Catholicism in North America cannot be understood without taking into account all the cultures that have enriched it throughout history. Anglo-Saxons, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans have enriched the faith of this country with their own traditions and charisms. However, until a few decades ago, the history of Catholicism in North America was presented as fragmented visions: the Anglo-Saxon vision, the Hispanic vision, the African-American vision, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a disjointed historiography, as if it were the history of different countries. Recently there have been initiatives not only to bring together the historical narrative of the faith in the U.S., but to present the contributions that each culture has to Catholicism. Among these recent efforts is the documentary, \"An Enduring Faith: The Story of Native American Catholicism,\" produced by the Knights of Columbus, which since May 16 has been airing Sundays on some public television stations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are about 4.5 million Native Americans, belonging to 574 tribes recognized by the U.S. federal government, including the Apache, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Comanche, Pueblo, Sioux and others. Most of them live in \"reservations\" (Indian reservations): territories that have their own jurisdiction and, although they are within a state of the American Union, they are autonomous. In the USA there are 326 territories with these characteristics, the largest being the Navajo Nation Reservation, located within the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Many natives profess the Catholic faith. As of 2015, the Native Catholic population was estimated to be 708,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are just over 100 parishes dedicated exclusively to serving these communities, most of them in California, New Mexico and Texas. In fact, within the American Conference of Catholic Bishops there is a Subcommittee on American Indian Affairs that has among its objectives to address the needs of such population and contribute to the healing of past wounds and historical conflicts: \"We, as a diverse community in the Church, embrace this mission with all the saints who have gone before us, especially with St. Kateri Tekakwitha, through Catholic education, parish leadership and the Church's ministry of evangelization we develop mutual trust and cultural respect\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documentary \"An Enduring Faith\" begins in the 16th century with the apparitions of St. Mary of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego at Tepeyac. It then explores the life of St. Kateri Tekakwitha and Nicholas the Black Elk, whose life for the Evangelization of the Lakota peoples inspired other missionaries to bring the message of salvation to those communities; his cause for canonization is currently under review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n