Photo Courtesy of: St. Anthony Catholic Mission
Father Dale Jamison, OFM, recently celebrated 50 years of priestly service. He recounted his experiences ministering in New Mexico and Arizona to Suzanne Hammons of the Voice of the Southwest, the news media site for the Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico.
Father Dale is director of Native American Ministry for the Diocese, as well as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Tohatchi, New Mexico.
He grew up near the former Duns Scotus College in Detroit, where he first learned about the friars. His ministry has taken him to some of the most impoverished places in the country, including work with Native Americans in the Southwest and African American Catholics in Louisiana.
He’s long been inspired by the special charism of the friars to work with the poor.
“The one thing that has always captivated me was, you’re in the trenches with the poor people. You’re just not in the trenches where you go to work – you live in the trenches. There’s a difference,” he said.
His ministry takes inspiration from the culture of the Navajo peoples who he works with. Through his ministry in the Southwest, he has learned to respect the tribal leaders and elders. There has been a sea change in Catholic ministry to native peoples, as Fr. Dale approves of how the Church has begun to recognize the historic wrongs directed at them.
Much of his ministry focuses on relieving the daily struggles of the Navajo people, many of whom live in dire poverty.
The centerpiece of this service is the Mission Food Pantry, a Clothes Closet, and other supportive outreach connected to the parish. Franciscan Sisters Marlene Kochert, OSF, and Miriam Kaeser, OSF, coordinate operations of the food and clothing programs.
Photo Courtesy of: St. Anthony Catholic Mission
The food assistance helps families fill their children’s dinner plates. Volunteers stock pantry shelves with the goods they purchase on a weekly trip to a regional food distribution center in Gallup, The Mission provides canned fruit and vegetables, tuna, soup, rice, pasta, cereal and other non-perishables, as well as fresh produce, meat and dairy to any Navajo family who comes to the pantry.
Photo Courtesy of: St. Anthony Catholic Mission
Parishes in Phoenix, Arizona, and Oakland, California, twice annually truck donations of new blankets, bedsheets, coats, sweatshirts, and other clothing to the thrift shop. During Thanksgiving and Christmas, donations of food, clothing and other necessities pour into the parish, due largely to Fr. Dale’s mission appeals and the efforts of the Franciscan nuns.
St. Mary Mission has two satellite churches – St. Anthony of Padua in Naschitti and St. Joseph the Worker in Coyote Canyon, both about 20 miles from Tohatchi. A Legion of Mary ministry visits elderly and homebound, and the parish provides up to $2,000 in tuition assistance for children attending area Catholic schools.
The parish receives support from parishioners in the Diocese of Phoenix as well as high school students who come for service projects. They deliver food, clothing and household items for Navajo in need and experience traditions like shearing sheep and making frybread, a culinary specialty served with mutton and beans at wedding and anniversary banquets and funeral receptions. The students experience first-hand, via Mass and other prayer activities, about the Catholic Navajo experience.
St. Mary Mission’s centennial event was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic, but the Navajo and friars held a celebration last year to usher in the next century.
In his 50 years of ministry experience, Fr. Jamison has learned that priests and Church workers should listen to the needs and concerns of parishioners.
“Always meet in groups and talk about cultural issues. Cross-cultural issues, what works, what doesn’t work, and certainly whatever community you go into, don’t make any changes, don’t make any judgments,” he said. “Go slow. Don’t be a prime mover. Let them move you.”
He also hopes that the Church fosters and encourages priestly vocations among Native peoples.
Photo Courtesy of: St. Anthony Catholic Mission
“Coming in from the outside, we’re always going to be outsiders,” he said. “And all of the apologies in the world are fine, but they don’t accomplish anything unless you have somebody walking with you. So that’s why we need [native] priests walking with the Native American community, and they know what’s best for them. They live the culture their whole life.”