Photos by Greg Mintel
DURHAM, N.C. — The Diocese of Raleigh hosted its first multicultural celebration honoring St. Kateri Tekakwitha — the first North American Indigenous saint — July 11 at Holy Cross Church. Discussions, prayer, native traditional dance, presentations and even the lunch menu were built around the theme: Sacred Earth, Sacred Unity: Walking Together with St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
After a musical prelude, the ecumenical event began with a welcome by Jennifer Jones, administrator for the African Ancestry Ministry and Evangelization Network and Native American Catholic Community.
“God is good,” she smiled. “Yes, he is. All the time.” She welcomed guests and said she hoped for attendees to meet new friends and have fun.
Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama spoke to those gathered, too, and drew laughter when he noted that he would dance with his heart and not his body because he can become frustrated at the challenge of dancing to music.
He encouraged people to listen to others and “see who is at the other table” and sit with them rather than choosing to sit with those they already know.
Renée Fisher, AAMEN and NAC administrative assistant, reflected on the meaning of the inculturation and encouraged people to embrace the whole world that surrounds them while also treating traditions with reverence and remaining attuned, for example, to both the Church and Indigenous peoples.
Richard Duran, who belongs to the Pascua Yaqui tribe from Arizona and is a parishioner at St. Mildred in Swansboro, led smudging — a practice whereby cleansing smoke is shared with people as an act of prayer and spiritual connection. Father David Miller, who is chaplain to the Native American Catholic Community in the diocese and has ancestral ties to the Shawnee, Lenape and Cherokee tribes of his home state of Oklahoma, offered a traditional prayer in the four directions.
Ryan Dial, of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina, introduced and explained the regalia worn and three traditional dances: the Grass Dance (shared by Ayden Evans of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe), the Women’s Southern Traditional Dance (shared by Dial’s wife, Idalis Dial, who is a member of the Coharie Tribe) and the Jingle Dress Dance (shared by Dial’s twin sister, Raven Dial, Lumbee Tribe).
Poet Tonya Holy Elk, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation of Pine Ridge, South Dakota with family ties to the Lumbee Tribe, read her work From Dust aloud as her son, Lakota John, played a Native American flute. Monsignor Joseph Ntuwa, Episcopal delegate to AAMEN and NAC, offered a song and a blessing of the food in Luganda, his native language from Uganda.
Lunch was served in the parish’s community room, where a local chef, Netta Edwards, and her team shared buttermilk fried chicken, apricot-orange glazed salmon, West African collard greens, cast-iron cornbread, sweet potato casserole, smoked gouda mac & cheese, Southern potato salad and pound cake. A nutritionist, Edwards spoke to the group beforehand about how she selected foods rooted in culture that would also nourish bodies.
After lunch, presentations were given by Ryan Dial, Father David and Beverly Scarlett, a retired judge, Orange County native and co-founder of Indigenous Memories.
Dial presented on colonization, false dichotomies, native religion and how to become an ally. He also spoke about modern-day, active tribes in the state, and that kinship and place/environment are what create tribes.
Scarlett utilized photographs, a map and an old news story to teach about the history of her Indigenous, Maroon and slave ancestors. “If you live here, it’s important to know the history,” she said, noting that while some may have called or classified people, including her family members, as “other” she knows they are all part of “the creator’s beautiful flower garden.”
The event ended with prayers of the faithful and for St. Kateri’s blessing, as well as a Friendship Dance, a traditional dance performed at powwows to bring people together as a symbol of unity and collaboration. The dance was led by Ryan Dial and his family.
Photos
Photos by Greg Mintel. Click or tap photos to view full images.
