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The Wind, The River, and The Society

Riverton looks a lot like any other small town in America. The Walgreens on Main Street has T-shirts for sale supporting the local team. (At around $6, a Riverton Wolverine’s T is a deal too good to pass on.) There’s a Holiday Inn and a Comfort Suites practically yelling out about the growth in this Wyoming city of about 10,000. There’s also The Trailhead Family Restaurant which boasts "Homestyle Cookin’ and Friendly Folks, Open at 5 a.m."

When departing the main drag of Riverton and heading down Rendezvous Road, make the turn onto Mission Road just past the Arapaho Catholic Cemetery. You’ll find St. Stephen’s Mission on the edge of the Wind River Reservation. There’s a little church that is beautiful in its simplicity with its white wooden exterior and bell tower. There may only be around 30 pews on the inside, but with a little focus, you can see the miracles created here.

The myriad miracles of life often take a special occasion to bring them into focus.

There is the echoing beat of the drum, the bounce of the young dancer down the aisle, past the baptismal font and toward the altar, both in the shape of Native American drums. There is the smell from the cedaring ceremony where pine needles are burned as incense. It is here along the banks of the Little Wind River that the hand of God has carved a miracle. Natives and non-natives share the celebration of the Mass as St. Stephen’s Mission celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Before there was a state of Wyoming, there was St. Stephen’s Mission, founded in 1884 where the Big and Little Wind rivers met. (Wyoming was granted statehood in July 1890.) Northern Arapaho Chief Black Coal wanted education to help his people, and Fr. John J. Jutz, SJ and Br. Ursis Nunlist, SJ stepped in to answer the call and pitched their tent next to the chief.

Today, a procession of more than 20 priests, the Native Honor Guard (in headdress and carrying flags) and parishioners settle at the altar, which has teepee poles as its backdrop. "It was here before the Jesuits arrived and named it," said, Fr. Ron Seminara, SJ, pastor and director of St. Stephen’s Mission, speaking of the water during the homily of the anniversary Mass in September. He talked about how the river is a companion and had "given of itself " for the nourishment of all.

The wind and the water have been a blessing to the success of St. Stephen’s and all it has been able to touch. Fr. Seminara continued: "For by the breath of God, we were created from watery darkness and through the death and resurrection of the Lord we are born again in water and the Spirit. The river and wind run in us. The river and the wind run through us. May the wind and the river always surround us, embrace us and remain with us."

It was in the 1880s that the reservation system in the U.S. began to encourage education and looked to religious educators to fill the needs. A school and a church and dormitories rose in the shadows of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains and the Owl Creek Range.

St. Stephen’s Mission was both school and working farm for the native students growing with the ever-changing American scene. There were boys’ and girls’ dormitories where days were split. Traditional class work melded with the skills of farming, carpentry, baking and weaving. The mission was proud not only to be a self-sustaining community, but also a producer of high-quality goods that were in demand by its neighbors.

It’s not just the wind and the water that have shaped the land. The people have been incredible carvers of the land and the culture. The Shoshone and Northern Arapaho peoples have been sharing the Wind River Reservation, and at St. Stephen’s, the native population has included all others.

There are three churches as part of the mission, with St. Joseph in Ethete and Blessed Sacrament in Fort Washakie bracketing St. Stephen’s church. Frs. Bob Hilbert, SJ, and Dan Gannon, SJ, support the mission’s work along with Fr. Seminara.

St. Stephen’s Indian Mission provides various programs in religious instruction for the Shoshone and Arapaho people and for the needs of the community, such as youth activities, counseling, home visits, substance abuse counseling and a scholarship program for post-secondary education.

Forty-five years a parishioner, Jean Watt has seen many changes in the area and in the Church. She has weathered it all "because it is home." As religious education coordinator for St. Stephen’s, she smiles when thinking of all the work melding the Catholic faith with native life.

"It took us a while to break the Jesuits into our culture," she laughed. "But we don’t mind." The inclusion of the native ways into the Catholic faith was achieved in a large part by Fr. Carl Starkloff, SJ, when he was leading the mission.

"Fr. Starkloff had meetings with the elders and talked to them," she said. "He had the talent to show how we could do this. He took the initiative and all the others followed." During his years serving the Mission in the mid ‘70s, Fr. Starkloff developed an appreciation of the ways of the Native peoples and worked with them to integrate their language and customs into the liturgical life of the Mission. It was during Christmas Midnight Mass in 1980 that the Arapaho language was used in liturgy for the first time.

"I fell in love with the parish and the people," said longtime parishioner Dick Bebout. "I am comfortable with the Jesuits and it is kind of neat how they worked in the parish. Both Native and non-native folks were fostered by their ideals of working together and getting to know one another."

Karen Spoonhunter Brown has been an active parish member for a couple of decades and has enjoyed the Jesuit staff.

"We really appreciate all the men who have been evangelizing to our people," she said. "Fr. Dan and Fr. Bob have come into our homes and become part of our families."

Times of transition are not new at St. Stephen’s Mission. It was a daring gamble in 1954 when Fr. Earl Kurth, SJ, who is noted for his work at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, S.D., and who passed away Sept. 2, incorporated St. Stephen’s into a high school for all students. In its second year, there were 216 students, 30 of them non-native. The school, which won back-to-back state basketball championships in 1959 and 1960, shone brightly as a symbol of people living together with a 60/40 split between Native and non-native students. But times again changed and the high school closed in 1966, and the elementary school was transferred to the local independent school board in 1973.

Today there is a prayer garden decorating the site of the former convent, which stood for 115 years, celebrating the religious orders of women, particularly the Franciscans who served the community. Sr. Theresa Frawley, OSF, at St. Joseph’s church in Ethete, and at St. Stephen’s it is Sr. Monica Suhayda, CSJ, who is the manager of the Heritage Center and Gift Shop, and Sr. Florence Petsch, OSF, pastoral assistant, carry on that tradition.

The Jesuit Community commissioned an icon of Fr. Peter John De Smet, SJ, who is known as the founder of the Jesuit Ministry among Native Americans and said the first Mass in Wyoming in 1840. After a blessing of the icon this prayer was offered by parishioner Bob Brown: First fall cool morning River trail bends, Sun rising. Flushed grouse covey! WOW! Midday heat building, Cottonwoods wait, dappled leaves. Gust of wind! Watch out! Slowly light softens, Sprinkles circling, hiss and spat. End of day: Quiet! Bright moon at midnight, Coyotes crying; mission rests. Christ’s constant: HERE!

In its 126th year, St. Stephen’s Mission begins yet another transition as it is transferred to the Diocese of Cheyenne and becomes fully incorporated into the diocese as much as any other parish. Members of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity will manage the Mission for the diocese.

The wind blows across the valley and the river cuts through the earth and the beat of the drum continues. "We thank God for all the many graces given during this time, for the people who have influenced our lives in the Spirit at the Mission, and for God’s constant presence and blessing," Fr. Seminara said. "We rejoice in jubilee!"

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