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Jesuit Journeys
Spring/Summer 2001
Living, Ministering, and Growing
Among the Lakota
His life of service to the Lakota spanned five consecutive decades. In the first summer of the new millenium he was named the recipient of Catholic Extension's 2000 Lumen Christi Award, joining a circle of 24 missionaries who have thus far received this honor for exemplary missionary work in America.
Story by Jessica Medinger / Photos by James Bowey
A smallish man with thin white hair descends the steps from his simple apartment on the first level of a little blue house. He strolls in the shade of trees across a gravel driveway into a park named after him. Along the way a troubled young man greets him.
"Father, please pray for me."
The older man, a Jesuit priest, responds: "Why not now?" Kneeling in the soft grass, the young man rests his head on a tree stump. The priest blesses him, slowly making the sign of the cross. Together they ask for God's blessing.
Everyone living in St. Francis, South Dakota recognizes Fr. Jones. Often as he walks from place to place, people in a park near his home stop him and pray with him for a few moments, or ask for his blessing.
Residents of this quiet town of St. Francis, South Dakota, home to approximately 1,500 Lakota Sioux in the south central part of the Rosebud Reservation, all know the angel among them, a man they call a living saint. He is Fr. Richard Jones, SJ who, at 86 and with vision too weak to drive, walks almost everywhere. He takes extra time to get places, not because of a slow gait, but because he often pauses to talk.
"Hi, Father," a 3-year-old boy yells, stopping his play and running to hug the knees of this town's respected elder. A horn blares from a rusty Chevrolet. Three hands wave from a window. Fr. Jones waves back flashing his classic half-grin. To many he is not just a priest, but a relative, a significant acknowledgement among the Lakota.
Once the local pastor at St. Charles Parish, he officially retired three years ago but remains extremely active in the lives of parishioners. He routinely offers prayers at the start of traditional Lakota celebrations, blesses houses, celebrates home Masses, brings the Eucharist to the sick, visits local jails, and celebrates funeral Masses and baptisms.
Fr. Jones' message of Jesus' love comes through in all his interactions, creating a bridge between Catholicism and Native culture. He never learned to speak the Lakota language and does not fully participate in all of the Lakota rituals, yet one of his longtime friends, Violet Crow Good Voice, says, "I think he is Lakota inside."
St. Charles Church is a special place of worship for the people of St. Francis, South Dakota
A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Fr. Jones came to St. Francis in 1940 as a regent. For three years, including summers and all holidays, he taught and supervised students at what was then the mission boarding school. He loved spending time with the students, many of whom still live on the reservation.
"You show them love and concern [and] they'd repay you the same way," he says recalling a pastoral philosophy he practices to this day. Fr. Jones left St. Francis in 1943 to continue his formation. Ordained in 1946, he went on to teach religion and history at various high schools in Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin before returning to the mission in 1963. He has been there since.
One of the first things he did as a missionary was help form a Christian social action committee with an Episcopalian priest. They wrote a joint proposal to the federal government that brought jobs, educational development, and social help to the remote reservation. The grant provided 375 transitional homes and a loan to build 400 larger ones. Over a period of 10 years, almost 900 homes were constructed on the reservation.
"That was a tremendous gift for the people [many of whom] had been living in car bodies and tents," says Fr. Jones. "It was kind of an uplift to them." The program also helped Fr. Jones in his spiritual work because after the houses were built, families asked him to bless their new homes. Pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were proudly displayed on the walls alongside family portraits and decorative Indian dreamcatchers.
Though he does not speak Lakota or participate directly in Native traditions, Fr. Jones often offers a prayer before cultural events, such as the sweat ceremony that will held in the curved-wood-framed structure picture here.
About that time, the RENEW program was just coming out of New Jersey. With budget concerns, parish renewal wasn't on top of the parish to-do list. However, Fr. Jones thought it would be interesting and useful to the people. So he sent $100 and requested the materials. After reviewing the information, he liked the concept but wanted it to fit better with the Native American culture.
"So I sat down and rewrote the whole thing using the same format but then basing it on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius," Fr. Jones says. He also developed a convenient way of inviting participation. As people came in and out of the parish house to use the telephone or to pray with him, he would talk to them about getting involved with the program. Initially about 100 people formed groups of 6 to 8.
"They learned Scripture. They learned their religion. They got to share with each other," Fr. Jones says. Some of the original groups still meet today, fostering their faith even though the program officially concluded 15 years ago.
From the beginning Fr. Jones maintained an open-door policy. He listens well, often to people sharing problems he can't necessarily solve. But the caring way he listens often makes all the difference in the world.
Fr. Jones makes weekly visits to pray with the homebound and bring the Blessed Sacrament to them.
Alcoholism is among the biggest problems on the reservation. Several programs are in place to combat the disease, including a drop-in center at St. Francis. Fr. Jones takes a more indirect approach, one that has had a major impact on the lives of many parishioners. He sets up a pledge with each person who seeks his help and prays with them, often at the small chapel in his modest apartment, and brings the pledge to God.
"God loves you," he says. "You're a special person and He's living in your heart and soul. No matter where you go, no matter what happens, He's with you, and don't give up. He fell under the cross, but He got up. So we fall, too, but get up. He's not going to blame us for that, if we keep going."
In 1988, a 74-year-old Fr. Jones set out on a 17-mile "Sobriety Walk" with about 25 others. The walk started in Kilgore, Nebraska, where many people from the reservation purchase liquor, and ended in St. Francis. On that 24-degree, unusually windy and snowy April day, the group paused along the way to pray at crosses laid down for those who lost their lives to alcoholism.
A Lakota medicine man and Fr. Jones both offered a prayer at each stop on the four-hour pilgrimage. By the time the group arrived in St. Francis, about 475 people had joined them along the way. The Sobriety Walk remains an annual tradition.
Poverty is another challenge. Todd County, where the reservation lies, is among the six poorest counties in the country. "Basically there's no employment; there are no jobs," Fr. Jones says. "Indian men and women have been with us for 5, 10, 15 years, and if given the chance to work, they will." The fortunate find secretarial positions or jobs in teaching, nursing, construction, and carpentry. But unemployment remains at about 85 percent, producing a sense of abandonment and hopelessness. "Just nothing to
look forward to," Fr. Jones says sadly. With someone who is as empathetic and caring as he is, it seems it would be easy for this priest to also become depressed. How does he avoid it?
He answers quickly and emphatically: "Pray!"
Fr. Jones recalls many years ago, while a seminarian, being struck by a talk based on the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Decades later, he believes and lives according to the spirit of those teachings.
"Pitch your tent among the people, and live among them - be part of them. [Show them] real love and concern and support. [Be there] to be a part of their life and their family, and they will respond with love and care.
"If they see that you love them and you want to help them," he says, "and I don't mean doling things out, I mean a real sincere love and care for them; they understand that and they'll respond to that."
No matter what the people are doing, when they need help he continues to go to them. They trust him and they love him.
So after a long day of home visits, Father Jones walks back to his apartment and pulls up the colorful star quilt on his bed that was made for him by one of his parishioners. He can rest peacefully here now, he says, because "after 40 years, this is home."
Fr. Jones paces the aisle of the empty St. Charles Church each morning when he prays the rosary for his personal intentions as well as the intentions of the Lakota people.
To contact Fr. Jones, write him at,
St. Francis Jesuit Community, PO Box 499
St. Francis, SD 57572-0499
Tel: 605.747.5713 e-mail: stfrancis@gwtc.net
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