Divine Mercy Image at Assumption
I have been working with some Assumption parishioners who would like to have an image of the Divine Mercy displayed at that church. We have explored a few possible locations, but the one I and they like best is actually above the main doors between the gathering space and the church, where an old crucifix is currently mounted. (We would find a dignified place for that crucifix, potentially above the fireplace in the church offices.)
I want to run this by our parishioners before making a final decision, so if you have strong thoughts either way, or have a better idea for a location, please fill out this form: Divine Mercy at Assumption – Fill out form
(And yes, I know I still have an opinion form out for Assumption on the steam heating / painting project. I am waiting for the final piping bids to come in before reporting back on that.)
Unusual Mass Rotations
For most of this year, we have been experiencing the general stability that we sought after our Sunday Mass changes. However, with Fr. Stephan in India for a month and Fr. Gerardo soon to be gone to Mexico for a similar time, our Mass rotations are “whatever we can make work” until early March. Thank you for your patience as we work with our (very generous) fill-in priests.
Old Lummi Article
A parishioner recently made an amazing donation to the Lummi/Ferndale archives: copy of the “American Reveille” newspaper (out of Bellingham) from December 16, 1906. Apparently, a friend of this parishioner found the paper used for insulation in a house that was being renovated, gifted it to our parishioner who had it framed, and now the parishioner has decided it might be better kept in the hands of the church.
This particular paper has a full page spread on the Lummi Indians, but of particular interest to our churches are the following paragraphs:
Hillaire Crockett, son of the former chief of the tribe, and who is now recognized as the foremost man in the reservation, although he takes no active part in the management of the affairs, passed through the city in the last few days on his way to British Columbia points where he went to visit with old tillicums. Crockett reported that preparations are already being made for the observation of Christmas on the reservation. Services will be held in the little white church that can be seen plainly across the bay, and the different families will have feasts in their modern homes. In the last few years the Indians have come to recognize the Christmas day of the whites as one of their own holidays and as a day of joy for all.
Father Boulet, who has been associated with the Indians on the Lummi reservation for the last fifty years, will have charge of a part of the services at the reservation this year as he has done for years past. The midnight mass on the eve of Christmas day is the feature of the celebration for the Indians. The venerable Catholic priest tells of the celebration and of the preparations that will be made for it as follows:
“For two or three days before the feast everybody is busy in preparations for decorating the church. Some of the men are cutting and hauling green trees, others are gathering mosses and ferns, while more and the women are arranging the trees inside of the church, making garlands of greens, building a rural crib in which to place a wax representation of the Infant Jesus, which I procured for them many years ago. These decorations, together with the hundreds of lamps and candles burning during the services make the church look like a fairy bower and a very pleasant sight.
“At 11:30 p. m. the last bell calling in the worshippers is heard. Every man, woman and child able to come is sure to be there for the occasion. At the entrance of the church are placed boxes of candles to be used for the procession. As the Indians enter the church each one takes and lights a candle and two by two they proceed towards the crib, and deposit their candles in a box placed nearby.
“Then then [sic] make a small money offering to the Infant Jesus, after which each one repairs to his seat. During the procession, which usually lasts a full half hour, the whole congregation sings hymns in the native language appropriate to the occasion. These candles are afterwards stored away for use during the year, while the money is used for church purposes, repairs, etc. High mass is now proceeded with, a sermon in English and another in Chinook for the different classes of hearers.
“This closes the night service for the Indians. They meet again in church at 11 a. m. on Christmas day and hold a lay service among themselves, as after the midnight mass an Indian takes me home to Ferndale, where I hold two services on Christmas morning for my white congregation.”
Three things to note:
- The idea that Fr. Boulet had been working with the Lummi for 50 years is likely incorrect. The Treaty of Point Elliot had been signed 50 years before this article was written, but Fr. Chirouse (very helpful biography here) only seems to have established a regular presence at Lummi beginning in 1860. And Fr. Boulet took over Fr. Chirouse’s duties as primary priest to the North Puget Sound and Salish Sea Indians only after Fr. Chirouse’s transfer to British Columbia in 1878. It is likely that, by 1905, Fr. Boulet had worked amongst Western Washington Indians for 50 years, but not necessarily the Lummi Indians for that entire period.
- This article was written in 1906, the year after Fr. Ferland took over as Pastor of Assumption and Fr. Boulet was transferred to full-time ministry at Ferndale and Lummi. (This is also the year after Sacred Heart was formed by Fairhaven Catholics desiring their own church.)
- The “little white church that can be seen plainly across the bay” refers to St. Joachim, which had previously stood near the mouth of the Nooksack River. The building was moved out of the flood plain in the 1920s to land donated by Chief Kwina, the very Catholic chief of the Lummi Indians at the time.
Fr. Moore 