Louise Erdrich portrays Catholicism and Ojibwe religion in her novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, published in 2001 (Chapman 149) through her character Father Damien/Agnes who teaches at Little No Horse. Father Damien is a well-liked priest in his community. Throughout the novel, though, Damien has been keeping a secret involving his true identity. Father Damien is actually a woman whose name is Agnes DeWitt, which raises questions whether Damien/Agnes would be considered a proper priest. According to the Catholic Church, there are two model priests, cultic and servant-leader. Damien/Agnes is an admirable servant-leader priest because s/he serves his community at Little No Horse. S/he is not a model cultic priest because …show more content…
Damien/Agnes would not be considered a proper cultic priest, according to Hoge’s definition. This means cultic model priests must teach the sacraments and doctrines to be a proper representation of the Catholic Church. Hoge mentions in another article, “Addressing the Priest ‘“Shortage”’, a cultic model priest should be “an administrator of the sacraments and teacher of the faith” (144). This means cultic priests must embody the Catholic religion and spread the word of Catholicism by teaching the sacraments. Overall, a cultic priest is one who follows the Catholic Church’s rules …show more content…
According to the 1975 American Catholic Catechism, stealing is wrong in many cases and is hard to accept any exceptions (Dyer 265). It is wrong to steal because it is the Seventh Commandment, ‘“Thou shalt not steal”’ (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 259) and Christians, especially cultic priests, should follow this rule to become a devote Christian. Cultic priest should follow this Commandment because they are supposed to be an “administrator of the sacraments and teacher of the faith” (Hoge “Addressing the Priest Shortage” 144) by following Church’s