Abstract:

At the turn of the twentieth century, the U.S. Catholic Indian Missions program was largely a European venture on American soil. As such, missionaries faced a two-fold estrangement. In addition to being strangers among the nation's indigenous tribes, they also faced the suspicion and hostility of a Protestant population deeply marked by anti-Catholic sentiment. This study examines missionaries' varied responses to this context of cultural and religious dislocation from 1900 to the eve of Vatican II, with special attention to the ways in which evolving Catholic identities through these years shaped missionary methodology. I have chosen The Indian Sentinel (1900-1962) as the primary lens through which to access this narrative. In addition to offering the perspectives of hundreds of missionaries as expressed in their own words and photographs directly from the field, the journal (as an official public relations organ for the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions) also reflects the concerns of U.S. Catholic bishops across these years.

The methodological approach of this study is at once historical, hermeneutical, and theological. With regard to Catholic responses to tribal cultures, I document a variety of attitudes represented among the missionaries which range from demonizing tendencies to utopic visions. To that end, I identify six discrete postures toward Native people and indigenous cultures which emerge through the Sentinel's textual and photographic testimony. I then turn attention to missionary attitudes toward the U.S. government and a largely Protestant American population. At the turn of the century, Catholic missionaries often resisted U.S. Indian policies of forced assimilation. Over time, however, U.S. Catholics grew eager to prove their allegiance to American values and interests. This process led to marked changes in Catholic Indian Missions strategy, including the adoption of an assimilationist agenda of their own. I use the missionaries' high-profile campaign to produce patriotic Indian soldiers and efficient Indian homemakers as symbolic of this shift in Catholic American identity which had dramatic implications for the Indian missions program. I conclude with reflections on post-Vatican II Catholic Indian Missions and suggest lessons the Sentinel offers missionaries today toward an authentically Native Catholic Church in America.