50 years of ministry

By Carole Brown
Director, Black Elk Catholic Retreat Center

The Black Elk Catholic Retreat Center, formerly the Sioux Spiritual Center, celebrated 50 years on August 12. It was a wonderful day that included Mass, lunch, tours of the land and buildings, and a silent auction. The three Jesuits who started the center — Fathers John Hatcher, Pat McCorkell, and Damian O’Connell — were in attendance along with Marythea Grebner, representing the Freiberg family who donated the land in 1976.

Bishop Scott Bullock presided over a Mass in the packed Chapel, with 140+ in attendance.  Other guests arrived after Mass, with a total approaching 200 feasting on a lunch of Indian Tacos. After the meal, Deacon Bill White, local postulator for the cause of Nicholas Black Elk, gave a short presentation about Black Elk, and about the progress of the cause. Then Veronica Valandra came to the stage to share about the inspiration for changing the name of the Center to Hehaka Sapa ~ Black Elk Catholic Retreat Center. 

Marythea Grebner shared a bit about her parents, and the inspiration to donate the land around St. Patrick Catholic Church to the diocese so that the church and cemetery would be cared for in perpetuity. The Jesuits picked up the story from there sharing how, in the course of their ministry, on the reservations they discerned the need for a retreat center and how Bishop Dimmerling invited them to visit the property donated by the Friebergs in 1976. Father Hatcher said that if you took a string on a map and connected all the reservations to each other, they meet right here. “It seemed like a sign,” he said. 

Father McCorkell said, “When you are young and naïve, sometimes you don’t know that something won’t work, so you just do it anyway — and then it ends up working after all!”  

The Lord sent Father Jim Stehr, SJ, a former merchant marine who was a skilled carpenter, electrician and plumber to serve as the foreman of the project. The building was put up in the summer of 1977, followed by the worst winter on record. They slept in their coats on tables next to a woodburning stove and continued working on the interior through the winter.

Asked about favorite memories, Father McCorkell told the story of a plan to go coyote calling during winter. He and Father O’Connell decided to wear their albs, so as to blend in with the snow.  They embarked on their adventure, and when he turned around, he discovered that Father O’Connell was wearing a rabbit fur hat.

Beverly Running Bear presented each of the priests with a silver cross engraved by John Goes in Center, and Carole presented Marythea with a small painting of the center that hung in the house for many years.

A silent auction presented a large collection of art that has graced the walls of the center at different times, along with a collection of hunting guns, jewelry, a guitar, a handmade star quilt, and a number of baskets.  Funds raised will help to cover the cost of the celebration.