Fr. Steve – Page 3 – St. Joseph's Indian School

A peaceful, happy Easter

Greetings once again from the banks of the Missouri River!

We hope that you and yours had a very blessed, peaceful and happy Easter.

Things were a bit quiet this past weekend since the Lakota (Sioux) students were away for the Spring/Easter break. They’ll be returning today and we’ll have an Easter egg hunt later this afternoon.

Fr. Steve is on his way back from Florida, so I have the chance to bring you up-to-date on what’s been going on.

I was able to help with Holy Thursday services at St. Michael’s in Kennebec, South Dakota, which is about 30 miles west of us here in Chamberlain. It is one of the mission parishes covered by our pastoral team at the Lower Brule Indian Reservation. I enjoyed having the chance to celebrate with the community there.

I concelebrated Easter Vigil at St. James in Chamberlain, helping Fr. Guy Blair, SCJ. One of our houseparents had been part of their RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program this past year and joined the church at the Vigil.

It was an honor to take part in the service and helped get me excited since our RCIC (Rite of Christian Initiation for Children) will have its celebration this coming Sunday, when 18 of our Native American students receive the Sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

Easter Day was quiet and relaxing. I had Mass for St. Joseph’s students staying in the break Home (those who stayed on campus instead of going home for the Spring/Easter break) prior to their outing to Mitchell, South Dakota.

It was also quiet since it appears the snow geese, which are on their migration back to the Arctic, have finally headed north. Their normal route home was feeling the effect of mid-Western snow storms and frozen waters, thus their path was pushed further to the west, which brought them into our area. They were all over the place – the local paper estimated that there were about 50,000 in Brule County!

Again, best wishes for a very happy Easter Season. Be assured of our prayers for you and your intentions, as we are truly grateful for your support of St. Joseph’s Indian School. May the Great Spirit continue to bless and reward you.

Sincerely,

Fr. Anthony Kluckman, SCJ

Chaplain

St. Joseph’s Indian School

Chamberlain, SD

Leading up to Easter at St. Joseph’s

Greetings to you all as we enter into Holy Week leading up to the joy, beauty and majesty of Easter!

Fr. Steve is away attending some meetings in Chicago and giving a retreat to our retired priests and Brothers in Pinellas Park, Florida. That’s what he said anyway, but I think there might be an effort to get in a spring training baseball game or two as well! As he will not be back until after Easter, he asked me to pass along what’s been happening here at St. Joseph’s over this past weekend.

The Lakota children saw two science-related presentations before spring break. — The Lakota children took in the Star Lab Thursday before spring break.

The students and staff are on Spring/Easter break at the moment. They’ll return on Easter Monday. Our high school students are on a different schedule (since they attend Chamberlain High School) so they are still in session. Don’t feel sorry for them though – it seems like they are off for something or other every week! They’ll have Good Friday through Easter Monday off.

Just before the students left, we were able to host two special programs that shared insight into the scientific realm as the Lakota Star Lab came on Thursday and on Friday, we learned about tornadoes.

The Star Lab was an effort to get our students looking to and dreaming about the stars and the heavens. The Weather Enrichment Program dealt with storm chasers. There was an initial presentation of the impact tornadoes have and how they are formed. Then a 20-minute 3-D film called Tornado Alley showed how the storms are chased and studied.

That was followed by a Q & A session and then a tour of the Doppler on Wheels vehicle used in the pursuit of the storms. It weighs 26,000 pounds, stands 14 feet high, 8.5 feet wide and 27 feet long and is able to obtain speeds around 80 miles per hour. I asked where they did most of their chasing and they stated Kansas and Oklahoma because they are so flat.

It is good they shared info on tornadoes since South Dakota does get some during the summer months. We have had one or two storm chasers in the area around St. Joseph’s over the years.

The break also gave three of our Lakota students the chance to take part in a trip to Washington, DC to visit our nation’s capital and see the sights. They flew on Saturday and will visit various museums such as the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. They will have a tour of the capital building on Monday before heading back on Tuesday. This has been a wonderful opportunity for our Native American students to explore our seat of national government and get to know the places they hear about on the evening news!

The week ahead should be quiet and peaceful here on campus aside from the squawking of all the Canadian geese that are in the area. It is amazing how many did not go south for the winter but found the Chamberlain area a nice place to stop and visit.

Hope you all have a rewarding and grace-filled Holy Week and a beautiful Easter!

The Lakota children got to see portable weather stations used to measure conditions during tornadoes. — Friday, after the Tornado Alley movie, St. Joseph’s students headed outside to take a look at portable weather stations and the Doppler on Wheels.

Donor Appreciate Events in Sarasota, Florida

The Lakota youngsters get to see the ocean for the first time. — Elijah and Shawn take their first dip in the ocean!

Very early last Friday morning, Fr. Steve picked up Maria, Elijah, Shawn and myself and off to the Sioux Falls airport we went! Sarasota, Florida was our destination. Our objective was to host two afternoons of appreciation luncheons for those who hold St. Joseph’s Indian School near to their hearts.

After an hour of driving and letting the boys catch a little more sleep, Fr. Steve began to interview them in preparation for the weekend that lay ahead. As I listened and was able to participate, I knew in my heart these guys were going to do great!

After checking in with the airline and going through security, we all had a quick bite to eat, knowing it was going to be a long day of travel. After all, between shuffling through different airports and making all of our connections we may not get another chance for food until later on that night! So before we ate, we all bowed our heads and asked the Lord’s blessing on our day and the days ahead.

Fr. Steve began each luncheon by thanking everyone for their part in St. Joseph’s success in helping Lakota children. Introductions were made and lunch was served, followed by a slide presentation and a short video giving everyone a taste of what life is like at St. Joseph’s Indian School.

The boys did a great job of not only representing St. Joseph’s Indian School and the nurturing they have received here, but they also did a great job of representing themselves. Though they may not have felt like it, they stood out as very confident young men. I, along with all those in attendance, was impressed and very proud of them.

Everyone received a picture of themselves taken with Elijah and Shawn; a little take-home memory representing all the Lakota (Sioux) students here at St. Joseph’s Indian School. I personally met people who traveled four and five hours to attend this event!

And oh… by the way, the Lord certainly did answer the prayer we made on that Friday morning at the Sioux Falls airport because before you knew it, it was time to head back home!

The trip and luncheons were more than beneficial to all. We were a blessing to all we met and they in turn were a blessing to us. We didn’t have much time to do a lot of sightseeing. Sarasota certainly is a beautiful place. The people we met were extremely nice. Each of us came back with very fond memories; I for one will never forget the Italian priest we met Saturday evening at St. Martha’s. “Mamma Mia…”

A day of meetings for Fr. Steve

Today was mostly a meeting day. I began with the monthly reports from all the Development Office managers. Our use of media and technology changes at such a rapid pace these days. What fascinated me the most was the suggestion that we move toward having PURLS (personalized URLs) on our website, so when people visit us online, the kinds of stories and information they will see can be personalized. We have some creative, hard-working people in that part of campus, and I’m proud of the initiatives and forward ways of thinking they bring to work each day.

I walked over to the Akta Lakota Museum for our bi-weekly construction update. I imagine that sometimes meetings between architects and builders can get contentious, but ours have been working very well together. The change orders have been small, and work is steadily moving along. Right now it’s mostly welding, which doesn’t show up as big progress. But it’s like school for our kids. You have to get the basics down well, in order to move ahead later.

My management team discussed next week’s Catholic Schools Week and the presentation of our new strategic plan. (Read more here about last year’s Catholic School’s Week at St. Joseph’s Indian School.) We’re also looking at budgets and trying to prioritize capital expenses for next year, deciding what we can do and what has to wait.

When you’re a kid and don’t have to worry about shoveling snow or driving to work on icy roads, winter weather can be a lot of fun. The snow we did get is starting to melt, but made the slopes very slippery, and the kids were out in big numbers after school with sleds. Some dug tunnels through the big mounds of snow piled up by our grounds crew or played King of the Hill.

The Perky Home (4^th-5^th grade boys) invited me to supper. Afterwards I tried my hand (well, actually my foot) at hacky sack, but am definitely not limber enough to keep it going very long. What I was better at was helping some of the boys practice for next week’s spelling bee. In reading the words, I realized that there is a lot of vocabulary that our students don’t yet know.

Very excited and happy

This weekend was one of travel for me as I baptized a nephew in Florida. It was a joy to spend a little time with a lot of my family who gathered for the occasion. Today it was back to the desk to look over the mail and messages that have come in over the past few days.

I met with two junior high girls, Zoey and Mia, who were chosen to go on an upcoming donor appreciation luncheon trip. In my first meeting, I want to try to answer any questions they may have. For both girls it will be their first airplane ride and they are excited. But they threw me a question I couldn’t answer. Zoey broke her arm quite badly last year, and now has a metal plate. “Will that set off the metal detector at the airport?” I’ll make sure we have a doctor’s note just in case.

Otherwise they’re very excited.

We have our exchange program with a sister school in Handrup Germany, which is also run by the Priests of the Sacred Heart, and we also raise funds in Germany. Kory, our Director of Development just got back from a meeting with the German SCJs, so he filled me in on we talked about how things are going there. The SCJs were gracious hosts and supportive of a continued relationship and collaboration.

The students took on the St. Joseph's Indian School staff tonight - and won!

Tonight, was our faculty verses student volleyball game. Bryan, our Athletic Director, said that the students were more motivated tonight than in any game of the season and he wished they could have played like that every game. They played their best game of the season and beat the faculty in straight sets.

The staff was happy to make it through the matches with no injuries, except maybe their pride!

The darkness of the prairie

Before Mike and I flew back to South Dakota, we had time to tour Arlington National Cemetery. We stopped as a funeral Procession passed us by, the casket resting on a horse-drawn caisson. We were told across the country WWII veterans are dying at a rate of about 1500 each day. Veterans killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan are also coming here for their final resting place. So much history starting with Civil War dead! The sailors who perished on the Maine during the Spanish-American War. Nurses killed in action. Civil Rights pioneer Medgar Evers. Korea and Viet Nam vets. Supreme court justices. The graves of the three Kennedy brothers. The astronauts from the Space Shuttle Challenger. We paid our respects at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and watched the ritual changing of the guard. We climbed to Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House, which overlooks the Potomac and the whole District of Columbia.

In a matter of hours we are transported back into a different world. After our 15 seat plane from Denver to Pierre lands at the airport we drive 90 miles home. There are no bright lights, no sky scrapers, and fewer than a handful of cars and the darkness of the prairie. But there is more that unites us than divides us.

Whether it’s a huge national cemetery, or a hill far away on a lonely reservation, cemeteries always move me to deeper prayer, reflection, and admiration of people who went before us.

St. Joseph’s Indian School at the White House

I always wondered what it would be like to be invited to the White House. Thanks to the efforts of our food services director, Mike Renbarger, and the collaboration of so many of our staff, St. Joseph’s Indian School met the Healthy Schools Nutrition Challenge, and Mike and I attended a reception on the White House lawn.

First though, we visited Senator John Thune’s office, and were given a great tour of the Capital from Katie, who lives an hour west of us in Murdo, South Dakota. She just graduated from Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Indian reservation with a degree in history, and is in DC taking part in an internship. She filled us in on the art and most especially all the history that’s taken place in the Capitol. We even saw the charred columns that witnessed to the burning of the White House during the War of 1812.

Rachel, a young woman from Chamberlain, South Dakota joined us for lunch. She is a research and policy aid, working on important issues such as health care and education, and enjoyed talking to folks from home.

We also squeezed in one hour at the American Museum of History. Seeing the actual chairs and table Grant and Lee sat in at Appomattox Courthouse and Geroge Washington’s dress uniform were treasures that spoke countless words. Also on display were remnants from the Battle of The Little Bighorn.

We did have a long wait to get in to the White House, including three separate ID checks and then a security screening. But we were joined in line by so many great folks dedicated to education that conversations easily flowed and time passed quickly. The folks behind us from Turlock, California ran an alternative high school, trying to provide hope for youth who would have otherwise dropped out. A local teacher from DC taught her students about health and nutrition and the difference that can make. Many spoke of the cuts in education spending, and how they are still trying to do more with less and improve the lives of children. My parents were both teachers; I have great respect for the work they do under often trying circumstances.

All hands were raised with a camera when First Lady Michelle Obama started her speech.

We arrived to the sweet strains of country music being played by the Marine and Navy bands, who were good enough to pass for Nashville studio musicians. Tents on the lawn were set up with fresh crisp apples (what else would you serve a teacher?) and sweet and ice-cold apple cider. It was surreal standing in front of the building that so many of us have had indelibly burned into our psyche from countless news stories and signing ceremonies, joyful times and national tragedies.

After hearing from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a school administrator from Mississippi who helped her whole district achieve the gold award spoke of their efforts. A 12-year-old student from Chicago told us how he has benefitted from the program.

When First Lady Michelle Obama came to the podium every hand was raised high in the air with a camera. Mrs. Obama gave a rousing pep talk about the importance, for the sake of our current students and the generations to follow, to promote healthy eating and lifestyle. After Mrs. Obama finished,

Mike was actually close enough to the podium to receive a congratulatory handshake from the First Lady!

He joked that from now on, he’ll only eat healthy food with that hand!

Benefit from their generosity

While I was in the office working on Sunday’s homily, I got a phone call from the Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center. A couple from Houston, Mike and Carolyn, had brought up a truck load of clothes to share with us and wanted to meet me and say hello. I was in sweat pants and an old t-shirt, but that actually worked to my advantage as we went to the storage building and unloaded. I took Mike and Carolyn on a tour of campus.

The William Home (4^th-5^th grade girls) were most gracious about showing us the home and talking about their routine. They also volunteered to try on some of the sweatshirts and a coat so the good folks back in Texas who gathered it all up could see the kids who will benefit from their generosity.

Hidden America – Children of the Plains

A day of some sadness with a funeral and a wake to go to today.

Fr. Brian was a 46-year-old priest who pastored in Fort Pierre, South Dakota until an inoperable brain tumor was discovered about four months ago. He had been in the hospital and hospice care since then, and died earlier this week. During the homily, Fr. Michel acknowledged so many people were saddened that a young priest who touched so many people’s hearts should die so young and so quickly. But God’s ways are not our ways. What is most important not the length of our lives, but what we do with the time God gives us. Going to a priest’s funeral makes me more deeply reflect on my own priesthood and ask how I can be a better and holier servant of God.

The moment I was most moved to tears came at the beginning of mass, with about 40 priests lining the center aisle to greet the body. Fr. Brian’s niece and nephew sang a gospel song, “I will Rise”. I couldn’t help but think of my own cancer, which is still in remission. I had a sense of, this could have been me. But it led to a deepening of the psalmist’s attitude – “What return can I make to the Lord, for all the good God has done for me in seeing me through?”

One of our secretaries suffered a family tragedy when her college aged son died. This evening at the wake the church and hall were packed as tightly as possible, with a tremendous outpouring of care and support from the community.

Tonight ABC news 20/20 program with Diane Sawyer ran a special on Hidden America – Children of the Plains. South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation was the location for the reports. The images and stories were powerful and well done. The journalists were realistic about the tough living conditions on the Indian reservation. And they also showed some of the hope and promise in young people trying to break cycles of poverty and alcoholism. Those are much the critical issues we at St. Joseph’s Indian School try to address.

I value the wisdom shared

We had an all day Board of Directors meeting. The longest segment of discussion revolved around the new strategic plan that we have been working on. With the added input and approval of the Board we should be ready to begin in early 2012. We went through the annual audit; we were glad to hear there were no major problems or findings. We reviewed the plans for the museum expansion and alumni center, and heard reports from our outreach programs on the Indian reservations.

I’m always trying to make sure St. Joseph is headed in the right direction, and asking the right questions. It helps to have others who care about the mission of the school to ask the big questions too, and provide direction and recommendations.

While I finish these meetings feeling a bit worn out, I also value the wisdom shared, which makes the load of administrative leadership easier to carry.