Church #24. Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. July 20/2014.

Hello my family of blog reading humans!

You stoked for this one?

Ya me too.

This Sunday I decided that I wanted to do something different. Real different. So I hoped the buss across the river and made my way to this place. The Sacred Heart Church of First Peoples. 

Considering the somewhat delicate nature of this project I decided not to get too close. For my friends that don’t know the native people that attend this church, like most have a manner of being notoriously private about their culture. Despite growing up in a town with many of them, I only realized when I was older, (and befriended a native lady) that most of us white man know NOTHING about what they are actually like. I didn’t want to be that white girl with a camera  running around at the front of the building snapping pictures  while  they are all standing out front, and normally smoking ( let’s just be honest here) .

So I went in and stood in the lineup.  I was not sure what is was for at first, and then I realized it was a line up to get smudged. For this of you that don’t know “smudging” is a native ritual used to spiritually cleanse ones self.   All I could see in front of me was something smoking and people bending down over it and doing something with their hands. Then it got to be mine turn. O goodie :P

So am standing before this native elder holing a bunch of eagle feathers standing before a bowl of smoldering dry plants sitting at about waste height. I look at the elder and quietly say “can you please walk me thru this?, I have never done this before!” and she smiles and touches my head with the eagle feathers and say for  me to bend down over the bowl and use the smoke like water. He said it’s like “washing yourself with your heart.”  So I did that for a few moments and then he asked me to turn around and then he touched my head and shoulders with the eagle feathers again and then I went to go sit down.  After this I also noticed that  as other came up to get smudged that people would sometimes have a child on one arm and hold their child and do the ritual “smoke washing” for themselves and their child as the held them. I also witnessed a lady with a stroller with a small baby come in and as she was washing herself in the smoke, the elder reached the eagle feathers into the baby’s basket and touched the child’s head. 

Thank god I got there 10 min early because this place was FULL! I didn’t even count and I’m sure I would have been off regardless considering the balcony was even had people. Note: first time I have even been in a regular sized church that was so full they had to use the balcony. Despite what you might think, there was more than just Cree people in this church.  I saw what I think was a fair mix of Native, Métis, and causation people in the crowd.  I didn’t have the best view but I could hear a band and a small choir up in the front playing old pioneer country music and the people slowly made their way in.  Normally churches are empty enough that I have a whole pew section to myself, but this time I had friends. Many friends. There was actually a point where a whole bunch of people sat down on my bench and I could feel the wood bend. I was seriously concerned it might break! But we were OK, I didn’t fall thru the church pew, there was no breakage. 

Side note: first Catholic Church I have ever seen without kneeling benches.

As soon as a had a moment to stop at look at the décor I was really blown away such an amazing job they did in this place. Check this out. 

And for those with week eyes the writing at the top says “Sacred Heart of Jesus Thy Kingdom Come.”

I was somewhat surprised to see that neither of the main two people that were leading the church service were visibly native, but still quite possibly Métis.  Both of them where tall thin fellows with shaved heads, one was aprox 40 and was sporting jeans and a homemade ribbon shirt. The other was aprox 60 and in a type of adapted priest robes. I say this because they were different in the fact that they were much less decorated, with nothing sparkly and embroidering with a shaft of wheat done in native art across the front.

The younger of the two fellows in the ribbon shirt came up to the mic at the podium and latterly yelled into it “GOOD MORNING! How’s Everyone Doing Today?” more in the way that one would great 200 kids on their first day of summer camp.  It made me feel at home.

We started the service in song and then sat down and the priest welcomed any new guests that were there today. He made a strong point to say that even thou some of us are guests we are not outsiders, but part of the family as we are all God’s children.  Then he asked for anyone that is not from here to raise their hand and say where they were from. There was a few that did, but was most surprising was a senior lady sitting next to me. But when the priest came over to our side she stood up shakily and proclaimed that she was married in this Church 66 Years Ago!  This really took me back for two reasons. #1 she was not visibly native, and # 2. She didn’t look at day past 70!!! I noticed at one point that she was talking to another granny who said she must have been a child bride because she looks far too young to have been married 66 years. She laughed and took it as a complement. I did lean over  at one point and ask her if her or her husband was Métis or native, but she said no, and the reason she  was married in this church was  the fact that it was simply the closest one I here area when she and her future husband first moved here. Apparently they attended it for 2 years and then  after getting married  soon moved to the south end and lived there ever since. She said her husband was not well enough to come with her today.

There was an elder lady at the front of the church that started off the prayers. It was interesting in the fact that she first recited the prayer in English and then in Cree. I have never heard a Christian prayer recited in Cree before this point in my life. I also noticed some unique use of terminology at a may different points I noticed the word god replaced with “the Great Spirit” or “the creator” and the word bible replaced with “Book of Wisdom”. All which I personally perceive as accurate and fair descriptions.

The reading today was from Mathew as Jesus gave the parable about the wheat and the weeds, and how as much as god has made good people for the earth the evil one has put weeds among us and how in the final judgment everything will be harvested and the grain will go to the farmers house and the weeds will be burned.  And then there was this notable moment when the priest looks up from the bible and addressing the crowd and says “let me make this clear, WE ARE NOT THE WEEDS!” 

It is sad that this moment was necessary. As many of you know and some of you don’t the native communities are plagued with addiction, abuse, corruption, homelessness and countless other problems. There is an extremely high population of native people in Canadian jails and they have often been view by society as burden. And now I sit here and watch this catholic priest stand before this group of mostly native people at try to convince them, that their people are not the tree rot of the forest.

As much as I try to be all accepting, I still find it to be a hard sell. I grew up got to school in a town in the countryside. I knew the general perception of the native kids, epically in high school. The school year would start they would show up for the first few days, and then they would start coming late and then eventually not at all. It was no mystery where they went just look out the window into the ally and you can see them all in a circle smoking and likely doing drugs.  But one all of them were bad apples. I remember one, he was nice. He even came to class most of the time. Word on the grape vine was that he had a crush on me, but I had bigger fish to fry. I even stared to talk to him a little bit, and then right at that moment he disappeared. I discovered that the funding to buss the native kids off the reserve, to our town to attend our school had been cut. I felt concern for him knowing that nothing good came out of life on the native reserves. I can only pray that the drugs did not get him. Not everyone comes off the reserve alive.

After the parable about the wheat was done the priest went a bit off topic and stared taking about rural living and made the statement “most young people today don’t even know where the wheat to make the bannock comes from!” .  Which I am sure is very true.

Then we all stood for individual prayer.  There was a lot of regular stuff, blessing for the old, for the sick, and for people traveling. But there was also some unique prayers. Such as prayers to keep social programs going, to help the most poor, prayers for “the brother and sister in corrections” and blessing for those recovering from addiction.

Next was the offering. Once again totally different. I was sitting kid of farther back and I could hear well, but one thing I did notice was this native style blanket laid out on the steps of the alter.  And then just half the church literally RUNS up to the front to toss their offering on to it. Which of-corse I did to. So we ended up with this blanket covered in cash at the front of the room. When it was all over, one of the elders came by, folded it up with the money in it, the priest blessed it and then he slid the folded blanket under the alter.

Communion was done, all with a very nicely made wood carved bow for the bread and bison painted clay cups (the fellow that gave me my bread was using an abalone shell to hold it). I was partially surprised that they used real red wine. Native people are well known to be easily victims of alcohol addiction.  A lot of churches that discourage drinking (which some do) normally use grape juice.  I did notice however in the corner it was also option for a person to come up and get smudged a second time rather than take communion.

There was slot of singing going on today. O, by the way this is what amazing grace looks like in Cree. 

Cool Eh? 

But my personal favorite was when we sang Hallelujah. But this time it was with a guitar, native drums, native choir and the whole crowd had to stand and on que, rotate to face the 4 points of the compass during the song.  It was Cool! :P

Just so much singing, we sang happy birthday, happy anniversary, and then there was a special song sang at the end. Two native elders come up and in their own tong sang and hand drummed a native song that was “sent by the angles to the children on earth.” Really amazing experience, the air in the room was simply electric. You could feel it in the floorboards.

Now for all the photos. 

So this was the song book 

And the Alter complete with inukshuk and bison skin rug. 

We also have Cree Mary

Cree Jesus

One small piece of SO MUCH art work 

And then there was this.

It took a bit of time and research but apparently this was part of the Cree burial ritual was burying people on a loft. Then eventually when it falls down, burying the person in the ground. 

They also where giving away free rosaries. So I decided to help myself. 

THEY COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS???? 

I had a million questions near the end of thins but I was able to narrow it down to just a few. I was just about ready to go up and talk to the priest when I realized that the show was not over. There was a reason there was so many people there that day, especially with little babies. It was BAPTISM DAY!!!  So there was another hour of that going on, but I had no time to wait around.  I had a work shift to get to. Shame. Seeing the baptisms would have been cool.