Back in the days before birth control, also when abortion was illegal, people commonly sent unwanted children to the church. The Indians had lots of those (unwanted children,) too. It wasn't just indian children, the whole country did this. The government wouldn't feed them. And neither would anybody else. Except the church. When children under church care died, for any reason, they were buried by whom? The church. Nearly every social service, that could sort of be called such, was run by the churches, not the state. It was a different world. Everything was closed on Sunday. Modern reporters seem to be strangely ignorant of the history. Applying modern social norms and values to historical events.