One day this summer, another Jesuit and I visited the offices of the Wikwemikong Heritage Organization. There, a group of locals sat around over coffee, discussing the Anishinaabemowin language. They were considering words and their English translations, and working on a language app. Stephen, who had invited the two of us to stop by, introduced us to the others. I didn’t understand much of what he said, but did recognize one word that I had heard and seen a few times already: “mekatekwinye”, which could translate as “Jesuit” or as “priest”. Literally, it means something along the lines of “the one who wears black”.
One of the women of the group suggested that a new name should be found for us. She suggested this because she had in mind the literal meaning of the term that Stephen had used, and had taken a look at the two of us who were not particularly dressed in black. Someone suggested the new term “nameh-nini”, which might be translated as “prayer man”.
Not too long afterward, upon a visit to the local nursing home, someone commented that my Jesuit companion and I were rather young-looking priests. I asked one of the residents, named Stan, how to say “young priest” in the language. I thus learned a new word, perhaps a newly-invented one: “shki-mekatekwinye-ns” (which makes a long word even longer!).
Somewhere along the way, I also learned the word “shkiniigish”, which means “young man”. I surprised Stephen one day by saying: “Aanii, shkiniigish!” He then began to call me the same thing.
There was one other name, also a new one for me, that I got called in Wikwemikong (or Wiky) more often than any of the others mentioned above: “Father”. This name was still new for me, as I had been ordained a priest just a month or two earlier. I was not totally comfortable with it yet, either; but I came to realize that “Father” is a name for me to accept, to be grateful for, to honour and to grow into.
Indeed, I realized that there were people in Wiky who wanted to call me “Father”, and who like having a “mekatekwinye” around. As well, I had long felt that part of my call to Jesuit life was to priesthood, was to becoming a Father.
Through these experiences, then, I was moved to further prayerful reflection about what it means to be a priest, how to be one, and on who I am. I considered these things in the new context of being an ordained priest, of being recognized publicly as such, and of doing priestly ministry in an interesting community.