Indigenous faith celebrated through OurLady of Guadalupe Mass

They came from different nations — Cree, Dene and Sioux — but they all had onegoal: to honour Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Indigenous peoples of Northand South America.

The tribal drums pounded and resonated throughout St. Joseph’s Basilica aschiefs in bright feathered headdresses and priests in vestments bearing theimage of Our Lady walked towards the altar.

All were there to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – honouring theday the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego in 1531. The apparition ledmillions of Indigenous people in Mexico to adopt the Catholic faith.

Dwayne Arcand

For Indigenous Catholics, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother that unites themall.

“This feast day signifies unity for us First Nations people, and it’s allbecause of our Blessed Mother. She’s the one that brings us together,” saidDwayne Arcand, from the Cree community of Enoch. “We celebrate her throughoutthe year, but this Our Lady of Guadalupe feast day is when all Indigenouspeoples are one in our devotion.”

Since 2002, the Catholic Church in Canada has marked her feast day as theNational Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. To commemoratethe day, a statement by the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council called for theprotection and revitalization of Indigenous languages.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is the star of the new evangelization and the model fordiscipleship,” said Archbishop Richard Smith, who celebrated the Mass withpriests from Lac Ste. Anne Parish, Enoch’s Our Lady of Mercy Parish, andEdmonton’s Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. “To honour her, we alsoturn to her as a mother who loves us beyond all imagining.”

Nearly 400 people gathered for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day Massat St. Joseph's Basilica on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.Lincoln Ho, GrandinMedia

More than 400 people from throughout the Edmonton Archdiocese gathered for thisyear’s celebration. Along with a rosary prayed in Indigenous languages, asacred smudging was offered beforehand. Music was provided by Alexis NakotaSioux Nation drummers and musicians from Sacred Heart Church and Our Lady ofSeven Sorrows Parish in Maskwacis.

Jules Caisse

The cultural practices of Canada’s First Nations were present throughout. Butit was when Sacred Heart pastor Rev. Susai Jesu delivered the Gospel reading inCree that Jules Caisse was hit at a visceral level.

“It just touched my heart in such an intimate way,” said Caisse, who lives inthe First Nations community of Maskwacis, south of Edmonton. “Hearing the

Gospel in our native tongue, it just reflects why this is such an importantcelebration for us Native people.

“A lot of our people may not know about Our Lady of Guadalupe, butthey should. She appeared not just for Mexico, but for all FirstNations people. She came for us.”

In Canada, there has been a long and difficult history between the CatholicChurch and the First Nations people, many of whom still suffer from the legacyof the residential school system.

But the inclusion of Indigenous culture in the annual Our Lady of GuadalupeMass shows that the Church has made vital steps in reconciliation, said Arcand.

“I believe the First Nations people are starting to come back to our Catholicfaith now,” he said. “Slowly the effects of the residential schools are beingovercome. To have masses and priests that are both cultural and Catholic — it’sextremely helpful and symbolic. Because that’s the way many of us pray; webelieve in the practice of both our cultural and Catholic traditions.”

Chief Arthur Rain

Reconciliation can only grow as long as this openness between the Church andIndigenous peoples continues, said Chief Arthur Rain of the Paul First Nation,which covers reserves along Lake Wabamun, 70 kilometres west of Edmonton.

“If that willingness is there, we can all be one,” said Rain. “There’s a lot ofpain and horrific history among the Indigenous people. But if there is thatwillingness to come together, talk to one another, to forgive and be forgiven,

then there’s no issue that can stop us from being one Church and one family.”

Rain was raised in a devout Catholic family near Duffield, 65 kilometres westof Edmonton. Our Lady of Guadalupe holds a special place in his heart, for itwas devotion to the Virgin Mary that kept his family so rooted in the faith.

“Since I was a boy, my mom always referred to the mother of Jesus as theultimate mother, the ultimate caretaker,” he said. “She would tell us Mary wasthe best mother for nurturing and tending to babies, and we often asked for herintercession when children were feeling ill or unwell.

“When my family prays today, we always acknowledge Mary as ourspiritual mother. Mothers complete the cycle of life.”

In his homily, Archbishop Smith spoke on the importance of being grounded infaith in today’s troubling world, and how Mary can hold the key to thatgrounding.

“All around us we see lives that are sinking because they are grounded on whatis not reliable,” he said.

“We need think only of the widespread anxiety, the desperation that is leadingto suicides ̶ many of which are occurring among the youth of our Indigenouscommunities.

“We need to develop the habit of attentive listening to the Word of God… That’sthe only ground upon which to build a life of hope. This Mass invites us to askGod to grant us Mary’s faith, to help us believe, as she did, that there willbe a fulfillment in our lives of what is spoken by God.”