St. Joseph's Indian School

Not to be confused with St. Joseph's Indian High School in Bangalore, India, or St. Joseph Indian Normal School, a historic school in Indiana, United States.
St. Joseph's Indian School
Location
Map
near Chamberlain
,
South Dakota
Coordinates43°49′36″N 99°19′24″W / 43.8267°N 99.3234°W / 43.8267; -99.3234
Information
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic (Dehonian Fathers)
Established1927; 97 years ago (1927)
FounderFr. Henry Hogebach, SCJ
PresidentMike Tyrell
ChairpersonTerry Johnson
Athletics conference
.
SportsArchery, Basketball, Bowling
Websitehttps://www.stjo.org/

St. Joseph's Indian School is an American Indian boarding school, run by the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart just outside the city of Chamberlain, South Dakota, on the east side of the Missouri River. The school, located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and named after Saint Joseph, is operated by a religious institute of pontifical right that is independent of the diocese.[1] The school is within two hours of three reservations of the Lakota people: the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, the Lower Brule Indian Reservation and the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, whose children comprise the majority of students at the school. The Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center is located on the campus and is owned by the school.

The school opened with 53 students in 1927. It was founded by Fr. Henry Hogebach, SCJ, who was a Catholic priest from Germany and a member of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. The provincial headquarters of the Congregation in the United States is in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee.[2] The institute owns and operates the mission school upon the site of two earlier education facilities: the Chamberlain Indian School operated here from 1898 to 1909, under the federal government.[3] That year the school was closed and the facility was transferred to the Catholic Church for "college purposes".[4] The Diocese of Sioux Falls operated Columbus College, a high school and college for Catholic boys, at this location until 1921, when the college was moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

In 2020, St. Joseph's Indian School (kindergarten through eighth grade, K–8) served 221 students.[5] The school also has a high school program where older students continue to live on campus but attend the public school in Chamberlain for classes.[5]

St. Joseph's conducts fundraising to maintain operations that are free for the students. However, the administration's fundraising tactics were criticized in the 2010s by national media and Native American leaders as misleading. In 2009–2010, nearly one dozen former students sued the school, the Sacred Heart institute, and the Diocese of Sioux Falls for alleged sexual abuse by priests at the school. As noted, the Diocese of Sioux Falls has no authority over the school or the Institute, and has been excluded as the suit progresses.

  1. ^ Anderson, Patrick (16 May 2019). "Native American victims of sex abuse at Catholic boarding schools fight for justice". Argus Leader. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dehonians2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Riney, Scott (1999). The Rapid City Indian School, 1898-1933. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 10. ISBN 9780806131627. Archived from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  4. ^ South Dakota Historical Collections. Vol. 5. State Publishing Company. 1910. p. 59. Archived from the original on 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  5. ^ a b Farrow, Mary (January 30, 2020). "This unique Catholic school has served Native American students since 1927". The Catholic Telegraph. Cincinnati, Ohio. Archived from the original on September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.