On October 20, I joined the members of the Society of Jesus (“Jesuits”) to issue a statement entitled, “A Faithful Response to the Wounded Knee Decision.” This response was to the decision of Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth’s decision to retain the Medals of Honor that were bestowed upon the Federal Combatants at Wounded Knee in 1890. The statement gained rather wide reporting, including by the Vatican and the New York Times. See the text of the joint statement on the Diocese of Rapid City (rapidcitydiocese.org, search for “Wounded Knee”). With such wide publicity in our digital age, there have been many reactions expressed online, a good deal of them supportive of the statement. However, some opinions questioned the appropriateness of the statement. I’d like to use this occasion to reflect upon the role of our Church in such issues of public discourse such as this.

1. Why now? The current question of revoking the medals given 135 years ago was precipitated by an initiative by the South Dakota Legislature (Senate) whose resolution of February 2024, adopted by a vote of 38-1, asked the Department of Defense to open an investigation into the awarding of these medals and, furthermore, condemned the bestowing of Medals of Honor in this situation. My joint statement with the DeSmet Jesuits of South Dakota of October 20, 2025, was prompted by Secretary Hegseth’s decision not to revoke the medals. While the medals were given so long ago, they remain symbolic of a most-pained history of our native sisters and brothers. The wounds of this massacre remain fresh in the collective memory of our Native American population. As the Wounded Knee Massacre site is within our diocese, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Jesuit leaders and I were compelled to speak to the issue of the awarding of our highest military honor to such a disreputable event. The discouragement that our native population felt with the decision of the Secretary of Defense demanded our clear statement of opposition to this decision, in defense of the sacred dignity of the innocent victims of Wounded Knee.

2. Is not the revoking of Medals of Honor an example of “revisionist” history, changing history and its facts? In fact, the very bestowing of the medals was, in a certain sense, a “revision” of history. The massacre, which happened in December of 1890, was almost immediately renounced as the massacre it was, of some 300 innocent men, women and children. Even by 1891, Army Gen. Nelson A. Miles, writing just days after the killings, described the Wounded Knee massacre as “the most abominable, criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.” While there have been a good number of situations that might seem excessive (e.g., the removal of statues of founding fathers, etc.), we have to be able to be discerning. In this case, it would be appropriate to do what has been done hundreds of times before: after a more sober historical assessment, these Medals of Honor ought to be revoked.

3. Shouldn’t the Church stay out of these public debates and remain in its spiritual realm? Many public voices have felt the right to enter this conversation, as is seen by the widespread online community of commentary. We Catholics have our rightful place in this public discourse: to bring to bear, above all, our faith’s teaching on the dignity of each human person redeemed by the Word made Flesh (cf. Jn 1:14) and an embrace of the truth that sets us free (cf. Jn 8:32).

4. Shouldn’t the Church remain apolitical? Obviously the Federal Administration of one of our political parties made a decision to deny the request of a near-unanimous vote of our South Dakota Senate in their 2014 resolution asking for an examination of the medals and a revoking of them in the face of the massacre at Wounded Knee. But, any administration is subject to the critique of its citizens. Our statement was a statement rooted in the truth of the facts of history and the dignity of the victims of Wounded Knee. With our South Dakota Jesuits, we continue to ask for a reconsideration of the decision, in service of the truth and a humble gesture of acknowledgment of the painful history that demands our embracing the truth with humility and penance.