Memories of a Dakota Bishop
By Bill Wylie-Kellermann
Originally published in The Witness magazine, January 2001
Monday, January 1, 2001
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As Brokenleg and Bucko write by way of introduction, "Dakota Cross-Bearer provides an apology for Christianity alongside a healthy critique of church policies and practices. At the same time, it steadfastly maintains a respect for traditional religious practices and beliefs."
Based on extensive interviews with Jones, then carefully researched and written, the biography Cochrane has produced in many ways reads like a memoir, a geography of stories in the style of a Dakota storyteller.
Since his tenure as bishop was brief (he suffered a stroke in the autumn of 1972, just months after his consecration), the thread of the story concerns his upbringing by grandparents on the Santee Reservation in Nebraska, his seminary training at Seabury-Western, and assignments in various communities across the plains: Wounded Knee, Oglala, Cheyenne River Reservation, and Navaholand Area Mission. Running throughout, like a recurring spiritual landmark, is the Niobrara Convocation, a large yearly gathering of Episcopalians drawn from all the Dakota and Lakota communities, which he first attended with his grandparents. And the narrative is often punctuated with refrains from Dakota hymns, which clearly echo in his heart and summon memory and moment.
"Cross-bearer," of the title, carries a double weight of meaning. It is, of course, a liturgical reference to the one who leads the procession into and out of worship. But the mark of discipleship and burden of the cross are implied above all. Cochrane has made the point that the Way which Jones has walked has not been without cost.
The Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann is program director for the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) in Chicago, Ill. He is also on the steering committee of Word and World: A People's School. Bill lives in Detroit, Mich., and may be reached by email at bill@scupe.com.