If you went back in time and told Fr. Gregg Wood, SJ, that he would spend nearly 30 years living in the harsh sub-Arctic terrain of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, he likely would not have believed you.
"I recall that when I was maybe seven years old, I was at the Saturday movies. And one of the things was this short film that was made in Hooper Bay, and there were some winter scenes, and wind blowing, and snow, and all of this sort of thing. I don't think I said it out loud in the theater, but in my heart I said, ‘I will never be in a place like that,’" Wood said.
Flash forward to the afternoon of June 24, where over 50 community members filled the pews of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bethel for a special sermon celebrating the end of Wood’s tenure in Chefornak and Bethel. His journey began when he was studying ministry at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
"There is a man who, at that time, was number one superior, his name was Steve Sundborg, and one year he asked me this question, 'Do you ever want to have a ministry outside of a university campus?' And I have never felt my heart beat so strong as when I heard that. 'Yes!'" Wood said.
After being assigned to serve predominantly Indigenous communities in Montana and Washington, Wood told Sundborg that he didn’t want to be continuously reassigned to different locations, but rather to be rooted in one community. As a result, Wood was assigned to serve in Hooper Bay for three months in the spring of 1996.
"At my last mass I said to the people, ‘I don't know when I'm going to be coming back here, but I will be.’" Wood said. "And on the word ‘back,’ tears came out, they still do, [I] fell in love with the people."
True to his word, Wood returned to Hooper Bay in August that same year, serving as a Jesuit priest there until November 2022, when he was reassigned to the coastal village of Chefornak and to Bethel. Prior to that, he also served as priest for Chevak and Scammon Bay.
In his nearly 30 years in the region, Wood said that the highlight of serving in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta was getting to build relationships with his community.
"At Hooper Bay it takes about 10 minutes to walk from the church to the post office. I never made that trip in 10 minutes because I would never pass a person by. I would at least stop, say hi," Wood said. "That might develop into a 15-minute conversation. It might not and they have something else to do, that sort of thing. But that piece, the relationship to persons in the community as it happens and as it develops, in my mind, that's bigger than what happens inside the church."
While he believes the Catholic Church has sufficiently held itself accountable for the injustices it has inflicted upon Alaska Native communities across the state, Wood also believes that there need to be systems in place for priests to hold each other accountable when they’ve committed wrongdoings.
"What I'm not aware of is some education, which I think every priest should have. What are the signs and symptoms that a person might engage in this behavior? A kind of education where priests are watching one another," Wood said. "It goes into the relationship level, and it goes beyond examining and educating individuals only, but what needs to be included is developing a sense of responsibility for one another."
Wood will be returning to Spokane, working with one of the Native communities supported by Rocky Mountain Mission, which includes the ministry of Gonzaga University where his journey began nearly three decades ago. Many community members, such as former deacon Ignatius "Louie" Andrew, who has known Wood for two decades, shook his hand at his goodbye sermon and told him that they would miss him. Andrew also serves as the traditional chief for Bethel's tribe, the Orutsararmiut Native Council.
"He's a very dedicated man, very caring. I really do appreciate him. I hate to see him go, but he wouldn't be away from us, he’ll be in [the] same air, same places doing the same thing. He did a lot of work out in the region for the people out here," Andrew said.
And many, including Wood himself, blinked back tears at the tributes in his honor recounted by Bishop Steven Maekawa, O.P. of the Diocese of Fairbanks.
"That's a sad letting go, but we let our Lord Jesus lead us, but not without hearts of gratitude for all of your service, for all of your sacrifices, for the longevity and joyful life that you have led here, and for all the lives who have been changed by it and all of us, all of the lives who have been made better through the Lord working in you and proclaiming, living out the gospel," Maekawa said.
And like many of the Jesuits that came before him, it is clear that Wood’s love for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and its people will live on.
"It's always going to be with me. The memories are always going to be with me. They are part of my journey. Quyana," Wood said.
