Catholicism as Berry People: An Inupiaq (Re)story

In this essay, I engage with a haunting story of my grandma’s – the story of the Berry People. I analogize Christianity, and the Catholic Church specifically, as berry people haunting Indigenous communities, greedy for our children. I analyze the history of Indigenous family separation to articulate the harbingers of danger – the whistles within Catholicism – that place Indigenous children at risk. These whistles arise through articulations of the domestic church as a nuclear family seeking to evangelize the world in its image, in the church’s political work to conform all families to this model, and Catholic stances and silences against ICWA. The Catholic Social Teaching around subsidiarity is explored as an avenue for Catholic counter-praxis. Ultimately, Inupiat have survived the greed for our berries, children, and Lands – we are still here. It is Indigenous communities who ultimately determine how best to survive the berry people in our midst.