Jesuit Journeys
Winter 2002
Parish Resurrection
UP FROM THE RUBBLE
If the powers whipping up the winds that day could think, they would have looked down on the
tiny community of Oglala and taken it for an easy mark. As those forces pushed ominous black
clouds across the South Dakota plains and whipped a late spring storm
into a frenzied tornado, they no doubt would have thought the
humble Our Lady of the Sioux Parish and everything around it were at
their mercy.
Given the devastation about to be unleashed, a disheartened
people would pack up what they could salvage and leave the rest
behind in the ruins to settle and rot. If the forces
behind the tornado that touched down that day in June
1999 could think, very likely they would have thought those thoughts
and more.
And they would have been wrong. Very, very wrong.
Sr. Julie Brockamp, PBVM was mowing the grass when she saw the rain approaching. She went unconcerned
inside the doublewide trailer that served as the parish office and religious education center. In silence
and without warning, the rain approached - driven by the suddenness of a prairie twister. Startled, she intuitively
ran to a bedroom in the back of the trailer.
“I got down on the floor and grabbed tightly onto the bed frame seconds before the tornado ripped off
the east wall, raised the ceiling and floor, and turned the trailer and the eight other parish buildings into
rubble,” she says. After pulling herself from the splintered debris, she stood dazed and alone amid a
heap of shredded buildings, a devastating scene that justified the fear that had
gripped her.
“Afterward I had a deep sense of gratitude,” she says. With only a sprained ankle to show for the ride of her
life that could have ended her life, she felt fortunate to be alive. Sr. Julie was not alone in that regard.
Stunned by the extent of the damage, bewildered residents searched for relatives
and could only begin to comprehend the fury all but one of them had survived. Sister
Julie and another 65 people from Oglala were treated at the hospital emergency room in nearby Pine Ridge.
Above: Parishioners begin the unpleasant task of picking through the rubble of Our Lady of the Sioux Parish. The entire parish
complex of eight buildings, including the church, was leveled in June 1999 when a tornado touched down in the tiny
community of Oglala, South Dakota. Residents and parishioners rallied together to meet the daunting challenge of
rebuilding the parish and the surrounding area.
Our Lady of the Sioux is one of 16 parishes operated and supported by Red Cloud Indian School.
Sr. Julie coordinates pastoral activities and works closely with mission Jesuits who also operate the Red
Cloud Indian School and Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary school.
All are located in Shannon County, the poorest county in the United States, with an average income
of about $4,000. There is an 85 percent unemployment rate. At the surface of life, there is too much
alcoholism, frustration, and suicide. Too many ways to die young. Too many ways to feel the pain of an
often tragic history. Too much of the stuff that can wear you down and wear you out.
Below the surface is another kind of stuff: faith in the Creator and each other, a feeling of community, a
unity of spirit, a sense of sharing, and a shared history – things that build undeniable bedrock from things
that only appear transitory.
In an area otherwise lacking typical civic gathering places, the parish offered Br. Denny Center and the
larger Br. Rene Hall as community centers for weddings, funerals, birthdays, and other gatherings and
events. As a result, Oglala’s Catholics and the community at large, frequent and infrequent churchgoers
alike – so many of the town’s residents – felt a bond with not just their community but the parish too.
Rebuilding, then, was never really a question, a point emphasized by one of the first things Sr. Julie
spotted among the rubble. “It was a [religious] poster perfectly intact, one that said, ‘Behold, I make
all things new.’ I thought what a sense of humor [God has.] Give me a break.” God gave her a hand
instead. Meetings about what to rebuild began almost immediately.
“The people were wonderful,” Sr. Julie says. A tarp was hung over the outdoor basketball court so Masses
could be celebrated. The new Br. Denny Center was completed first, giving the community a new gathering
place before winter.
“We had our first Mass here Nov. 14th,” Sr. Julie says, sitting at a table in the new facility. A group of
Mennonites heard about the town’s plight and volunteered their labor to complete the job.
The parish complex (right) was rebuilt in less than two years.
“My grandma and grandpa were really strong Catholics. I was born a Catholic. That was my mother
and father’s religion. That’s how I grew up,” says Reno Rowland, who joined the cleanup and rebuilding
effort early on. When he attends Sunday services, however, he goes to church to which his wife and
mother-in-law, who are not Catholic, belong. “But I kind of feel at home when I’m here. So I come here to
visit or come to work.”
Paul and Elizabeth Little are parish regulars, as were Elizabeth’s parents. Paul and Elizabeth took care
of the church for a year between the departure of Sister Virginia Grumich, SSND and Sister Julie’s
arrival five years ago.
“We have a lot of tragedy and violence here,” Elizabeth says, only a few days after the community
gathered to mourn the suicide of a young man from her community. “We are a spiritual people and this is
one of the places we come as soon as something bad happens.” Paul nods in agreement.
Ernest “Butch” Scabby Face prays and sings in Lakota and leads the congregation at wakes. “This is our
church,” he says in a tone that seems to ask rhetorically: where else would we come?
“Our Lady of the Sioux is a holy site because of its history and what it has meant. It becomes a connection
in a very positive, spiritual sort of way with people’s great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents. So it’s a
special spot in the life of the community,” says Fr. Peter Klink, SJ, president of Red Cloud Indian School. “Now,
given the facilities that it offers, it also becomes a place where a lot of activities can happen. My sense is that the
community likes to celebrate here in part because of the facilities, but in part also because it is a place that calls us
to the best of what we can be. Our Lady of the Sioux represents the deep, human values of faith. It’s a comfortable
sort of spot.
“In Lakota culture the spiritual is to be pervasive in life, not compartmentalized to specific days or observances,”
Fr. Klink explains. “The tradition and history of the parish help make it a holy site not only in a Catholic
sense, but in values that are Lakota. So a lot of community life happens here, and that is a wonderful thing.”
Insurance paid only a fraction of the $1.2 million rebuilding costs. The Rapid City Diocese contributed
$70,000 early on.
“They said it was the largest one-time collection they had ever had in the diocese,” Sr. Julie says. “People were
so gracious and generous. We could never have rebuilt without so much outside assistance. Then the people
here hold many fundraisers like flea markets, bazaars, pizza and baked good sales. We try to sustain that on a
regular basis because we have a lot of replenishing to do.”
Fr. Pauly and Sr.Julie Brockamp, PBVM stand outside the new chapel after Sunday Mass.
In the wake of the tornado, they did just that. The garage and Br. Denny Center were completed in
November 1999. A new residence for Sr. Julie and other women religious from the Congregation de Notre Dame
working at the Red Cloud Indian School was finished in August 2000. Br. Rene Hall and the new Our Lady of the
Sioux Church were dedicated June 2, 2001, just shy of two years from when the tornado hit.
Bishop Blase Cupich, head of the Rapid City Diocese, blessed and dedicated the
new buildings.
And in the end, when it came down to the tornado of June 4, 1999 vs. the people
of Oglala and Our Lady of the Sioux Parish, the tornado never stood a chance.
Proof indeed that the power of God does “make all things new.”
Our Lady of the Sioux Church withstands the ravages of nature
Fr. Bill Pauly, SJ (above) celebrates Mass in the new chapel at Our Lady of the Sioux Parish in Oglala, South Dakota.
BY TINA MERDANIAN
In the wake of the tornado that destroyed Our Lady of the Sioux Parish in June 1999, one
of my earliest memories is of a parishioner sitting under a blue tarp that was strung over the
outdoor basketball court to create a makeshift church.
She lived just across the road and had faithfully kept watch over our parish complex for
many years, walking across the street every Sunday to pray in God’s house and meet with
friends and relatives. She sat in a pew crying and waiting for Mass to begin.
She was crying not only for the loss of her own belongings but also for buildings that held
so many years of rich history and memories, buildings that were more than physical structures,
buildings that were signs of hope and strength. As a fellow parishioner, I could fully understand and
share the loss.
However, just like that woman and so many other members of our parish community, I knew
that the tornado, though strong enough to crush buildings, could never destroy the foundation of
our community and our faith.
Today, the rebuilding of Our Lady of the Sioux Church and the other buildings of our
parish complex completes more than the material circle of renewal; it also fulfills a triumph of hope
for our tiny community. We share a new memory of reward for our efforts and a new foundation of
community life on which to build lasting affections for all that has been renewed – a renewal
that fittingly includes a reverence for the old.
The surviving statue and grotto for Our Lady persevere to quietly console. Around the upper
interior walls of the church, we have again painted the Lakota symbols for family and virtue. They
form a visual harmony of past and present, a golden necklace from a lost church to grace the
bosom of the new.
As parishioners we all face the raw vulnerability, emotional and psychological, that only a
spiritual connectedness can withstand. On Sundays we draw together over old grounds in a
new church, celebrating what was, what is, and what will be.
The Pine Ridge Reservation is materially very poor, and the community of Oglala is one of its
more difficult places. The blessings of the many generous but unseen supporters have helped our
handful of laborers in God’s field rebuild a parish and a community. If imitation of Christ
is the seed of ministry, carrying out that ministry here is a simple matter of accepting the
existing conditions.
And the pride we feel in our accomplishment can, for a time, certainly be excused – because
here at Our Lady of the Sioux Parish, the mercy and providence of God are so abundantly
on display.
Tina Merdanian is Director of Public Relations at
Red Cloud Indian School.
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You can support the works of Our Lady of the Sioux Parish
by sending
a check payable to the parish to:
Red Cloud Indian School,
100 Mission Drive,
Pine Ridge, SD 57770.
Return to Winter 2002 issue
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Next Article: Cover Story: Fr. Ray Bucko, SJ and Tammi Buffalohead-McGill help multicultural students adjust to Creighton life.
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