Kateri Northwest Ministry Institute

Kateri Northwest Ministry Institute (KNMI) is a Jesuit-run training program for lay Catholic leadership among the native American peoples, and a registered nonprofit. Its major objectives are to preserve the native culture and spirituality and to heal from substance abuse. The Kateri vision includes an enculturated church in a just society, with a healing of divisions among people with respect for differences.
Spokane's Gonzaga Jesuits created the idea of Kateri and a group now meets at St. Joseph Family Center near Gonzaga University. This group serves the Plateau Tribes from the Umatilla, the Nez Perce, the Yakama, the Spokane, the , and the Colville Reservations, along with the urban Indian community. The group uses as a resource The Country of the Senomtuse by Andy Joseph.
Great Falls was the first group going back to KNMI's inception in 1989, bringing together at the Ursuline Centre in Great Falls, Montana, people from the surrounding cities. Besides Catholic liturgy and spirituality adapted to their culture, they study a book on their past practices by Chief Long Standing Bear.
St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart in Arlee host this group at Arlee on alternate weekends. The group includes the Plains Indians, the Native Peoples of the Flathead and the Blackfeet Tribes.

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