Wandering for a Merry World of Cheer and Song: St. Labre Indian School

So this past week was my final journey to the St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, MT. I know I already mentioned it before in a previous post, but I had this desire to expand upon my description of the school and why I enjoy it so much. It is one of my favorite places that I have done youth ministry at, and I know that some of my teammates also consider it a favorite spot of theirs. I think that the fact that it is a favorite and the fact that I feel the need to go into further depth about St. Labre just shows what an incredible and unique place it is.

I got the idea for this post from a conversation I had with one of the teachers at the school. She is currently a teacher for the middle school, focused in math, as well as a part of the staff for the dorms on campus, but last year she served St. Labre as a part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corp. The JVs are a group of volunteers, like Reach, who dedicate a year or so of their lives to work for a region that they are placed at. There are many JVs spread out across the US, from Ashland to Portland to Yakima, and they serve the communities that they are placed in. The JVs at St. Labre help supervise the students who live in the dorms, tutor those students, act as substitute teachers for classes, and help out at events in the school.

Anyway, in this conversation, the young teacher, who is from Boston, explained how she had served at St. Labre last year and how she enjoyed it so much that she wanted to come back again and continue working at the school for another year. She was one of a number of staff members who had previously volunteer to serve the school as JVs and became part of the staff the next year, including Emily the campus minister that Reach coordinates the retreats with. And you can tell that these people are drawn to the school because of the students.

There would be very little reason for anyone to want to work at a location like Ashland. It is truly the definition of a small town. No chain restaurants, no real grocery stores, one little gas station, no movie theatre, no arts stores. Pretty much anything fun that you think of having in a big city, even in a city the size of Billings (the big city of the region), you have to travel a couple of hours to do because Ashland offers none of that stuff. Sure, the hills are pretty and if you're an outdoorsy person or a farmer, the region around Ashland might offer something for you, but as far as employment goes, Ashland is not a hotspot.

Yet, people come to Ashland to work at St. Labre. Not only that, but those who volunteer to serve just one year often come back another year to serve in some capacity. That is because of the youth that they encounter at this school. Not just at St. Labre, but at St. Charles Mission School and Pretty Eagle Catholic Academy on the Crow reservation (these three schools comprise the St. Labre school district if you will). You can tell that these teachers and staff members truly care for their students, even the wildest or least behaved students. Why do they care for them so much?

As I explained in my previous post featuring St. Labre, I didn't truly understand the lives of these students until they opened up during a prayerful talking circle. Many of the students come from family with deep, serious issues and some students would not be able to eat three meals a day if it weren't for school. Yet, despite the struggles they go through, the kids are about as normal as can be. These teachers know that these kids need a strong, positive adult presence in their lives who will not only care for them but also guide them along the right path. These staff members are truly great role models who enjoy interacting with these students. That's part of the reason why the male members of Reach were especially needed for these past two St. Labre retreats. My teammate Austin and I traveled from Yakima to Ashland twice (Alec, another guy on Reach, joined us on this last trip) in order to be positive male role models for the guys who would be attending the retreats.

Why else am I fascinated with St. Labre? Well, it is the only place that I have seen the Catholic community combine the tribe's culture with the church's. At St. Charles Mission School, the tabernacle (which houses Jesus in the Eucharist) is in the form of a tepee, there are prayers and song in the Crow language at Mass, and there is cedar incense which is used to cleanse and prepare those who are attending Mass. At the St. Labre campus, the church itself is constructed in the shape of a tepee, the Stations of the Cross inside were created using the artistic style of the tribe, and the design on the tabernacle also contains imagery from the tribe. The Mass also includes prayer in the Cheyenne (maybe Crow?) language as well as cedar incense.

Now, the Catholic staff at St. Labre have not always combined the cultures. When the school was first founded as a mission by the Ursuline nuns, it was established in order to help the Cheyenne children assimilate into the white American culture. For majority of the school's existence (it's been around for 125 years now), the religious who taught at and operated the school were using the education to assimilate the children. However, that was the thought process at the time. Majority of the mission schools from every religious order back in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century thought that the best way to help the Native Americans from becoming completely wiped out was to assimilate them into the white European-based culture. Over time, the staff at St. Labre have changed their ways and help keep the culture of the Cheyenne and Crow tribes alive by not just adding elements of the tribes' cultures to the Mass but also providing classes for the students to learn more about the cultures of their ancestors.

It is also amazing to look at the long history of St. Labre and see just how miraculous it is that the school is still operating today. Since the establishment of the St. Labre mission by the Ursuline sisters, the school faced the issues of poor funding, low food supply, floods, fires, racial tensions, lack of school supplies, lack of proper housing, fluctuating school attendance, and lack of staff. Over time, religious orders have come and gone from the school. What started out as a mission operated by the Ursuline nuns with the assistance of Jesuit priests became a school that was ran by the Capuchin priests and the School Sisters of St. Francis. Over time, majority of the religious have left so that now there is only one Capuchin priest and a couple of religious sisters at the school.

One of the biggest reasons for the school's current success is the way it receives funding. During the mid-twientieth century, the school began a mailing program in order to receive as many funds as possible by sending out as many letters as possible. With the aid of the mailing program, the school was able to reach out to more people and over time has been able to enlist big name companies as major donors. That is why St. Labre is able to provide its students with clothing, food, nice school buildings, and a new dorm for the students who cannot travel home during the week.

It's also important to recognize that while the school has been around for 125 years and has been a religious facility for all those years that there is still a need for evangelization on that campus. During my time at St. Labre, I have been able to attend Mass with the middle school and high school students on multiple occasions. This last time, I watched people process forward during Communion and saw that many of the students actually went forward for a blessing instead of receiving the Eucharist. So not only was it important for me to be there to help lead small groups on retreat and share my faith and relationship with God in words but it was also important to show that faith in action by stepping forward reverently and receive the Body of Christ. Then going forth joyfully to continue being a witness to all those around me.

So, these are just my thoughts as to why St. Labre is a unique and interesting school. Its isolation helped me become more invested in the school, the culture, the people. Walking around the place, I could feel that this place has an incredible history. I hope to one day return to the campus and see what the future has in store for the campus, the students, and the staff. I will just leave you with some pictures to help give you a better visual of the things I experienced at St. Labre.