Our mission community is in Moricetown, a Witsu Wit’en reserve on Highway 16 between Smithers and New Hazelton, British Columbia. Various opportunities have recently been offered for helping people to heal from abuses suffered earlier in life. The pain carried by many contributes to problems of addictions.
With “Rising Above,” a new program introduced in 2006, the spiritual component of healing was addressed in an evangelical style in the community. This is the first public recognition given to the importance of spirituality in healing workshops in which I have taken part.
I would like to use one particular day as an example of my ministry here.
Easter Thursday, I answered phones in the Health Station for the morning while the staff was at a meeting with Health Canada personnel. That allowed me time to reflect on the questions from CMIC and to complete the evaluation form for Development and Peace and enclose our parish’s donation for Share Lent: $110. That offering is nearly double what has been given in other years—partly due to the use of envelopes this time and partly thanks to a few words on Share Lent from Malee John, a Grade 12 girl who learned about Development and Peace at a youth forum in Vancouver. Malee challenged us to consider giving $1 each day of Lent, realizing that many in the Global South live on less.
I had prepared an outline for the parents and grandparents of the nine children who were to be confirmed and make their First Communion. The outline is to assist the adults in helping the children prepare more intensely to complete their initiation into the Church and to take responsibility for parts of the liturgy and for the reception. I had arranged to meet them at 4:30 p.m.
In the early afternoon, I went to the Band Office and school and phoned a few parents to check details about our Diocesan Youth Conference in Prince George. I had just completed a meeting with the youth on Tuesday. They planned to prepare a banner focusing on the theme of the conference and the name of the parish. They wish to have their five clans represented so two boys and three girls took the banner to design various drawings on it: a beaver, an owl, a fireweed, a wolf, a bear, a big frog, and caribou. Another girl is making a silhouette of Jesus to combine with the heart that another youth sketched.
We planned the prayer that we had been asked to lead on the Saturday night after the dance. It needed a “First Nations flavour,” so we thought of a simple way to do that: wear vests or dance blankets with our clan symbols, explain to the conference participants about the clans, and inform them that all of us, no matter what background, are brothers and sisters with Jesus. The parents of one boy, along with a nurse and I, would chaperone our group. The father would drive the van which the band had kindly allowed us to use.
When 4:30 p.m. came, I was at the church. One set of grandparents arrived. Two mothers had phoned to say they could not be present. Three other families did not show up. Hence, I went through the information about final preparations for Confirmation and First Communion and would do the same at least one other time. Being prepared for something most often requires that the missionary be also prepared that some things may not happen even when arranged.
In previous years, there was a place where I could meet groups after hours. This year, the house I had access to was no longer available; thus, initial work with the six families regarding Confirmation took place in their own homes. The advantage of this was having the parents present so that they hopefully were learning ways to guide their children.
Among my regular commitments are: to play the organ at Mass on Sundays and to take Holy Communion to some elders after Mass. On Easter Sunday, my companion in Smithers, Sister Mary Shea, and I attended the headstone potlatch feast in Moricetown. Since the Beaver Clan was hosting (and I am privileged to be with them), I helped serve and count the money.
Visitors were present from other parts of British Columbia, sharing some of their music and humour with everyone. We arrived home at 4:20 a.m., having been at the Moricetown Multiplex from shortly after 1:00 p.m. Being with the people is the most important aspect of ministry . . . we need to be ready to listen and to respond as needed.
On Tuesday afternoons, I teach music to the four classes at Moricetown Elementary School. Another part of my ministry is Rainbows for the Bulkley Valley area. This term, we have two Spectrum groups.
Most of the eleven participants are from Moricetown. All attend the high school in Smithers and it is working well for them to meet at St. Joseph’s in Smithers where they are forming peer support groups to help them grieve over death, separation, divorce or any other significant loss.
To be with the people and to grow in wonder of how God takes us as we are and where we are enables me to grow in faith. To continually strive to be open to finding God in all things is very much in keeping with my vocation as a Faithful Companion of Jesus, a religious order with Ignatian spirituality.
(Sister Theresa Smith, f.c.J., is pastoral assistant at Holy Rosary mission in Smithers, British Columbia, in the Diocese of Prince George.)
