretty certain if you’d take a poll, which might be worth doing, I think most US and Canadian dioceses require (or, per the norm, at least strongly encourage) communion under both species.

      Yes, some parishes still might not do so. Other diocese may have halted it during the H1N1 silliness.

      Reply
    2. Fritz Bauerschmidt Avatar
      Fritz Bauerschmidt

      My impression is that this varies a good bit by locality. In the South, West and Midwest I think communion under both species is the norm, but it seems to me that in the Northeast and parts of the Mid-Atlantic it is less common.

      Reply
      1. Fr. Allan J. McDonald

        In the Diocese of Savannah and the Metropolitan of Atlanta, I think communion under both kinds is indeed the norm, but the suppression of it when bishops acknowledged for the first time ever that one might contract the H1N1 disease or a similar virus from the shared cup has caused its return to be somewhat modified and not uniform from parish to parish when the suppression was lifted.

  10. Pastor Tim Madsen

    Mazur said. “In the Catholic church, the wine becomes the actual blood of Christ. In Protestant churches, mostly, it’s a recollection of an event and not the mystery of the sacrament that it is for Catholics.”

    I wish that after all these years of ecumenical dialog, spokespersons for the Catholic church would learn to be more nuanced instead of lumping all Protestants together. Also, can someone comment on Fr. James Notebaart ? It seems to this Lutheran that I have heard his name before. Is he not a liturgist of some renown?

    Reply
    1. Anthony Ruff, OSB Avatar
      Anthony Ruff, OSB

      Pastor Madsen – please note, it wasnโ€™t a spokesman for the Catholic Church who made the unhelpful remarks โ€“ it was a religious studies prof from Virginia. This is why I took the Strib to task for going to him rather than any of the Catholic liturgists or theologians at the many Catholic colleges in Minnesota. Iโ€™m with you on this!
      awr

      Reply
  11. Gordon E. Truitt

    Jim Notebaart is indeed an excellent liturgist. I served with him on the FDLC Board of Directors in the early 1980s. He has spent years learning the culture of the Plains Indians, respecting their heritage, serving the Native American community in the Twin Cities. I know from our correspondence and from several of his articles in Pastoral Music and other publications how careful his adaptations of Latin Church liturgy have been and how careful he has been about incorporating elements of the community’s culture in ways that would not simply lift those elements and place them as some kind of token pieces in the Church’s liturgy. I am not surprised that a priest who has not spent time in this culture would find problems with the adaptations that the community has made and would, therefore, issue sweeping edicts that have caused chaos. Bulls, I guess, still invated china shops.

    Reply
    1. Fr. JP Erickson

      Gordon,

      I would respectfuly urge caution when describing another individual as a bull in a china shop, or as the proclaimer of edicts.

      Reply
      1. Todd Flowerday

        On the other hand, a priest is expected to have the pastoral and diplomatic skills to avoid problems like this in the first place.

        Five months in a new pastorate and already he’s gone, with no replacement in sight. Surely there’s another side to this story, but it looks very petty and adolescent on the part of the new pastor and the archbishop. have they taken lessons at the Vatican School of Public Relations?

        As for the criticism of “pagan objects,” what about basilicas, Christmas trees, Aristotelian philosophy, the date of the feast of the Nativity, and any number of other aspects, notably, the reference to “Roman” in much of what we do. This is very dangerous territory for a critic of this parish to be treading.

    2. George Andrews

      Dear Gordon,

      I found this description of Fr. Notebaart’s liturgy is this accurate?…..

      >> A layman carries an ignited bowl of sage and uses a feather to direct the smoke throughout the congregation. Drums are played to symbolize a heartbeat. The following prayer is recited: โ€œEarth, teach me stillness. Earth, teach me suffering as old stones suffer with memory. Earth, teach us freedom as an eagle who soars in the sky. Earth, teach us to forget ourselves as melted snow forgets itself.โ€ The people respond, โ€œJesus, hear us.โ€ Everyone takes some tobacco from a basket and drops it into the fire. A small pot of water is blessed by a woman, symbolizing the feminine role in giving life, and each person is offered a sip of “holy water” from the pot. A red willow sweat lodge holds various pagan objects sacred to the Indians, and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in โ€œa medicine bundle made of animal skinsโ€ which is stored inside the sweat lodge. The altar for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is โ€œa buffalo hide that lies on the floor in the center of the room.โ€ <<

      Reply
  12. Jack Finnerty

    “Maybe there arenโ€™t any liturgists at the University of St. Thomas or St. Catherineโ€™s University or the College of Saint Benedict or St. Johnโ€™s University or the College of St. Scholastic in Minnesota?”

    I don’t know how many of the previous respondents to this post are in fact liturgists at one of the institutions mentioned in Fr. Ruff’s comment. I certainly would like to hear from those who may have an inkling of how this issue and others like it have been successfully addressed in the past, particularly locally.

    Reply
  13. George Andrews

    Rita >>George, perhaps your experience has been colored (or washed out) by living in some homogenous enclave, <<

    Perhaps, perhaps not….my wife just sent me this link (I'm away at the moment)

    http://www.caller.com/photos/2010/dec/13/93742/

    my youngest is the one clapping. I just wanted an excuse to show you how cute she is! …and happy despite being raised by two 'dreary' traditionalists.

    Ok, 'lost' was hyperbole. 'losing' accurately describes the situation. I stand corrected.

    Reply
    1. Rita Ferrone

      Dear George,

      She’s really cute! Thanks for sharing!

      And thank you for retracting that hyperbolic statement. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      There are some trends and counter-trends at work today, I think. We are seeing several developments at once: the suburbanization of Catholicism which splits people along income-brackets which can make for homogeneous groups, and the decline of the parish system, which creates “interest communities” rather than groups collected by geography. This can also diminish diversity within parishes.

      Cultural preservation, and recent immigrant subgroups are in strength right now, but gathering at diocesan events is more of a reality than it used to be, while cultivating a local ethos in parish liturgy.

      At the same time, older ethnic parishes are being merged and closed, leading to mixing of groups, so that is a plus for diverse populations under a single roof.

      Reply
      1. George Andrews

        thanks for your kind reply! ๐Ÿ™‚

      2. Jeffrey Herbert

        Rita…

        While there is certainly “integration” in some parishes, the unfortunate and more prominent truth is that communities are made up of a wide variety of cultures, races and languages who worship seperately, albeit in the same place.

        Our parish has seperate Masses for 1) English 2)Spanish 3) Haitian 4) Polish 5) Hungarian 6) Filipino. The Haitian parishioners are nowhere to be seen at the “English Masses” despite the fact that they all speak English fluently. Same for the Hungarian. The Polish and Spanish are more integrated. Many of the Filipino parishioners attend the Filipino Mass on alternating weekends and attend Filipino services at the UCC Church otherwise. It is a maddening problem, but one which is to be expected when language becomes the differentiating factor in liturgy.

      3. Rita Ferrone

        Jeffrey,

        And in my grandparents’ generation they would have each had a separate immigrant church. The Italians were unwelcome in the Irish church, the Polish unwelcome in the German church, etc. etc. etc. Special permission had to be given for my Italian grandparents to be married in the Irish church, because the Italian church hadn’t been built yet. Is the situation you describe today really because they have liturgy in the vernacular? I would suggest it’s not at all the case.

  14. George Andrews

    Rita>Come to New York sometime, and see what Dorothy Day was talking about. Visit urban churches, or even suburban churches in multi-cultural neighborhoods. It hasnโ€™t been lost.<

    Dear Rita,

    What specifically impressed Day was that sight of all people's '"kneeling* together to receive Holy Communion. The opportunity for such a scenario / Damascus moment in today's Church, I would still say, has indeed been lost…..

    Reply
    1. Rita Ferrone

      Dear George,

      Back after a hiatus. Thanks for the example. But I think the essential point of that observation of Day is still applicable, namely that seeing people receiving communion provides the rich/poor/all-kinds-together experience of eucharist, and that is what matters, not whether people are arranged at an altar rail kneeling, or in procession toward the altar and receiving while standing.

      People have told me similar things about the communion rite today, by the way; watching the communion procession, with all the variety of people coming forward to receive, is inspiring. So I would still question whether the core of the experience Day had is actually lost, or whether it has changed choreography but is still — in essence — the same.

      Conversely, one might observe that before Pius X and his instruction urging frequent communion in 1905, nobody — in any format — would have had precisely the “picture” of what Day valued so much. Communion was given out after Mass was over, and normally few people received. The communion rite was not what it was like for Day, or even like it is in the EF today.

      So what is truly lost is the experience of Mass with the sharing of communion afterwards, or Mass with almost no one receiving except the priest. (And no one should miss this, because it was clearly an unfortunate byproduct of history!) In other words, there is more continuity between our experience today and the experience of Dorothy Day than there is between Day and two generations previous to her.

      Reply
  15. Sherry Weddell

    In my travels (hundreds of parishes, 77 US dioceses so far, 23 outside) I have so far found it very rare not to be offered communion in both kinds. Admittedly, the part of the US where I have traveled the least is the northeast where it seems that may be rarer. But in the vast majority of the country, one usually receives the bread and the wine.

    Rita: it is fascinating for me to realize that communion was once not given out during Mass but afterwards. And to realize afresh that the changes that occurred at the time of the Council are the not the only experience of “discontinuity” that ordinary Catholics have had to content with.

    Reply
  16. Brigid Rauch

    Looking over the replies , clearly there needs to be a balance between everyone doing the same thing in lock step and everyone doing their own thing. Cultural differences can be very subtle. I live in a small town in a rural setting. Our parish life here is very different than it is in my Dad’s large suburb, but then so is our entire life style.

    When looking at different practices, I think it’s important to step outside our preconceptions and ask why burning incense is somehow more “Christian” than burning sage? We need to avoid confusing “western” or “European” with Christian.

    The key I think is to ask whether the people themselves are welcoming to strangers, not whether the customs are strange! The most orthodox parish in my town was also the most insular. Newcomers tended to gravitate to other, more welcoming parishes.

    Reply
    1. Robert B. Ramirez

      why burning incense is somehow more โ€œChristianโ€ than burning sage? We need to avoid confusing โ€œwesternโ€ or โ€œEuropeanโ€ with Christian.

      Burning incense is biblical. It’s a continuation of worship practices followed in the Jewish OT and honored in the NT. If you want to identify it with a geographical origin, it’s Asian.

      It’s useful to remember that Christianity formed Europe far more than vice versa. Transforming the cultures in which they find themselves is what all healthy faiths do.

      Reply

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