MONTANA
Missoula Independent
Decades of abuse by the Catholic Church resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements and the bankruptcy of the Diocese of Helena, but it will take more than money to make things right for survivors.
by Jimmy Tobias
On a wall in the St. Ignatius Mission, amid periwinkle panels and gold-colored trim, a large mural depicts a pit of fire packed to the brim with agonized faces paying for their sins. Many of those faces are Native American, their brown complexion framed by black braids, surrounded by fire and brimstone.
“When we were bad, the nuns would bring us to that picture and say, ‘This is where you are going to go.’ And for me, I would just have nightmares. I believed it,” says SuSan Lefthand Dowdall, a member of the Kootenai tribe who attended boarding school at the St. Ignatius Mission for a year and a half as a small child. “So when the incident happened at the powwow grounds, I knew that—I hurt so bad that—you know, my starting to be in hell was starting that day.”
Dowdall’s hell began one early summer morning in 1963 when school was out and Arlee’s annual Fourth of July powwow was about to begin. She was a petite 5-year-old with chubby cheeks and a wide smile. Her parents left her and a little sister at their grandparent’s home while they partied at the powwow’s beer garden. The next morning, realizing that her mom and dad had not returned, Dowdall and her sister headed to the gathering.
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