Category Archives: Other religions

MAGIC OF CHRISTIANITY – THE METHODIST MISSION TO OREGON

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Scene from Henry Eld Jr.'s Encampment on the banks of the Willamette with the Methodist Mission on the opposite side of the River - 1841 Oregon Territory - Yale Collection.
Scene from Henry Eld Jr.’s Encampment on the banks of the Willamette with the Methodist Mission on the opposite side of the River – 1841 Oregon Territory – Yale Collection.

Most stories – articles or books – discussing the Methodist Mission of Jason Lee to Oregon which lasted from 1834 until 1843, start with the same story.  The story of four Native Americans who came to St. Louis to ask Missouri governor William Clark – yes, the same “Clark” of the Lewis & Clark fame – for teachers to provide them with the power of white man’s religion. Of the Native Americans, three were of the Nez Percé tribe and one was a Flathead elder.  The two tribes were both neighbors and friends.  They reached St. Louis early in October 1831, soon after meeting with Governor Clark, also the superintendent of Indian Affairs.

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FRENCH PRAIRIE – CATHOLICISM COUNTER TO THE METHODISTS

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Graves of Etienne and Maurgerite Gregoire in the St. Louis Cemetery.
Graves of Etienne and Maurgerite Gregoire in the St. Louis Cemetery.

Canadian trappers were among the first non-Native Americans to spend extended periods of time in the nascent Oregon Country during the early years of the 19th century. Most were French speakers from rural Lower Quebec. Many took on Native American women as their wives. Common law marriages and the resultant children failed to receive recognition from either British law. Catholic priests ventured out slowly behind the trappers to bring a modicum of religious stability to those living beyond the pale of society. Most of the retired trappers settled on what is today the French Prairie.

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AÍ CHIHUAHUA! – VISION RESTORATION IN THE LAND OF THE TACO BELL DOG

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LIS team and local Lions Club members celebrate the end of the vision clinic in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico.
LIS team and local Lions Club members celebrate the end of the vision clinic in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Mexico is a large and very diverse country. Many travelers from the United States know the country for its beaches – Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuantanejo, maybe Huatulco. Some visitors may have only penetrated as far as border towns like Tijuana, Mexicali, Agua Prieto, Ciudad Juárez, Neuvo Laredo, Matamoros and others. There is a lot more magic awaiting beyond, however, as well as welcoming peoples of a mélange of cultures and even languages.

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HINDU SANCTUARY IN THE TUALATIN MOUNTAINS FOCUS ON DIFFERENT PATHS TO THE SAME GOAL

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Sunlight filters through the trees along the Shrine Path high among the Tualatin Mountains.

“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME”

“Build it and he will come”. So, intones the voice of Shoeless Jackson to the Iowa corn farmer played by Kevin Costner in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. The quote often remembered wrongly as “Build it and they will come”. The film was a version of W.P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Jackson. In this case, we will choose the more popular interpretation which better describes this Hindu sanctuary high in the Tualatin Mountains just north of Portland. A retreat pointing towards a universal message of different paths leading to the same goal.

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