Chapter (1.)

A Globalization Mission

By Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer

There is an international movement to change the profane and derogatory name of Minnesota U.S.A.'s Rum River. As a Roman Catholic social activist I founded and am spearheading this movement. And besides being a Catholic social activist with a mission to revert the profane Rum River name back to its sacred Mdewakanton "Sioux" (Dakota) name Wakan , sometimes spelled Wahkon, and translated as (Great) Spirit, I also have a related Catholic visionary mission, or Catholic globalization mission with a worldview around the word wahkon. Note: Wahkon/wakan is sometimes translated as sacred or holy.

On April 3, 1998 I received a letter from Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul wherein he expressed his gratitude for the activist work I am doing to change this river's derogatory name. The reason why this river's name is considered derogatory to American Indians as well as to many other people is because... according to documents found in "Minnesota Geographic Names", a book written by Warren Upham and in 1920 published by the Minnesota Historical Society, the Rum River received its current name by way of a "punning translation" that "perverted the ancient Sioux name Wakan".

And because this river name-change social activist ministry of mine is related to my prophetic visionary ministry, I have, at the beginning of this booklet, presented some information about my river name-change social activist ministry in order to help prepare the readers of this booklet for a presentation of my - worldview around the word wahkon - prophetic visionary ministry.

About my social activist ministry:

I am spearheading a Catholic social activist ministry to change the profane and derogatory name of Minnesota U.S.A.'s Rum River. There is a well-documented derogatory history behind the current name of the Rum River. I am trying to revert this river's name back to its sacred Mdewakanton Dakota Indian name Wakan. Minnesota's DNR geographic place name-keeper, Glen Yakel, registered the proposal to change the river's name. And he gives me his assistance by helping to guide the process to change the name. I have a proposed state bill that I wrote and Minnesota Rep. Mike Jaros (DFL) 07B has asked that it be put in draft form, and he is also sponsoring the bill. And I have met with Chris Liefeld, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), during our meeting he informed me that the MCC might help me with my geographic place name-changing ministry.

Several years ago I sent a letter to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the time, he was the Pope's representative, (he is now the Pope) seeking his support for the effort to change this river's name. In that letter, I wrote: "If the river's name is changed it will set a national precedence; and I believe that it would be a good medium for the Church to use to make a reconciliatory apology to the indigenous peoples of the Americas for the Church's participation in the genocide committed against these people's ancestors when white people of European descent entered and settled in their homelands, a genocide that is, in some ways, still being perpetrated against the indigenous peoples of the Americas."

And on May 26, 2004 Bishop Giampaola Crepaldi, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, sent me a letter in response to a letter I sent to the Pontifical Council. My letter to the Pontifical Council was about my Rum River name-change initiative and related - worldview around the word wahkon - prophetic visionary ministry. Bishop Crepaldi's letter informed me that the Pontifical Council had taken note of my letter. In my letter to the Pontifical Council, I included a letter that I had received from Archbishop Harry Flynn wherein he thanked me for crediting his support for the effort to change the river's name to support gained from several national and international orgaizations.

Several newspaper articles about my effort to change the Rum River name have been published, including an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press as well as an article in the Star Tribune, these newspapers are Minnesota state-wide daily newspapers. In addition, the National Catholic Reporter published a letter to the editor of mine about my effort to change the profane Rum River name. And in June of 2004, Multicultural Review, a trade journal that is distributed to libraries and educators throughout the United States, published an article of mine, titled "To Change a Name". And articles of mine about my social activist ministry to change the profane Rum River name as well as my related - worldview around the word wahkon - prophetic visionary ministry have been published on a number of popular American Indian websites. In addition, an Indigenous literate website, a Roman Catholic news website and a nationally and internationally popular multicultural website have also published articles about my my social activist ministry to change the profane Rum River name as well as my related - worldview around the word wahkon - prophetic visionary ministry. These articles can be found at google.com articles.

And on March 21, 2002 I received a letter of support from the Board of Directors of the Tekakwitha Conference . The Tekakwitha Conference is an international multi-tribal conference of Catholic indigenous people of the Americas. 172 tribes were represented at the 2003 annual conference. And this conference's prayer circles, called Kateri Prayer Circles, have been formed on nearly all U.S. reservations.

Both the Upper Sioux (Dakota) Mdewakantons and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakotas support the river name-change initiative as does also Russell Means (Oglala Sioux), an internationally renown American Indian activist, along with many other prominent American Indian leaders and organizations. And national and international human rights organizations, including the United Nations, have also given their support for this initiative. This movement is growing and getting stronger every day. There has been very little opposition to my movement's goal to revert the "Rum" River's current name back to its Sacred Mdewaknton Dakota name.

I prophesied to friends and relatives over 30 years ago that when this river name-change activist ministry of mine reached this stage it would be the means for me to receive recognition as an authentic visionary prophet. A visionary prophet with a mission to usher in a new age of Church history. And I believe that in the process of ushering in this new age, the Roman Catholic Church will unite humanity within a single global culture; and that when this new age is established Jesus Christ will appear in order to rule and reign as King over all the earth.

About my Catholic Visionary mission:
During the 1983 Tekakwitha Conference, a conference held in Saint Cloud Diocese, the diocese where I live, and a diocese where a part of the "Rum" River is located, a missionary priest of 45 years and prominent leader of the Tekakwitha Conference (Rev. Stanislaus Maudin) spoke to the conference about a "whole world view behind the word wakan", a word that is sometime spelled wahkon, a Dakota Indian word that means holy or sacred; and it is also a Dakota Indian name for their (Great) Spirit. Thirteen autonomous villages of the Hopi tribe use it for their word for sacred. And several "Siouan" speaking tribes use it for their word for sacred or holy. And because the "Sioux" (Lakota/Dakota/Nakota) are often used to portray all of the indigenous people of the Americas tribes in Hollywood movies, I therefore believe that the world psychic views all of the indigenous people of the Americas as "Sioux"; and that when people watch the traditional Hollywood movies about Indians they often hear the actors portraying "Sioux" Indians using the word wakan/wahkon (holy), or the combined words Wakan-Tonka (Spirit-Great). Hence a lot of people throughout the world believe that the word wakan/wahkon and the name Wakan-Tonka are used by all Indians. And more and more people are coming to understand that there is a strong and universal concept behind the word wakan/wahkon, a concept that the whole world needs to embrace. I went to the 1983 conference with an original worldview around the word wahkon mission.

And during the 1983 conference, I was interviewed by the internationally known Rev. Matthew Fox. At the time, Rev. Fox was the conference's keynote speaker and a leader of the Church's - strongly influenced by indigenous cultures - single united global culture - globalization movement. (This single unite global culture would be made up of the best of the past of all the world's different cultures, but predominately made up of the indigenous people of the Americas culture(s). After the interview, Fox informed me that he would like for me to keep him informed about the progress of my - worldview around the word wahkon - prophetic visionary ministry.

I believe that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ led me into this "worldview" mission after I, in the 1960s, joined the hippie counter-culture's world-unifying globalization revolution. The lyrics in a 1960s Beatles' song read: "hope you join us and the world will live as one". I believe that by way of this counter-cultural revolution humanity will be united within a single global culture; and that the religion of this global culture will be a radically transformed expression of the current excessively Westernized expression of the Catholic faith.

In the 1960s, I joined the hippie counter-cultural revolution , wherein both I, as well as a popular leader of the counter-cultural revolution, developed world views behind the word wakan/wahkon. Some hippie counter-cultural revolutionaries have a world unity vision. We have been on a mission, since the 1960s, to unite humanity within a single global culture - a culture made up of the best of the past of all the earth's different peoples' cultures and traditions.

As we matured as counter-cultural revolutionaries we learned that several American Indian tribes used the word Wakan for their word that means sacred or holy and that there was a strong and universal concept behind the word.

And during an early stage of our counter-cultural revolution we came to believe that of all cultures the culture of the indigenous people of the Americas had the most valuable features, and that these features were...kinship tribalism (or the larger love of the extended kinship family), an ecological spirituality, a mystical spirituality, a charismatic spirituality, etc.. And during the early stage of our revolution we also came to believe that these valuable features could and should be incorporated into our developing global culture. Therefore, Indian culture became the predominate culture of our counter-culture revolution and that is how counter-cultural worldviews around the word wakan/wahkon" have originated. There is a 250 member counter-cultural hippie commune in Summertown Tennessee with a world-view around the word Wakan.

And at the heart of our counter-cultural revolution there is an ecumenical movement of the world's religions. The goal of our ecumenical movement is to unite all religions within a single religion - a single religion that will serve as the basis and principle of unity for a single united global culture - a global culture wherein, we believe, all of humanity will be united.

There was in the 1960s, and there is still to this present-day, both a Hindu/Buddhist New Age as well as a Christian and Catholic expression to the religious world view of our counter-cultural revolution. I am of the Christian and Catholic expression.

Chris McCloud, a friend of mine and internationally renown song writer, who in the 1960s knew and socialized with both Paul McCartney of the Beatles as well as with other internationally renown Rock and Roll stars, is also of the Roman Catholic expression of the counter-culture's ecumenical movement of the world's religions. He is a consultant of mine and he has helped me with my writing ministry in Wahkon, Minnesota .

During the late 1960s I prophesied to friends and relatives that Wahkon, Minnesota , where I and a San Francisco Bay Area leader of the counter-cultural revolution had come to, would become the popular international headquarters of this counter- cultural revolution and that myself and other members of my extended maternal kinship family (the Rainbow family) would be coming together in Wahkon, Minnesota in order to lead humanity to unity by way of my Christian and Catholic expression of the counter-culture's world-unifying globalization revolution.

The name of the counter-cultural leader who traveled with me from California's San Francisco Bay Area to Wahkon, Minnesota is Richard Carter. Now-days, he is an bi-nationally known environmentalist and one of the Governor of Arizona's top environmental advisers. In the 1960s, he was an occational "adviser" to the leader of a "world view behind the word Wakan" hippy commune, a commune that grew to be a very successful 1500 member commune. The leader of this commune is internationally known. His name is Stephen Gaskin. In the year of 2000, he was a Green Party candidate for president.

During the 1985 Rainbow family reunion my uncle Don Rainbow, a vise president of a Christian college, addressed the 17 families present at that family reunion and said: "A Rainbow is a sign of God's salvation plan, and I believe that we may be used to glorify God more than any other family in the world". Just prior to that grandiose statement, Don and I had been talking about my world-view behind the word wahkon visionary mission, including the very grandiose role that I believed our Rainbow family was being called to play in it.

The progress that I have made toward reaching the goal of my river name-change social justice ministry has helped me to make a lot of progress toward accomplishing a goal of my visionary ministry. And that goal is to evangelize my Rainbow family relatives to my "world view behind the word wahkon" counter-cultural and Christian (Catholic) visionary mission. A mission directed toward ushering in a new age wherein humanity "will live as one", within a single united global culture. A culture that will be wahkon, or, predominately permeated with the culture(s) of the indigenous peoples of the Americans.

Other booklets about my world-view visionary mission are presented below. These booklets include my theology about the imminent coming of a "great tribulation" that will immediately precede the final coming of Jesus Christ and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Click Catholic And Countercultural to view second chapter.