The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-07-03
THE CATHOLIC SIOUX CONGRESS
OF 1915.

THE CATHOLIC SIOUX CONGRESS
OF 1915.
One of the most interesting features
of Catholic missionary work among
the Sioux Indians is the annual con-
gress or convention. AS the Sioux
are widely scattered lin different bands
and sub-tribes, over the two states of
North and South Dakota, as we'll as
parts of Nebraska, Minnesota and
Montana, it affords them all chance
to get together, see one another,
learn to know their missionaries, find
out the good things that other mis-
sions are doing, compare notes as to
which band is making the most rapid
progress, and SO on. The date and
place for the congress is fixed one year
before, and the Indians who intend to
go await the occasion with joy.
The priest, the Yanktons, and the
agent. appointed the last days of July
and the first of August, as the time to
hold the Catholic Sioux Congress at
Greenwood, the agency of the Yankton
Sioux reservation, but Honorable Cato
Sells, commissioner of Indian affairs,
decided that all the Sioux congresses
and convocations Cloth Protestant and
Catholic) both of North and South Da-
kota, should be held on the same days,
and he set the 9TH, 9Th and 9Th of Au-
gust at the time. Hence the Yankton
plans have been changed, and it is
hoped that no mistake will be made
relative to the time of the congress
by the hundreds of people who come
from far and near to attend the ses-
sions.
There will be many congresses con-
vened this year, but the most impor-
tant of all is that to be held on the
Yankton reservation, South Dakota,
which in addition to being the annual
Catholic congress of South Dakota, is
to be held as memorial in honor of
the 18th anniversary of Father De
Smet's coming among the Indians, es-
pecially the Sioux. A new church will
be dedicated and memorial tablet
will be unveiled at Greenwood on Au-
gust 8, when all the tribes evangelical
by Father De Smet (the greatest In
dian missionary the world has ever
known) will be present, and also a
number of high church dignitaries,
among whom will be IT. Rev. Thomas
O'Gorman, Bishop of Sioux Falls, S.
D.; Rt. Rev. James O'Reilly, Bishop of
Fargo; Rt. Rev. Jos. F. Busch, Bishop
of Lead, and Rev. William E. Ketcham,
director of the Bureau of Catholic In
dian Missions.
Greenwood is not on a railroad, but
some Of the nearest railroad points
are Wagner, Ravina and Lake Andes,
S. D., on the Chicago, Milwaukee & ST.
Paul railway, varying from 10 to IA
miles in distance from the agency,
which can be reached quickly, easily
and inexpensively by automobiles, Wis
itors could spend the nights in these
towns and attend the sessions and
celebrations at Greenwood with little
Inconvenience.
Many of the Yanktons were baptized
by Father De Smet, but the reserva
ton has never had a resident mission
airy until last year. when one of ou1
most noteworthy Indian missionaries
of the younger generation, son Of
Saint Ignatius, and a worthy successor
Of Father De Smet, Rev. H. l. Yves
tropp, S. j., was sent to live on the
reservation. He has reclaimed many
who have fallen away, made many
converts, built churches and wishes te
complete the work of converting the
whole Yankton tribe by this grand
gathering which will, 1t is thought
crown his efforts and put them on 8
solid basis.
These congresses stir up much en-
thusiasm, and Indians are much i'm
pressed when white Catholics mani
fest an interest in their spiritual vel
fare and attend their religious gather
ings.
These meetings also show in strik
ing manner what the Catholic mission
airy priests and sisters have done fol
the Indians, elevating them from g
state of savagery to high degree Of
civilization and Christianity. Many oil
these missionaries have worked among
the Indians for from 20 to 80 years;
they have toiled and endured many
hardships in the camps and in the
schools, but they have not worked In
vain. Ten thousand and more living
members of the war-like Sioux nation
and other thousands who now "rest
with their fathers" have Joined the
true fold Of Christ.
MONTGOMERY