Brother George Works
As A Healer Among 'Friends'

   Try to imagine how it would feel to have everything you value taken from you.

   Your home and property, your livelihood, your traditions and culture. Even your family name changed from a word meaning "friends" to a foreign expression ("Sioux") that some translate as "snake in the grass."

   This is the reality faced by the Lakota people of the Standing Rock Reservation, part of the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck in both North and South Dakota. And it is here that Brother George Maufort, SDS seeks to share our Savior's love, mercy, and hope for a better tomorrow.

   Standing Rock Reservation lies a little to the west of center, at the top of South Dakota and straddling the border into North Dakota. It's inhabited by the Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, and Blackfoot tribes, all of which are part of the extended nation known as the Lakota. Standing Rock has a population of around 8,000 and today consists of about a million acres—reduced quite a bit from the two million plus acres that the U.S. government originally ceded to the tribes in 1889.

   As buffalo hunters and warriors, the Lakota had resisted the incursion of the white man, resulting in a 30-year period of conflict known as the Plains Wars. The most well-known encounter from this period occurred in Montana on June 25, 1876: the Battle of Little Bighorn, at which the Lakota and their allies defeated Colonel George Custer's 7th Cavalry.

   The first missionaries to the Lakota people at Standing Rock were Jesuits and Benedictines, whose work began in 1834. The Catholic Indian Mission itself, with which Brother George is affiliated, was formally established at Standing Rock with the founding of the local parishes in the early 1870s.

   Brother George's primary ministry is as an alcohol and drug abuse (AODA) counselor. Unfortunately, it's a specialty that remains in great demand on the reservation. Many factors contribute to the high incidence of addiction among the Lakota. These include inadequate education, health care, housing, and employment opportunities.

A Vicious Cycle

   Rather than convincing them of the need to do the best one can in school, poverty induces many Lakota families to place a low priority on education. Getting and keeping a job, no matter how menial, seems far more urgent. This becomes a vicious cycle, for a student drop-out rate of 76% all but guarantees that few companies would be interested in Standing Rock Reservation as a potential labor market.

   Housing problems are critical, too. According to information provided through the American Indian Relief Council, "housing conditions on the Sioux reservations in South Dakota are among the worst in the United States."

   Finally, there is the issue of health care. Among the public health community it has long been known that Native Americans suffer more health problems than any other minority group in the country. And according to government statistics, the Lakota and other South Dakota Sioux are among those suffering the most.

   With all these problems, it's little wonder that crime exists on a disproportionate scale as well. Brother George spends a good deal of his time as an AODA counselor at Dickinson Youth Correctional Center, a federal facility. "It's tragic," he tells us, "to see young people having already given up hope, or never having dreamed of anything better in the first place. Many turn to alcohol and illicit drugs to 'ease the pain' of poverty and disappointment."

A Bridge Between Beliefs

   Brother George has ministered among the Lakota at Standing Rock for the past 10 years. Ordained a permanent deacon in 2002, he likewise serves the spiritual needs of five parishes in Sioux County, North Dakota: St. Peter's, Sacred Heart, St. Elizabeth's, St. Philomena, and St. James. Brother George is committed to helping "bridge the gap" between Native American spirituality and Catholic faith and practices.

   "When I got to Standing Rock," he says, "one of the first things I did was to seek out where I could participate in the Inipi, the sacred purification ceremony celebrated in the sweat lodge. I found it to be a source of spiritual strengthening. I do all I can to encourage the use of Lakota symbolism in expressing our Catholic faith."

   A native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Brother George was interested from early on in Native American cultures and traditions, and his background as a farmer and a woodsman has also served him well. Prior to his ministry at Standing Rock, he worked with other Native American peoples in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and in Canada.

   Brother George's ministry inevitably has carried him into the thick of the fight against racism. He proclaims our Savior's love for all through his involvement in social justice issues. It's a message he feels happy and blessed to share with Catholics throughout the Diocese of Bismarck.

   "I pray that I will forever approach the Lakota people, and all Native peoples, with an open mind, a listening ear, and a compassionate heart," he vows.
"I have heard their stories about their lives and the hardships they endure, and some of the stories make me hang my head in shame because of what was sometimes done to them in the name of religion. This is why I seek to be among them as a healer, helping them to move on beyond the pain of the past to a new and better life."