Attendees of a Native American anti-poverty summit pose for a photo Oct. 17, 2019, at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, the site of their Oct. 15-17 gathering. (CNS/Fr. Michael Carson)

Notre Dame, Ind. — An anti-poverty summit that took place at the University of Notre Dame Oct. 15-17 brought together American Indian tribal leaders from around the country to discuss poverty issues on their reservations, with a goal of formulating tribal/church strategies to address that poverty.

The meeting was an initiative of the Task Force on Native American Poverty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB Subcommittee on Native American Affairs organized the summit.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports approximately 3 million people whose primary race is Native American or Alaska Native. Of those, about 40 percent live on reservations or trust lands, and a high percentage fall well below the poverty level.

About 20 percent of Native Americans are Catholic, but proposals coming out of the gathering are expected to be applicable to all Native Americans, according to meeting organizer Fr. Michael Carson, assistant director of Native American affairs for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church. Carson, a priest of the Diocese of San Jose, California, is a Choctaw Indian.

Summit topics included: spirituality, sovereignty, education, racism, land and environment. Native Americans gave brief presentations on the topics, and then tribal representatives sat in small discussion groups with staff of various USCCB departments to identify and vote on action items.

Also attending were Bishop James A. Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, who is chairman of the bishops' Committee on Hispanic Affairs and a member of the Committee on the Home Missions; and Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the Subcommittee for African-American Catholics and a member of the bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; and Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California, who is former chairman of the cultural diversity committee and serves on the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, or CLINIC.

One common theme expressed by several of the Native Americans was that Indian tribes have a deep spirituality, a codified legal system, and strong devotion to family and community — values that are often not acknowledged by the wider population.

Darla Black of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, who is vice president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, described what life is like on a reservation. She related conditions similar to those of a Third World country. Before these problems can be solved, she warned, there must be healing from the mistreatment that marks so much of the Native American experience.