A sister and an associate talk about their ministry in cross-cultural settings
By Carolyn White
Indigenous Americans
Sister Barbara Bogenschutz recently returned to Fort Belknap Reservation, Mont., where she first began her ministry among Native Americans in 1999.
Since then, she also served as a pastoral leader among the Anishinaabe at Red Cliff, Wisc., and among the Lakota in Oglala, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Sister Barbara says she has grown to appreciate the perspective she’s gained from accompanying parishioners in these Indigenous communities. She finds Native Americans to be deep-thinking, thoughtful, prayerful, and reserved people. “In their prayer, silence and nature bring them closer to Wankan Tanka, the Great Spirit,” she said. “Their prayerfulness is shown throughout their daily lives.”
“Different tribes speak of death in different ways, such as being swept up into the Milky Way or the journey of crossing over,” Sister Barbara explained. Through nearly a quarter-century of ministry among Native American peoples, Sister Barbara says “The challenges are many and the blessings abundant.”
Immigrant AIDS patients
In 2017, Dominican associate Damarias Cuyubamba Rivera, who lives in Lima, Peru, was diagnosed with cancer. Today, in good health, she pays it forward by accompanying persons who have AIDs, many of them Venezuelan immigrants who’ve come to Peru in search of a more secure life. Damarias says her organization doesn’t discriminate between Peruvian and Venezuelan clients but treats all of them with dignity. Her role is to support them in their journey and sometimes dress their wounds. “Persons with AIDS are often discriminated against,” she said. “That is why I try to support them and share with them what I learned: That God is love, peace, and hope, and before God we are all the same.” In the twelve years she’s accompanied her clients, she has had to say goodbye to 27 people who have died. As difficult as that is, she says “I have the satisfaction that they were not alone. I feel called to continue in this work for all the years that God will give me.”
Carolyn is an associate and a member of the JUST Words Editorial Board.
