September 2007 - Father Pat Sulllivan
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The returning students who were on the scene during Jeff Weise's gun rampage are changed, too, by time that's supposed to heal all wounds But not in this case. The emotional scars are still there, says Father Pat Sullivan, pastor of St. Mary Mission, which ministers to the Catholics on the Ojibwe reservation.
Father Pat was in Crookston when the call came about the shootings. He was stopped for speeding on the way back to Red Lake, but when he explained where he was headed, the trooper sent him on his way with the warning to "Be careful." He spent the rest of that day, well into the next day, at the hospital giving the last rites and comforting grieving families.
In his 10 years at the mission, he's become accustomed to funerals, conducting anywhere from 35 to 40 a year. Poverty, health problems, addictions and depression - not to mention violence - have driven the average life expectancy of an adult at Red Lake down to 57 years old, Father says.
His heart aches for the young people on the reservation, where the unemployment rate hovers at around 50 percent, and where opportunities are limited. A youth minister who came to the mission shortly after the shootings left after a year. The isolation of the reservation "makes it difficult for a lot of people to come here," Father Pat admits.
"To be able to live on the reservation at times has been a struggle, but it's a real blessing for me," he adds.
He has seen "moments of grace and light" in the midst of the hardship. "When someone who has been addicted is able to stay straight. . . When someone asks if their child can come to religious education classes if they're not Catholic 'because I still want them to learn what you have to teach them'. . . seeing people coming to receive the Eucharist who hadn't been coming before."
And often, it's other simple things that give him joy as well. Like "a big piece of Indian fry bread topped with Red Lake walleye!"he laughs.
He has been embraced warmly by the people of Red Lake, as well as all the other parishes he has served in the diocese of Crookston. For the 25th anniversary of his priesthood in August, more than 600 people packed the Humanities Center on the reservation to honor him.
Before he entered the seminary, Father Pat was a pretty serious hockey player (he played center for St. Cloud State), and even saw some ice time in Europe, but never considered going pro. He wasn't mean enough, he jokes.
Now the "big stick" that he wields is prayer. Ask him what he wants for his mission, even more so than material support, is for Catholics around the country to pray for them. "After all, that's what the Church is all about, isn't it?"
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