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Social Concerns Day Builds Discussion, Relationships
Submitted by LISA KREMER, OFS
On October 7, 170 people from across Southern Minnesota and South Dakota filled Divine Mercy Hall at the church of St. Ann in Slayton, to learn about and to show solidarity and compassion for our Native American brothers and sisters. The program for the day focused around a Native Girls’ School that existed in Avoca, Minnesota from 1880 to 1893. The sisters of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus from Pennsylvania opened and ran the school at the request of Bishop Ireland. This was the only church-run Native Boarding School within what is now the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, and although it existed briefly in the grand scheme of the history of Native Boarding Schools, its history is interesting and seems somewhat different from other schools.
In 2018, the Catholic Daughters of Slayton became aware that six of the girls at the school died from disease while at Avoca, and are buried in the Catholic cemetery there. There were no grave markers for these girls, so the Catholic Daughters took up the project of raising money to have a stone made and placed on their graves. A memorial ceremony was held when the stone was placed, but since then more interest and more questions have arisen about the school in Avoca.
The Diocesan Social Concerns Committee and Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota decided this was an important topic to learn more about, so with the encouragement of the Diocesan Curia, they pursued having the program. A subcommittee made up of local people in the Murray County area was formed to plan and further research the possibilities. John Eagle, a Dakota tribal elder, was the advisor for this committee. The subcommittee had incredible enthusiasm for the project, and did a lot of work with planning, promoting, and implementing the program. Our keynote speakers were local
historians Janet Timmerman and Anita Gaul, who have done extensive research about the school. Sr. Marie Ursino, of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in Pennsylvania, also joined us to represent her religious order. Our special guests were the Native Americans who came mainly from South Dakota, representing the communities that the girls came from. The day included not just historical presentations, but also prayer (both in Lakota and English), Native food, informational displays, and Native singing and drumming by the Wakpa Ipaksan singers from Flandreau. We ended the day with Mass and a Native ceremony at the cemetery, led by a Lakota ceremonial leader from the Rosebud community, Russell Eagle Bear, and other Native Americans.
The feedback from the day has been overwhelmingly positive, and connections were made with the people of the tribes in South Dakota. The relationships and the discussions will not end here, but will continue, as we work together to honor the wishes of the family members of the girls buried in Avoca regarding their final resting place.
-Lisa Kremer is the Coordinator of Parish Social Ministry in the Worthington Deanery for Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota.
