Teaching Catechism

Catholic missionaries employed many techniques in an attempt to evangelize and "save" native people. A recent invention to the 1900s was a glass slide projector or a carousel projector. Catholic priests would use pictures in storybooks and on projectors to combat the difficulties of language barriers. There was no way of knowing if Native people spoke English and learning Salish and other Native languages was difficult for Catholic priests. In this exhibit, glass lantern slides are juxtaposed to translations of Catholic prayers and commandments. Visual despictions of the teachings to help the adults and children understand the Catechism found greater success than written translations. The differences are a stark example of the effectiveness of the glass lantern slides. Children were able to see Catholic teachings come to life and use their imaginations to search for the spiritual power that they desired.

Natives on the plateau requested missionaries to come to their region out of a curiosity of spiritual power. White priests magically had immunities to many diseases that were killing entire native populations in the northwest. In addition, white priests had access to many material goods that were of interest to native people, including guns. Fianlly, natives were encapsulated by the starch appereacnce of white people. Many natives were perplexed by whtie skin and had to touch it to believe it was real. All of these factors contributed to a strong curiosity and draw to white people and their access to seemingly immense spiritual power. Natives wanted to combine the spiritual power they learned from white people with the spirituial power they already had access to through their own religions of their ancestors. Once they learned that Catholic priests wanted to convert them entirely to christianity, many natives lost interest. But, Catholic attempts at catechism never died out.