How to Remodel the Inside of a Catholic Church

My personal favorite poem in the section Tourists section of How to Remodel the Interior of a Catholic Church. The aspect I find most striking is the blatant statement about hypocrisy in the poem. The Catholic church is supposed to be an institution of love and acceptance. It should therefore be free of judgment and corruption. Yet, the church-- and institution Alexie associates with the white man--seemingly cares more about an agenda than about people. The irony of the poem is that the title suggests he is explaining “how to” remodel the church. In actuality he is suggesting that it never really be transformed. He merely is pointing out the ugliness he sees in the institution. For example, when he says “God loves a circus which loves itself,” (line 5, 85) he is insinuating the self absorbed nature of the Catholic institution. The church loves itself--it’s traditions, it’s rules, it’s architecture and it’s stereotypical attendees-- caring more about them than God. Loewen is merely calling them out for this corruption through the poem.

Loewen tries to convey this same throughout Chapter 4 of Lies My Teacher Told Me. He states that Christians would be offended if Indians simplified the Christian faith the way we have done to the Native Americans. The fact that the Catholic church and the Europeans in general overemphasize the greatness of the church, rather than caring about relationships with Native Americans simply shows the Eurocentric attitude they had coming into America. They believed they were a superior race. With that mindset, even hundreds of years later, information is bound to be innacurate. We skew facts about historical events and ignore the rich and diverse Native American history. We lie and deny the mass genocide that took place against American Indians. We reject the idea, even now, that whites may be acculturating towards Native American traditions. Loewen believes that we should not just be fighting for better treatment for Native Americans, but we should be truly listening to what they have to say.