NEWS :: Red Cloud Indian School

Parish News: Pine Ridge parishioners attend national Native conference in North Carolina
by Shannon Grooms, Our Lady of the Sioux Church
posted on July 14, 2009

About 15 parishioners from Pine Ridge’s surrounding Catholic Churches attended the 70th Annual Tekakwitha Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, in July. The conference, a gathering of Native American and Aboriginal people from across the United States and Canada, brings people together for prayer and ministry workshops each year.

“The conference is a wonderful opportunity to spend time fellow parishioners from the reservation and Catholics around North America,” says George Looks Twice, a member of Our Lady of the Sioux Parish in Oglala. “Many of the same people attend the conference year after year, and friendships have formed as a result.”

The organization unifies Native American Catholics while acknowledging and respecting tribal differences, and represents nearly one-half million Native Catholic members of over 300 tribes and nations in the United States and Canada. It also empowers Native Catholics to deepen and affirm their Catholic identity and pride in their culture and spiritual traditions.

“We are very proud to journey with the indigenous people who continue to grow in identity, dignity and self-assurance as Native and Aboriginal Catholics,” says Sister Kateri Mitchell, executive director of the conference. “Each seeks a stronger voice and greater visibility in our multi-cultural universal Church.”

For more information on Kateri Tekakwitha, visit http://groups.creighton.edu/tekconf/.

Shannon Grooms is a member of Our Lady of the Sioux Church. She taught Religion at Red Cloud Elementary School for four years until the birth of their oldest daughter. Shannon, her husband, and her two daughters live on a ranch nine miles north of Oglala, SD.

Join us in our mission of educating the mind and spirit of the Lakota people, now and for future generations. Please consider an online gift.