Hóčhoka – St. Joseph’s Indian School Podcast, Season 7

Episode 1

Theologian John Shea says, “We are the story God tells. Our very lives are the words that come from God’s mouth.” If this is so, the intersection of the rich Indigenous storytelling tradition and Scripture holds profound assets both for Native Christians and for all followers of Christ. Let’s learn more!

Episode 2

Airdate: January 27

What does it mean to be 13, back stage adults, watching on tiptoe, waiting to go onstage?” Some years ago, TIME magazine reporter Nancy Gibbs asked that question. Today we hear from someone who spends every day in a middle school classroom. Let’s find out what he says about this unique stage of life.

Episode 3

Airdate: February 3

Who are the wakȟáŋheža? Lakota children are called by this word that means “little sacred ones.” Significantly, the Indigenous have known all along what new science is proving: There is great power in the spiritual life of children. Let’s explore the topic and learn what it means for parents and educators everywhere.

Episode 4

Airdate: February 10

What is a Buffalo Harvest and what is the significance of the buffalo to the Lakota people? Let’s learn from two people who recently participated in a harvest.

Episode 5

Airdate: February 17

The 2024 Zitkala-Šá Quarter is the 15^th coin in the American Women Quarters Program. Who is this woman minted by the United States Treasury, and why does that matter to all of us?

Episode 6

Airdate: February 24

“My country! ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, My pleas I bring. Land where OUR fathers died, Whose offspring are denied, The franchise given wide, Hark while I sing.” This stirring takeoff on Samuel Francis Smith’s “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” begins our conversation on the final two decades of the life of Zitkala-Šá.

Episode 7

Airdate: March 3

To some, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, who chose the pen name Zitkala-Šá, might be a study in contradictions. How did the woman who authored “Why I am a Pagan” also embrace Catholicism? Who better to help us explore the topic than Dr. Damian Costello?

Episode 8

Airdate: March 10

“You are dust and unto dust you shall return,” admonishes the Christian Church each Ash Wednesday. What happens not only to the fear factor but also to our understanding of what it is to be human when we look at our relationship to creation through an indigenous lens?

Episode 9

Airdate: March 17

Native American elders advise, “Go among the standing people.” This is a reminder that plants can be our caretakers, healers, teachers, and guides. There are intelligences other than our own. Imagine how less lonely the world would be if we knew and believed that we didn’t have to figure everything out by ourselves.

Episode 10

Airdate: March 24

In 2013, Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer published “Braiding Sweetgrass.” It took seven years for the book to inch its way up the New York Times bestseller list, but since then, this book of Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teaching of plants has been hard to keep in stock. Let’s talk to Monique Gray Smith whose adaptation of the book, “Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults,” makes this valuable text more accessible to countless readers.

Episode 11

Airdate: March 31

“Ceremony is a vehicle for belonging – to a family, to a people, and to the land,” says Robin Wall Kimmerer, Potawatami botanist and author of “Braiding Sweetgrass.” Today we turn to how First Nations Christians relate to their cultural traditions through ceremony. Why is this important?

Episode 12

Airdate: April 7

What do Star Trek, the Chicago White Socks and social activist Dorothy Day have in common? We’re about to find out as we chat with Fr. Steve Huffstetter, SCJ.

Episode 13

Airdate: April 14

What can the former Chaplain and Director of St. Joseph’s Indian School tell us about the Native American education that takes place here when we look back, at the present and ahead to the future?

Episode 14

Airdate: April 21

Some critics of Christianity find a connection between a Christian perspective that places humankind over and other than the created world and the shaky ecological health of our planet. Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk and the Ghost Dance tradition say “Not so quick.”

Episode 15

Airdate: April 28

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, Your old men will have dreams, Your young men will see visions,” says the prophet Joel. “What does it mean for Christians to embrace and honor the dreams and visions given to us by Creator?” asks Dr. Chris Hoklotubbe. Let’s find out!

Episode 16

Airdate May 5

Love is medicine, learning from each other is a precious practice and positive change is possible says successful Indigenous author, speaker and consultant Monique Gray Smith. That sounds like good medicine to me. Let’s learn more.

Episode 17

Airdate: May 12

Our 7th Graders head out on their annual visit to sites sacred to their culture this week. During the school’s 2022 Seventh Grade Cultural Trip, as the boy’s group reached the summit of Matȟó Pahá, their pleasant ascent became shrouded in fog and they could not see ten feet in front of them. They were pelted with sleet and snow. What can Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk teach us about this event?

Episode 18

Airdate: May 19

“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” St. Joseph’s alum Hope McCloskey favors this quote by Henry Grunwald, former editor in chief of Time, Inc. Let’s find out what the noise is all about.