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Page 6 of 6
December 21, 2011 – Bethel, Alaska
Enaa neenyo! Quyana tailuci! Qaimarutin!
Those are words for welcome in Koyukon Athabascan, Central Yup'ik and Inupiaq, three local languages in Alaska. After a day of travel on December 20 – leaving at 7 a.m. EST from New York and not arriving until 6:30 p.m. Alaska Time (which would be 10:30 p.m. EST) – Father Andrew Small, OMI, National Director, was welcomed by mission family in Bethel, a coastal city in Southwest Alaska.
The Yup’ik people of this area had welcomed the first missionaries in 1885. A permanent mission station was established here only in the early 1940s, and a Catholic church built in 1943. Missionary priests traveled by dogsled to mission stations scattered throughout the vast area.
Immaculate Conception in Bethel was home for Father Andrew as his visit began. Susan Murphy is the lay parish administrator at Immaculate Conception, part Yup’ik herself; Father Charles “Chuck” Peterson, SJ is pastor. Father Chuck has been a missionary in Alaska since the early 1970s, serving in villages with 10 Catholics and now in Bethel, with 300 Catholic households. Like many parishes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Immaculate Conception is served on a rotating schedule by ministry teams which may include priests, deacons, religious and trained lay staff members. Celebrations of the Word with Holy Communion may replace Sunday Mass when a priest is unavailable, a common occurrence – helping visitors recall the true missionary character of this part of our own United States.
In the days before Christmas, it was time to decorate at Immaculate Conception – and Father Andrew pitched in. But the duties of being “Santa” at a pre-Christmas parish celebration fell to pastor, Father Chuck.
On December 22, 2011, Father Andrew made his way back to Fairbanks – another day of travel, so common in getting around the vast diocese. Next stop: North Pole – Alaska, that is!
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