Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I received a gift certificate to the local bakery for Bosses’ Day and decided to go there for lunch with the 8^th grade student that I’m a mentor for. After a sandwich and dessert, we decided to browse in a couple of the antique stores downtown. One sign read, “We buy junk and sell antiques.” I saw many things that I’m sure my family threw out that are now treasures. It was a fun trip down memory lane. Robert was most fascinated by the old telephones that you had to crank to get the operator’s attention.

Friday, October 29, 2010

I chuckled at God’s sense of humor this morning during morning prayers when I read the scriptures from Habakkuk 3 – “He makes my feet swift as those of hinds and enables me to go upon the heights!”

I drove to Rosebud to see my Spiritual Director and talk things over, as I try to do every month or so. While I may not be where I want to be physically yet, I think I’m getting to a better place in the other areas of my life. And the spiritual journey is most important of them all.

Usually, I’m one of the judges of the Halloween costumes, but due to today’s trip I missed seeing all our Trick or Treaters come by the school offices. I did get home in time to peek in on the High School Party, complete with music, strobe lights and lots of treats. As I could have predicted, there were way more students around the edges of the room than on the dance floor, but I was sure no different in my teenage years.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A fellow priest from out-of-town visited today to see about starting spiritual direction. I myself, have been seeing a Spiritual Director regularly, ever since I began college. The practice has helped see me through the hard times, and discover God’s hand in both the ups and downs of life. When I worked in formation ministry, I regularly directed seminarians. This is the first priest that has asked me, and I felt honored and humbled. I’m hoping the candid conversations about prayer and the interior life will deepen my own faith.

In the school, I stopped in on Peggy’s 4^th grade class to check out their Monster Workshop. With Halloween coming up, they had to write a story about a monster, then they had to design and build a child sized model. Their creations were made of cardboard, straws, cloth, milk containers and whatever else they could imaginatively use. I listened to their stories as they honed both their writing and presentation skills.

In PE class, the students were playing basketball. I couldn’t help try running the court with them, but was quickly reminded that my recovery is not to that point yet. I did later get on the elliptical machine in the Rec Center, where the motion of running was easier on my foot and leg. I’ll keep plugging away.

After school, the 1^st – 4^th grade awards for Honor Roll and Outstanding/Perfect attendance for the 1^st quarter were given out. The students were more excited about the pens and mini-footballs given out as prizes than they were with the certificates. But all signaled a job well done.

I ended the day with supper at the Afra Home (1^st – 3^rd grade girls). They all showed me the Halloween costumes they will wear, and the pumpkins they painted for the home decorating contest. Leola decided to draw my “portrait” on a napkin, and before I left I had original artwork by Chassidy, Tamika and Allyssa as well.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The first snowflakes of the season started flying today, but the ground was warm enough that it didn’t stick. It jus melted as it landed. Still it was a wet and windy, dark and damp afternoon, and nobody wanted to be outside for long. Our scheduled “Red Wash” of the road in front of the school to mark Red Ribbon Week got washed out.

I had my first attempt at stock trading, or more accurately, selling today. Occasionally people donate stock gifts to St. Joseph’s, and the business office is usually able to have me authorize them to handle the logistics. This generous gift was a diverse portfolio left on an Ameritrade account, and I had to go through each stock and put in a sell order where appropriate. It isn’t one of those tasks I imagined myself doing back in seminary, but that money will go towards our endowment and help students down the road.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Fr. Dominic is visiting us, helping out at the downtown parish for a week. I invited him to join me for supper at the Raphael Home (1^st – 3^rd grade boys). I saw aside of him unbeknownst to me, when Dominic saw a deck of cards and asked the students if they wanted to see a trick. Time after time he pulled the cards from the deck the children were looking for. They crowded around, quiet and mesmerized, begging him to show them “one more time.” The boys were convinced he was magical.

Besides seeing the boys at their excited best, he also got a glimpse of the difficulties of houseparenting. While we were at a table, two boys argued over who should have the parmesan cheese first; which led to name calling, hurt feelings and tears. The houseparents addressed the situation right away. We use the conflicts as teachable moments. Urging children not to fight,  learn respect and cooperation is an ongoing battle. We adults need to be reminded of those same lessons too!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Today when I visited the school many of the students were wearing pajamas. Others sported baseball caps with their favorite teams or woven stocking caps. I asked the 3^rd grade class why they were dressed up that way.

“Red Ribbon week” They all chimed in.

“Why are some of you wearing hats?”

“Put a cap on drugs!”

“So why are some of you wearing pajamas? Is there a theme for that?”

“Kids should sleep more!” volunteered one of the girls.

That’s probably true, but their theme for the day was, “Follow your dreams. Don’t do drugs.” That’s always our hope with these kinds of activities. We teach that early and often.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

After church, KP asked me what I had planned this afternoon. He mentioned he had a soccer match at 2:00.  When a student goes out of their way to tell me about a game, performance or event, I do my best to show up, since I know it’s important to them. Soccer is still a club sport in this part of South Dakota, but is catching on quickly. I was only able to stay for the first half, but cheered the team on and enjoyed being outdoors on a brisk fall day. It brought back memories from when I played in High School.

I also had brunch with the Cyr Home (4^th – 5^th grade boys). When I go into the homes with younger students, there’s always a race to see who gets to sit next to the “visitor.” Maybe it’s my personality, but maybe it’s that the visitor’s table gets to go up for food first!

Chris, one of their houseparents, got to travel to Chicago with some buddies to see a football game. He called his wife and told her he had seats in the end zone. The boys rushed through the meal and dishes so they could sprawl out on the floor in front of the TV and look for Chris; especially at extra points and touchdowns. When I’d left, they still hadn’t located him yet.

I stopped in the gym to check out some of the action at the boy’s inter city basketball league, which started this afternoon. Our students play with kids from town and it helps build bonds and friendships outside the immediate circle of St. Joseph’s.

Friday October 22, 2010

Claye and Elijah are two of our High School Students who are on the Cross Country team. They will run in the state finals tomorrow. I wanted to wish them well, so I rode to pick them after school with Patrick, one of their houseparents. I stayed for supper at Sheehy Home to catch up with the rest of the students there.

We ask all of the homes to have a table or corner in some part of the house as a prayer space. The Sheehy home decided to set aside an entire room. When they have to talk about business or conflicts within the house, they meet in another space. They want to keep that room for group prayer and for quiet and winding down time. Some students seek out that space on their own, a break from a barrage of words and constant noise.

Tonight was the kick off for Red Ribbon Week, emphasizing keeping kids from starting with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. We had an evening of recreation in the gym on inflatable games. I love seeing the children run and jump, bounce and giggle.  One inflatable had a slick slide, another an obstacle course. The newest and most popular game pitted two students playing basketball against one another – two baskets, two balls, but one bungee cord holding the students back to back. Lots of spills and thrills, energy and action.

A houseparent who staffed a table where the students could get their fingernails painted red, offered to paint my nails as well. I have lots of school spirit, but I took a pass on that one.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Sacred Heart Center’s mission is to eradicate violence in the community, especially within families. Today we heard that when it comes to violent crimes and sexual assault, Native American women have the highest rate of victimization from such crimes out of all the different groups in the entire country. The center runs some quality programs for prevention, education, and protection to fight against that scourge, and has been doing so for almost 30 years.

One of the staff told us about the Silent Witness program. The South Dakota coalition against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault has created silhouettes of women, children, and the occasional man who die in South Dakota as the result of domestic violence. On these wooden cutouts you can read their story, which certainly tugs at the heart. These “Silent Witnesses” speak loudly about the dangers in our community, and call forth in a loud voice for us to work together to stop violence and strengthen families.

We enjoyed lunch with all the staff. Some of the folks I’ve known for a long time – like Tina remembering her wedding 25 years ago. Other staff are new to the program, like Tammy, who comes from a social service background and will be working with the adolescents. I was heartened in hearing of all their efforts.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

In reservation communities, housing is in short supply and it is not uncommon to find an extended family up to 15 people sharing a two bedroom home.  The parents of one of our students finally got an apartment to move into and called to see if we could help them with any basic household supplies like bedding and plates. Because people know we will get those kinds of items to people in need, we do get enough drop offs to help from time to time. I am glad when we are able to be the bridge between those who have extra and those who are in need. 

As we started the 2nd quarter, a few students transferred to other schools. One of the main reasons was homesickness. Sometimes it is too hard for a child to be away from family, and sometimes it’s the family who misses the child too much. We have openings throughout the year, and our admissions committee is at work going over the waiting list and prioritizing which students have a greater need to be here. Our overall average length of stay for students is about 5 years, but we try to serve them well whether they’re here for a semester or all 12 years.

Tonight was our last volleyball game of the season. Like many of our other staff and students, I was in the stands to cheer the teams on. Due to distances or family circumstances, we don’t normally have a large number of parents in the stands, so it’s all the more important that we as staff applaud their efforts.