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New Evangelization:
First of all, it is clear from the present situation of the Church on the reservations in South Dakota that we need to be open to critiquing the missionary effort in this area over the past fifty years and ask what has been counterproductive. Accordingly, we need to implement new approaches to re-evangelize the Catholic population. There are no simple solutions to the present situation. The new effort of evangelization will demand well thought out approaches.
We propose four ways of proceeding:
1. Conduct an assessment of the life of the Church among Native people.
We propose to investigate the problem and from the data obtained reassess our approach and begin anew to introduce the Catholic Church to the Native people. There are four areas that need to be addressed:
First: We must determine how many baptized Catholic Lakota (Sioux) people live in the Diocese and how many are practicing Catholics. At the same time, we need to find out what it means to be a practicing Catholic in Lakota culture.
Second: We must determine, through testing, what level of understanding of the Catholic Faith the practicing Catholics have.
Third: We must find out what the practicing Catholics want of the Church in terms of education, liturgy, catechesis, and social involvement and what responsibilities they are willing to assume.
Fourth: We must question the non-practicing Catholics to find out what they think about the Church and what needs to be addressed in order for them to return to the Church. For instance, are there issues of healing, forgiveness, or culture that are obstacles to their full participation in the Church?
2. Establish focus groups in each reservation town.
After the discovery process is completed, Lakota people will gather to discuss the results and plan for the future of the Church in the Lakota community.
3. Establish focus groups to address barriers between Native and non-Native people.
We acknowledge that barriers exist between Native and non-Native people. As part of the new evangelization we want to reach out to the non-Native clergy and laity to break down the barriers between the two communities. We propose to do this by instituting discussion groups composed of clergy and laity. The discussion will center on historically correct research. One possibility is the book, "The Earth Shall Weep", by James Wilson. This is a comprehensive history of Native and non-Native relationships from the time of Columbus to the present. It will give non-Native people a sense of how Native people view their world and provide a background for understanding different ethnic behaviors.
4. Establish a dialogue for missionary personnel in the Diocese.
It is important that missionary personnel from the five reservations in the Diocese and in Rapid City begin to collaborate on a diocesan level. We will invite the missionary leadership to meet on a regular basis to discuss common needs and share information. From time to time, all the people who work with Native people would come together to discuss their work. We want to involve Native leaders in these discussions as well. This on-going dialogue would allow the bishop to give direction to the work and would provide a forum for accountability both to the bishop and to peers.
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