Trumpet Call - Spring 2015 - St. Augustine Indian Mission
Transcription
Trumpet Call - Spring 2015 - St. Augustine Indian Mission
St. Augustine Indian Mission the SPRING 2014 C e l e b r at i n g 1 0 6 y e a r s o f E d u c at i o n , T r a d i t i o n a n d Fa i t h A Message From Father Dave There is a lot of excitement in Winnebago these days! Last week, at the writing of this article, our Winnebago boys high school basketball team won the Class C1 Nebraska State Basketball Championship! It was the first basketball championship for Winnebago since 1940... 75 years! I am so happy for our boys! All five of the starters: Cory Cleveland, Isaiah Medina, Kobe Smith, and Matthew and David Wingett, along with two contributors off the bench, Levi Blackhawk and Bart Kennedy, all attended St. Augustine Indian Mission at some point in their grade school years. Their first-year head coach, 26 yr. old Jeff Berridge, attended the Mission from kindergarten through 8th grade. We are so proud of all of them! They ended up rated in the top 10 of all schools in the State, which is an amazing feat, given the fact that they have an enrollment of only 153 students in the high school! They won the hearts of many people across the state during their three magical days down in Lincoln. The Omaha World Herald printed very nice articles each day, which tried to tell the significance of this team’s accomplishments, and what it means to this small reservation town. But I feel the media fell short in capturing the immensity of what this team means to this Tribe and community. Their impact comes not only from their success, but from the WAY they played, and from the way that they carry themselves off the court. They are good boys! It was obvious watching them that they had love for each other and love for their coach. All starting five players came to Mass the Sunday after winning their District Championship, earning their trip to the State Tournament. I blessed them using the Eagle Feather and the Cedar Smoke, and told them to come back next week, same place and same time, but to bring their gold medals with them and I would offer a blessing for them as well. The day after winning the State Championship, five of those boys came to church wearing their gold medals for me to bless. They came back for our school Mass in the middle of the week, and this time their coach could join them. It tried to put this in perspective for all our students. After all, being a good basketball player won’t help us get to heaven! But their faith in God, and living their Christian faith while they play the game of basketball will. I was filled with joy to put the example of these former students on display for our current students! I would like to think that the influence St. Augustine Indian Mission had on these boys had something to do with their success. Not in their basketball skills, but in their teamwork, their commitment to hard work, their respect of each other, their coaches, their officials, and their opponents. Those are the lessons we strive to teach here. Thank you for your prayerful and financial support that has allowed us to be a place where these types of lessons can be lived and shared. Blessings, 2015 Circle of Dreams The 2015 Circle of Dreams event was held on Friday, April 10th at the Mutual of Omaha Dome in Omaha. The event not only helps raise funds to support St. Augustine Indian Mission School, it also helps increase awareness of the Mission school. This year’s event was chaired by Amy and Jeff Schmid of Omaha, and the major event sponsors were Mutual of Omaha and Mutual of Omaha Bank. Amy and Jeff welcomed guests and gave some history of the strong relationship that exists between Mutual of Omaha and St. Augustine. Master of Ceremonies for the event was Charlie Moon, professional auctioneer and member of St. Vincent De Paul Church in Andover, Kansas, sister parish to St. Augustine Mission. Fr. Dave shares stories of hope with the crowd Fr. Dave presents Honorary Chairs Amy and Jeff Schmid with a gift of thanks Nearly $300,000 was raised through the event through table sponsorship, donations, the sale of specially-made ornaments by national glass artist Peggy Karr, and a live auction. The event included a cocktail hour, dinner, and entertainment by local comedian, Mary Maxwell. The event also recognized the talents of St. Augustine graduate, Jeff Berridge. Jeff, at age 26, is the head coach of the 2015 Nebraska C-1 State Champion Winnebago Boys Basketball Team. A special video by Peter Soby chronicled Coach Berridge’s history and his goal to leave Winnebago to get a college education, but more importantly to return to his home and make a difference. The boys basketball program had not won the state tournament in 75 years. The video showed highlights of the state tournament and also featured the five starters from the team, all who are also alumni of St. Augustine Indian Mission School. C-1 State Basketball Champions, Winnebago Boys Basketball Team Guests enjoy comedian Mary Maxwell “I am humbled by the support we received for this event. Not only is it our largest attendance, but this is the most we have ever raised”, said Fr. Dave Korth. “The story of hope that is coming from the Winnebago community is one that needs to be told and we were able to tell that story to nearly 500 people that night.” Check out our website! www.staugustinemission.org Auction helps raise nearly $70,000 for the Circle of Dreams Traditional Native American TeePee on display at Circle of Dreams Relatives, I want to share with you about a time in my life that made me stop for a while and reflect. Around ten years ago while I was at a high school basketball game, I was approached by a Catholic priest whom I didn’t know. This was Father Dave. He told me that my older brother, Nate, advised him to speak to me about planning a traditional Sweat Lodge Ceremony. First of all, this wasn’t the place or way to request such a thing. I mean at a basketball game. I heard him out, and I agreed to have four Sweats. That is our traditional way of doing these things. It was my understanding that this request was for healing and reconciliation between our Native people who may have left the school with bad feelings. St. Augustine’s was celebrating 100th years of being in service to the Native peoples of this area. As a former student, I felt that I understood the gesture and felt this kind of healing was way overdue. In 1964, I was left at St. Augustine’s by my parents. Children who attended school were left there in late August. Children never saw their parents again until after Mid-night Mass on Christmas Eve. After that short break we returned in January after New Years. We stayed in school there until late May and then spent our summer months at home in Macy on the Omaha reservation. Being home was very difficult for my brothers and I. We were “mission kids” and so we were seen as outsiders. During the school year we learned about the Christian way of life. I received several sacred rites as a Christian such as Communion, Confession and Confirmation. I was baptized as an infant in Macy. I was happy to be at the Mission because I had older brothers there. I was excited to meet other kids. I believe that because of some of the things that I witnessed, when I did leave, I never had a desire to look back. For many years I walked here on Mother Earth without a meaningful relationship with any higher power. For the last 24 years I’ve been working on walking the “RED ROAD” and I have established myself to a very plain and simple way of life. Spirituality: the Omaha way. While preparing for the first of the four Sweats I had time to pray and think about my position in doing this for the Catholic Church. I could have very well lived the rest of my life without having anything to do with any religion or church. Today I consider it a blessing that I met Father Dave. My first prayers were for the ones that had bad experiences at the Mission. I expressed to Father Dave that I could not speak for the ones that were not present. The most important thing that is expressed at our Sweat is that, it’s all about healing and forgiveness. I realized that this was a true test to my own way and beliefs. My thoughts were that if I wasn’t able to fully find my own personal forgiveness to the church, I couldn’t continue being here in this traditional Sweat. Walk the talk, I heard it said. Thankfully, on the fourth Sweat I did remember all the good things that happened while at the Mission. I remembered laughing, skating, sleeping in a nice safe bed and a full stomach. It was revealed to me that I was very fortunate to have been taught about Wakonda Zinga, (Little God) in our language. Once, because of my behavior at the Mission I was shaved bald headed. After I left the mission I never cut my hair and always grew it long. Only after dealing with this in the Sweat I was able to go to the barber and get fully assimilated. So, as of today, I’ve been to church a few times and even took my grandson with me. After all these years I’ve accepted Jesus Christ back into my life. Thank you Father Dave. An Alumni Perspective: Pierre Merrick St. Augustine Indian Mission C e l e b r at i n g 1 0 6 y e a r s o f E d u c at i o n , T r a d i t i o n a n d Fa i t h Message From The Principal Greetings Friends: It is hard to believe that we are in the fourth quarter of our school year already. It seems like just yesterday that snow covered the ground and we were celebrating Christmas. When I think of the spring, I think of the warmer temperatures, green grass and blooming flowers. I also begin to think about the great group of young people that will soon be graduating. Many of the young people in our graduating class have been with us since kindergarten and it is always a little sad to see them leave but at the same time we are filled with hope for the things they will accomplish in their lives. I recently had the opportunity to visit with some of our previous graduates about what they are doing and I am excited to report that we have alumni who are tribal leaders, educators, business men and women, law enforcement personnel, athletic trainers, and medical professionals. We also have artists including video production professionals, sculptors and painters. I just wanted to share how proud I am of all our graduates and the ways they are contributing to their communities and say thank you to all of you for continuing to make it possible for our young people to get a solid foundation on which to build their lives. Catholic Schools Week Celebrated at St. Augustine Mission In the past several months we have had many reasons to celebrate as a school. In January and February we celebrated Catholic Schools Week with the rest of the rest of the Catholic schools across the country. During the week, students participated in service activities across the community and collected food for our local pantry. The students also took extra time to pray for one another and our benefactors. The students and teachers had fun too while celebrating by dressing up with different themes including dressing like Disney characters and wearing neon colors. The Missionary Benedictine Sisters also joined in the fun and wore neon colored wigs on top of their habits. We also celebrated the 100th day of school be dressing up like “100 year olds” and Dr. Seuss’ birthday by dressing like Dr. Seuss characters and having a school wide free reading celebration with students taking time to read to each other. We also took time to celebrate one of the days that make St. Augustine’s extra special. We took the time to celebrate the feast day of St. Katharine Drexel with Archbishop George Lucas. Archbishop Lucas traveled to Winnebago and celebrated Mass with the students sharing with them the story of St. Katharine and how blessed they were to be able to celebrate such an incredible saint as their foundress. St. A u g u s t i n e I n d i a n M i s s i o n B o a r d o f A d v i s o r s Rev. David Korth • Rev. Dan Wittrock • Dave Baumert • James Bausch • Anne Burnett • Steve Burroughs Robert Cox • Jason Hince • Steve Knolla • Darla LaPointe* • Nate Merrick* • Joan Neuhaus • Ryan Schroer • Dr. Barbara Schweiger Terry Sibbernsen • Sarah Snake* • Kellie Snow* • Justin Vossen • Leon Weiland *denotes tribal representative How to contact us at the Saint Augustine Indian Mission: www.staugustinemission.org St. Augustine Indian Mission PO Box GG, 1 Mission Road South, Winnebago, NE 68071• (402)-878-2402