Two Rivers: A Report on Catholic Native American Culture and Ministry, 2019 (PDF)

Two Rivers: A Report on Catholic Native American Culture and Ministry, 2019

Primarily, this report is an accounting of the vibrancy and sacredness that constitutes Catholic faith and Native American cultures. The confluence of faith and culture is at the center of what it means to be both Native American and Catholic, and the emergence of these two currents, and how they merge into a single source of spirituality and evangelization, is at the center of this report. Ministry to Catholic Native Americans, therefore, can be understood as two rivers that merge to make one. Further, this report hopes to assist in developing an understanding of Catholic Native American ministry, its gifts to the Catholic Church, current and future challenges, and the need for evangelization. Finally, the report contains a series of specific recommendations from the Bishop’s Subcommittee on Native American Affairs based on identified needs and priorities.

In Native American Catholics at the Millennium (2000), the complexities of ministry to Native peoples were described. Many important events have happened since that initial report was written. For example, in October 2012, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, was canonized as the first Native American saint, and the causes for canonization of the La Florida Martyrs and Nicholas Black Elk have begun. To examine the composition of the Church in the United States, between 2013 and 2015 the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) conducted a research study on the cultural diversity of U.S. Catholics, which included Native American Catholics. This study was commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, and co-sponsored in part by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. This report concerning Catholic Native American Ministry was produced with data emanating from this study.

Two-Rivers-On-Catholic-Native-American-Culture-and-Diversity.pdf