This past summer, I was blessed to spend half of my July in Fond du Lac, a native reserve in the remote north of Saskatchewan. For the past five years, Fr. Michael Béchard and Dr. Laura Béres have been bringing 5 social work students and 5 religious studies students to this community’s annual pilgrimage to Pine Channel, an island which is about a 45min boat-ride away from Fond du Lac.
This year marked the 25th Anniversary of the Pine Channel pilgrimage. It was instituted by Bishop Croteau in 1990 for the sake of spiritual healing and growth for the people in the surrounding native reserves and communities. He accomplished this by designing a pilgrimage that includes camping, hunting, and fishing so that the people could re-embrace their traditional ways, but also included mass every evening, as well as the Stations of the Cross, praying the rosary, and a procession of Our Lady around the entire island. It was easy to see that Pine Channel is a highlight for many in Fond du Lac and in neighbouring communities.
Being a Catholic Studies student who has gotten bit by the travel bug long ago, I really enjoy experiencing Catholicism in various countries and cultures. I find that the faith takes on a different “flavour” as you hop from culture to culture; the doctrine remains constant, the mass remains the mass, but the way in which it is expressed is influenced strongly by cultural values. For instance, consider the solemnity and order of the Roman Rite; the rich smells, sounds, and iconography of the Eastern Rite; the vitality, joy, and colour of the Church in many African countries. This past summer, I was finally able to enjoy a small taste of Catholicism according to the Dene people, and this is what I found:
In the Dene world, the Church becomes a great teller of stories. The Dene culture has great reverence for storytelling. It is the way that truth and values are passed on to generation after generation, and it is also how they communicate with one another. For example, I encountered a middle aged woman in Fond du Lac. We hadn’t exchanged pleasantries or introductions of any sort, but she sat beside me and said, “Tell me a story”. My poor mind was taken by such surprise! It clumsily searched through my memories trying to come up with a story worthy to share. The Church and its ministers embraced the storytelling style of communication much better than I did. I found that many of the Bishops’ and priest’s homilies focused on the story of the Israelite people, the story of Jesus in the Gospel, or even their own personal stories. The preaching had little mention of Church history or theology, but was rich in story.
The way that the Dene people embrace story and myth was very refreshing to me, especially as one coming from a culture of fact and literalism. There was one point in the trip when a group of us were having a discussion about creation myths. We were wondering whether there was any conflict between the traditional Dene creation myth and the accounts in Genesis 1 and 2. When Fr. Michael asked this to a Fond du Lac local, Adolphus, he replied, “We believe both”. To many of those who assume a literal interpretation of Scripture, this would seem blasphemous. How can one believe that God made the earth in 7 days while also holding true that is was a raven who created the land all from a handful of mud from one brave beaver? Well, the Dene people understand that myths are stories of truth – not factual truths, but deep truths of the world. They do not believe that the world was actually made by a beaver and a raven, but they hold onto the message of the story: that sacrificial love gives life to many. When we say that both myths are ‘true’, we are saying that both are conveying truths about values, the world, and humanity. I did not hear a single person try and assert a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2, since the Church in the north is a great teller of stories, and as such, she understands the true nature of myth.
Another fundamental value Dene culture is the importance of family and ancestors. We had the opportunity to visit the homes of a few families in Fond du Lac, and it was nearly impossible to guess the colours of their walls, for every inch of wall space was covered with photographs of family members, living and deceased. Family is of utter importance; aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, grandparents, siblings… all of them. It wasn’t uncommon for parents to be telephoning their relatives asking, “Is little Johnny sleeping at grandma’s tonight? He was eating dinner at Aunt Sally’s and was hanging out at Uncle Joe’s earlier, but I’m not sure where he is now…”. Extended family is held in just as much importance as immediate family. Bloodlines run deep in Dene culture. How was this cultural value manifested through their Catholic faith? Through their intercessory prayer. There is a tradition at Pine Channel where the people read aloud their own individual mass intentions before mass. There were so many intentions (it took nearly 20 minutes to read them aloud!), and I noticed that nearly all of them were offered for their living and deceased family members, as well as the souls in purgatory. The Catholic practice of praying for the dead was practiced more than I’d ever seen it before, and I suspect that the depth of the Dene family ties were at the root of this.
There is so much to say regarding the merging of Dene culture and the Catholic faith, but I will speak of only one more connection: the deep respect of the beauty and dignity of creation. It goes without saying that the native people have a very special relationship with the land. This love of the land is very compatible with Catholic belief that proclaims the dignity of creation, and the beauty of God made manifest in nature. If you need convincing, just read Pope Francis’ newest encyclical, Laudate Si’! The Holy Father speaks of the Earth as mother and considers all of creation connected through our common origin: God, who has fathered us all. A couple of ways that I noticed the Church in the north connect with the Dene people was by their referring to God as “the Creator”, or by having an open-concept Church which overlooks the forest and the river.
Travelling to the north was an incredibly valuable experience. I absolutely love that our Church lives up to the ‘catholicity’ of its name. No matter who you are or what corner of the world you come from, the Catholic Church proclaims a message of redemption and love that truly is universal.
Guest Blogger: Rianne Rops
Rianne is a student at King's University College. She is entering into her third year of 'Catholic Studies for Teachers' and hopes to return to the north and maybe teach there one day.
My favorite Christmas story is from Father René Fumoleau, a Catholic priest in Lutselk’e, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. As a young man, Father Fumoleau was sent to a small Dene community in the NWT for his first assignment as priest for a local congregation there. One of the first things he decided he wanted to do was make the church more reflective of local Dene culture.