Proclaiming God in the “last frontier”
Alaska, a land of enormous natural beauty, is the largest and most sparsely populated state in America. Its majestic landscapes feature glaciers, fjords, bays, tundra and more than 33,000 miles of shoreline.
The vast area of Alaska’s three dioceses — with hundreds of miles of tundra, mountains, forests, fjords and rivers — makes many towns, such as Scammon Bay and Tenakee Springs, accessible only by bush plane, boat or snow machine.
With a population of 735,000, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of Alaskans are Catholic. They are spread over more than 660,000 square miles, a territory the size of Texas, California, Michigan, Florida and Missouri combined.
Priests and sisters cover great distances and endure harsh conditions, difficult terrain and extreme poverty to reach remote Catholics. Most cover multiple parishes, traveling by small plane, boat or snow machines. Priests often do three-week circuits of visiting 15 to 20 parishes.
Featured here are two parishes, St. Francis Chapel in Tenakee Springs and Blessed Sacrament in Scammon Bay. Though logistically hard to reach, they serve dedicated communities of Catholics.
Tenakee Springs
Tenakee Springs, a remote fishing village located on scenic Chichagof Island in the Diocese of Juneau, is accessible only by boat or plane. The town has 131 people and no cars, cell phone service or doctors. Most residents hunt, fish and gather to live a subsistence lifestyle.
Scammon Bay
Scammon Bay in the Diocese of Fairbanks is on the west coast of Alaska, one mile from the Bering Sea. Most of the 515 residents are Yup’ik Eskimos who live off the land — hunting marine mammals and game, fishing and gathering berries. Extension has been help-ing with salary support and travel expenses for the three sisters, five priests and one layperson ministering there and in the 23 other Catholic communities of the remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region (an area about the size of Louisiana).
are harsh, and there are few employment opportunities.
