Father David Bailey, a priest of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, and a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Native American Advisory Board, recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss the incidence of Indigenous women who are missing or found murdered.
The episode is airing during the national Tekakwitha Conference taking place in Bloomington through Sunday, July 23. Father Bailey was one of the conference’s three keynote speakers on that subject.
He described the Tekakwika Conference as “a collection of Natives who are Catholic, Natives who are not Catholic, non-Natives who are Catholic, and then Catholic priests and nuns who work in Native communities.”
“And for all of those groups, it is important for us to come together periodically to have dialogue, to talk and to communicate with each other, because each segment of the people in the conference really offers a different worldview,” Father Bailey said.
Father Bailey recalled the words of Cree elder Maria Campbell, who once impressed on him at a conference in Montana that there is a need to “focus on being better neighbors.” Campbell is a founder of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement.
The history of violence against and trafficking of Indigenous women “started at first contact” between Europeans and First Nations, Father Bailey said. And “a lot of prejudice between non-Natives and Native people” continues today.
“We have to change the narrative,” Father Bailey said, and look at people “as being entitled to be treated with dignity, because we are all created in God’s image and likeness.”
“All of us” can take care of each other’s children, who are exponentially at risk for human trafficking in this country, Father Bailey said. Know your neighbors and “care enough” about your neighbors, he said. “That’s something that we really need to work on in this country, especially in places where there are a lot of Native communities,” whether reservations or intertribal communities in inner cities.
Father Bailey said he has visited many inner-city Native communities and reservations. “Most of the time we don’t treat each other with the dignity that we all deserve, and we need to work on that and to realize that all life is sacred,” he said. “All life is sacred.”
To learn more, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which debuts at 9 p.m. July 21 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. July 22 and 2 p.m. July 23. To read coverage from the national Tekakwitha Conference continuing this weekend in Bloomington, visit www.thecatholicspirit.com and pick up the July 27 print edition.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Bob Beck, director of marketing and operations at Franciscan Retreats and Spirituality Center in Prior Lake, who describes the world of spiritual retreats; and Mackenzie Hunter, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, who offers tips on using social media as a tool for evangelization.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
