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Leadership:
Imagine the scene: a large number of Lakota people seated in council. They are committed to Christ and are well educated in the teaching of the Church and in Scripture. Some have answered the call to serve the others in formal Church ministries such as home visitors, Eucharistic ministers, lectors, catechists, and parish council members; some have answered the call to serve in civic affairs. Vowed religious, Native sisters and brothers, deacons, priests, and a Native bishop are part of the council setting. In the center of the circle are a small group of Native people, two sisters, two brothers, a diocesan priest, four catechists--two men and two women. It is a missioning ceremony. The Native bishop in the name of the Native Church is sending these people to be missionaries to other peoples. When this scene is a reality, the local Church is viable and makes its unique contribution to the larger Church.
In order for this scene to become a reality, we need to develop Native leadership on all levels-priests, deacons, religious, and lay men and women. In many cultures we can point to successful instances where missionary activity has produced a strong local Church with the ability to send missionaries to other parts of the world. This is not the case with Native people in North America.
In order to address the need for leadership, the Diocese of Rapid City began the Office of the Permanent Diaconate in 1975. It provides formation for candidates for the Permanent Diaconate. The formation program is four years long. The deacon candidates and their wives attend weekly classes from September until May. Each candidate and his wife are required to have a spiritual director and attend an annual retreat. They are also required to attend eight weekends of formation specifically for deacon candidates: Baptismal Rites, Communion Services, Marriage Rites and preparation, Funeral Rites, Canon Law, Homiletics, and Moral Theology. The program has produced fourteen Lakota (Sioux) deacons. There are eight Lakota Deacons on four of the five reservations and two in Rapid City-four have died.
In 1991 the diocese expanded the Permanent Diaconate program to include lay ministry. The program now provides lay leaders for the parishes of the diocese. It is a four-year program of spiritual, academic and practical formation which leads to a five-year appointment as a lay leader. The lay ministers follow the same course of formation as the deacon candidates do. They receive particular formation in the field in which they want to specialize--religious education, evangelization, youth ministry, administration, family life ministries, and Marriage Tribunal. The program has graduated thirty-eight Lakota people since it began.
This successful program for the formation of lay leaders and deacons is used in other parts of the United States and Canada for the formation of Native leaders. Upon request we can provide this program to other dioceses that want to begin formation programs for Native people.
Unfortunately, there are few Native priests. Part of the reason for this is that a man is asked to leave his culture and go to a seminary, which is usually in a distant part of the country. His formation is a standard formation given to everyone without account of his cultural roots. Even if he succeeds in graduating and being ordained, when he returns to his people he is out of touch with them. In some cases he is not accepted as a Native priest. He is seen as a priest with "white man's ways."
Pope John Paul II recognized this problem and in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America emphasized the importance of keeping Native candidates for the priesthood in touch with their roots. He said, "Special attention needs to be given to vocations among indigenous peoples; they need a formation which takes account of their culture. While receiving a proper theological and pastoral formation for their future ministry, these candidates for the priesthood should not be uprooted from their own culture."
Responding to the Holy Father's request will demand cooperation of bishops on the local and national level. We propose to establish seminary formation within the Native community. We will insure quality education and at the same time guarantee any Native candidate that he will be able to stay in touch with his roots. We propose a pre-seminary program, which would give men a basic theological and spiritual formation in their home region. Then we would develop shared programs with established seminaries where men would receive specialized formation.
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