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New $27,000 Building
at Reserve Nears Completion
Reverend Philip Gordon
is Receiving Strong Support from Outside
Transcribed from the Rice
Lake Chronotype - January 13, 1924
The most unique Indian Catholic
Church in the United States will likely be completed early this year at
Reserve, Wisconsin. To the Chronotype editor Reverend Philip Gordon, pastor,
stated that $22,000 had already been expended and that about $5,000 more
was needed to complete the building. Father Gordon is a Chippewa Indian,
and one of two Indian priests in the United States, the other being Reverend
Albert Neganequot of Oklahoma, a Potawatomie Indian.
The former Catholic Church
at Reserve was destroyed by fire August 9, 1921, since which time the schoolhouse
has been used for services and no parochial school, has been held for two
years. The new church under construction is 129 feet long by 40 feed wide
and will seat about 300. The walls are 28 inches thick, consisting of concrete
on the inside and granite rock facing on the exterior. The church interior
is of pioneer style with hewn logs and a reminder of the old medicine lodge.
Wampum belts, Indian pipes, crossed calumets, and beads will appear in
the stained glass windows. The ceiling will be decorated in brilliant hues
of red and blue familiar to the Indians.
The new church will be the
fulfillment of a life-long dream of the able Indian pastor. Father Gordon
was born near Superior, the village of Gordon being named after his forbearers,
and we was educated in the schools of Superior. Later he went to St. Tomas
College, St. Paul, then completed his classical and theological studies
at Innsbruck, Austria, and spent two years studying at Rome. He saw many
of the famous cathedrals of Europe and finally conceived the idea of a
church of typical Indian architecture. Father Gordon is very proud of his
Indian ancestry, and when it comes to Americanism speaks of himself as
one of the original and typical Americans.
This week a big drive is
on at Superior under the auspices of the Civic and Commerce Association
and other organizations to raise funds for the church, Father Gordon being
termed one of Superior's favorite sons.
Among Rice Lake citizens
who citizens who have already voluntarily contributed to the building fund
are the following: J.S. Crisler $50, Quinn Bros. $50, and J.P. Schneider
$60. Others have already indicated they will also contribute. Many of the
forbearers of the Chippewa Indians at Reserve use to live around Rice Lake
years ago.
In connection with the church
at Reserve is a nine-room rectory, and Father Gordon plans to complete
the school and also build a community house and a hospital with a dispensary.
That he is zealously interested in the welfare of the Indians is indicated
by what he done for his own people, and only last week he was at St. Paul
and Minneapolis where he secured several carloads of food and help from
the government for the destitute Indians on the White Earth Reservation.
Twelve miles east of Reserve
at Pakwa-wang was a mission church and cemetery with 250 Indian graves,
which was flooded when the Wisconsin-Minnesota Light & Power Company
built it new conservation dam two years ago that flooded about 20,000 acres
of land. The matter of payment for damages is now in process of adjustment.
Reverend Philip Gordon has
been named a member of the committee to outline a new Indian policy for
the United States, the other members being Judge E.H. Gary, George W. Wickersham,
Nicholas Murray Butler, William H. Hays, Frank Munsey, William Randolph
Hearst, Robert H. McCormick, Elihu Root, Arthur Brisbane, George Ade and
Albert J. Beveridge. Father Gordon has for years been fighting for greater
freedom of the Indians from what is termed a policy of bureaucratic control
by the government.
Father Philip Gordon
1885 - 1947
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