Ralph Partida of the Native Spirituality Council of the San Bernardino, Calif., diocese said that this openness often is not found in dialogue with Native Americans. Native ways are looked at as pagan. The church gives lip service then goes back to the old ways.
Reciprocity provides an alternate approach.
They are more sensitive to the elements. They are aware of everything in the surrounding and are in tune with what the creator has given us. In other words, Native Americans have much to offer the rest of us, and a richer, more effective mutual ministry can result when we live on a two-way street. History can provide us with painful, though necessary, lessons that will help us come to better understand why the dominant religious cultures of North America have often failed tragically to listen with a nonpatronizing and open heart and mind to the story of Native Americans. Indeed, in many of these encounters profound injustices and human rights violations have occurred.