MICHAEL NICOLAI

“I am originally from Kwethluk, on the Kuskokwim, right near Bethel. I have been serving as a priest for about five years now. The first year I went to seminary was to learn about my own faith. Some of the things that we did, I questioned, and I never did like the answer. It was, ‘We’ve always done it that way.' So I wanted to learn a lot more about why we do these things. I didn’t plan on becoming a priest; I never have. It just kind of took off in that direction. We have been in Dillingham for four years now. I went to seminary in Kodiak. I attended that for four years straight. I also got to go to seminary in Pennsylvania. I think all together, there are close to 50 priests that are Alaska Native.” — Michael Nicolai is Yup’ik and lives in Dillingham, Alaska.