Finding a Way Home: Indian & Catholic Spiritual Paths of the Plateau Tribes

It is difficult to be true to two cultures and religious traditions at the same time. It is hard enough to state simply and accurately what one's own religious tradition practises and teaches. This catechism by Patrick Twohy, S.J. achieves the apparently impossible -- stating the Roman Catholic teachings about God in Christ while respecting the Native American ways of the Coastal Salish peoples. The book explicates the Catholic wisdom tradition by illustrating Christian teachings with indigenous examples and images. The book is no dry tome -- it is radiant with the light of new understanding and fragrant as the fruit of prayer. It rewards the reader not only with new insight about Native American lifeways, but incites the kind of compassion and appreciation of what Chistianity can mean when it is embraced by people alive to the spirit world. I urge you to hurry this important book into an additional printing.

Patrick Twohy, S.J. has written one of the best catechisms for Native people in the Pacific Northwest. This book is an excellent guide to the tradition of the Catholic Church in the context of Native lifeways. It is a book that acknowledges the pain and struggles of Native communities and tries to bring a sense of healing and reconciliation. The author has spent a lot of time living with the People. He understands the ways and has a great reverence for Native traditions. This is a very sensitive book. It is not a tool for conversion in a pejorative sense. It is indeed a hope of the author that it will change a person's life. It is his hope that it will strengthen the Native and the Catholic identities. If it helps only one person, then Patrick Twohy wrote that he "his joy is complete." It has stimulated much discussion in Native and non-Native circles. It has indeed been a helpful resource in my life. I think that his job is accomplished. Thank you for your work and your prayers over 25+ years with the People. I am honored to count him as a friend and a Jesuit brother.