Truth and Healing
We are a religious congregation with a history of administering a U.S. Indian Boarding School during the era of assimilating Indigenous children into Euro-American culture. We're studying our own history and impact at St. Mary’s Indian Boarding School in Odanah, Wisconsin, from 1883 to 1969. Our hope is that as we listen to the painful and tragic experiences of Indigenous communities and take responsibility for the role we played, we can take action in dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy in ourselves and our areas of influence. Our intention is to address our complicity in unjust systems, both historically and now, and strive to enhance dignity and wholeness to those who have suffered for generations.
The FSPA Truth, Justice & Healing Team has set the following goals. We will:
- continue to research and educate sisters and all of our partners in mission about the history and impact of the boarding school era.
- continue to cultivate relationships with indigenous peoples with whom we share a history and/or occupy ancestral lands.
- continue to support and promote the efforts of the establishment of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act of 2025.
Education Through Listening and Sharing Stories
"The Invasion:" Learn more about La Crosse's history; listen to the account of the persecution and forced movement of Indigenous people -- the Ho-Chunk peoples -- as told by a citizen of the Ho-Chunk nation, Henry Greengrass.
"FSPA and St. Mary's Boarding School:" La Crosse Public Library librarian in the Archives & Local History Department Jenny DeRocher led the research and script writing, with support from FSPA Truth and Healing team members Henry Greengrass and Sister Eileen McKenzie.
From the film's website: Bad River, the powerful new documentary film written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio (I Am Jane Doe, A Most Beautiful Thing) and narrated by Indigenous activist and model Quannah ChasingHorse and award-winning actor Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X, Birdman), chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience. This inspiring project brings us through an epic sweep of history into the present, with a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.” Visit Bad River Film website for more information.
Mary Annette Pember describes her book, “Medicine River, A Story of Survival and The Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools,” LA Times, as “above all, a quest. To understand myself, our family’s collective disease, Indian people’s unparalleled ability to survive, and the history of Indian boarding schools," (LA Times).
This book is an opportunity to live out the FSPA Truth and Healing commitment to continue listening to the experiences of Indigenous communities. The book takes readers through a journey of emotions. Mary Annette recounts her childhood trauma that stems from her mother’s time and treatment at St. Mary’s. In the book, she quotes Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Eileen McKenzie, “There was an effective erasure. In my world, that policy worked, but my world is one of white supremacy. This history has been erased in my culture.”
FSPA, through its truth and healing work, remains committed to continued education of the boarding school era. In July 2025, FSPA and the Franciscan Spirituality Center hosted Mending Broken Hearts facilitator Training for organizations in the La Crosse area. “Education, story sharing, relationships and advocacy for the establishment of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act,” says FSPA President Sister Sue Ernster, is our Truth, Justice and Healing work. It’s our work as we continue our commitment to celebrate authentic unity in diversity by challenging our white privilege and working toward equity and inclusion of all.”
Articles by Mary Annette Pember
The Atlantic magazine, 2019: “Death by Civilization”
Indian Country Today, 2022: “Perspective: Archived documents reveal covert resistance to boarding school assimilation" and ”An unexpected apology."
La Crosse County Historical Society
“For the FSPAs and the people of La Crosse,” reads an article published by the society, “St. Mary’s School is one of those histories removed from our daily experience by time and distance, but nevertheless important to understand our relationship with Indigenous communities.”
Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Witgen's
Wisconsin Public Radio recently shared a story about Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Witgen's deep research of Indigenous and early North American history. Michael is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe (Wisconsin). "I think the history of Wisconsin’s colonization is new to most people," said Witgen. I don’t think people realize the extent to which history, particularly in the Midwest, is an Indigenous history. American history is intertwined with Indigenous history in a way that can't be separated.
Read Pulitzer finalist: Colonizing Wisconsin was more about plunder than removing Indigenous people
Truth, Justice and Healing
Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act
March 6, 2025
The United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs advanced 25 bills to full Senate. All 25 bills are summarized in this news release.
March 5, 2025
A bill to create a truth and healing commission for Indigenous communities ravaged by the US' genocidal boarding school system has been reintroduced in the Senate. Legislation to create a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States (S. 761) has been introduced in the 119th Congress by Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. The bill has 20 co-sponsors so far, according to Congress.gov.
December 20, 2024
Action Alert: Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act needs immediate attention. Native American Rights Funds offers immediate action steps for all to take.
March 4, 2024
FSPA writes Wisconsin representatives encouraging their support for the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2024. Read the letter here.
Feb. 6, 2024
H.R. 7227: Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK-04) and Sharice Davids (D-KS-03), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, reintroduced the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2024. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition offers a toolkit to help everyone advocate for this bill. Visit U.S. Truth & Healing Commission Bill Advocacy Toolkit.
June 7, 2023
Boarding School Legislation Passes Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
The bill is S.1723, called the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, was introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on May 18, with bipartisan support from 26 mostly Democratic senators. Warren spoke today at the Senate Committee business meeting to consider the legislation, saying it was “past time that the voices of survivors and other community members are fully heard.”
On March 30, 2023, The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition responded to the Vatican's statement renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery. In its statement, NABS demand that the "...Church supports the Truth and Healing Bill, which would establish a federal commission and conduct a full inquiry into the assimilative polices of U.S. Indian boarding schools." Read NABS believes Vatican's statement renouncing Discovery Doctrine lacks accountability.
FSPA reiterated its support of H.R. 5444 (117th Congress) / S. 2907 (117th Congress) to U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and Secretary Deb Haaland. We shared our commitment to address our complicity in unjust systems, both historically and now, and our work to enhance healing, dignity and wholeness to those who have suffered for generations. Read the FSPA message to Senator Baldwin and U.S. Secretary Haaland.
NABS' one pager is a great resource that summarizes Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act.
Follow H.R. 5444 and S. 2907 Truth and Healing Act on Congress.gov
Upheld: Protecting the Indian Child Welfare Act
June 2023
The Supreme Court voted to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act. This is a major vicotry for Native children, Native families and the future of Native Peoples. More to this story at Native News Online.
About
ICWA was put into law to protect the healing from generations of family separation that targeted Native peoples, and specifically children. Today, ICWA is labeled the gold standard in child welfare policy and practice by a coalition of child advocacy organizations within and outside of Indian Country (486 Tribal nations, 59 Native organizations, 31 child welfare organizations, 26 states + DC, and 77 members of Congress) because the law places kids with their extended families or communities, which is considered best practice by child welfare experts. This law ensures that Native children stay connected to their identity and culture.
If overturned, Tribal nations would have lost their ability to have a say in Native adoptions. The decision would have set a precedent with a ripple effect causing other sovereign rights related to gaming, land ownership, and more to be questioned. ICWA protects Tribal sovereignty and Native children.
S. 1214 - 95th Congress (1977-1978)
Supreme Court case (article)
Supreme Court Case (page)
Line 5 Pipeline
FSPA partners with groups to educate and advocate for healthy waterways. Our advocacy is rooted in St. Francis of Assisi's care for creation, recognizing water as a most precious resource.
Sister Kristin Peters led us on a walking pilgrimage reverencing Sister Water in the fall of 2025. "As a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, my religious community is choosing to be no longer complicit in the Doctrine of Discovery, which promotes a view of domination over God’s creation and nature. Aware of the harm of this doctrine on our culture this mindset justified taking away language, culture and identity of Indigenous people. Disregarding the gift and rights of water and all creation sets the stage for the DNR permitting which legitimizes the destruction of waterways, animal habitat, wetlands, sources of medicine and food prioritizing corporate power and wealth. I am walking in prayer with the water for four days and 41 miles – the distance of the proposed reroute, listening to God’s voice speaking through the water." Read more about (and watch) Sister Kristin's journey here.
Our 2025 partnership with the Sierra Club and nine other organizations had us fishing for the future. We set, and smashed, a goal to break a world record and raise awareness that despite serious consequences to climate and environmental justice, tribal sovereignty, water, health and community, Enbridge – a Canadian oil giant – has continued to put corporate profits above our safety by pursuing patchwork options to keep the aging Line 5 oil pipeline running. Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline transports 22 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids across 645 miles of countryside every, single day — from Superior, Wisconsin through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, under the Straits of Mackinac, and down to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. Originally built in 1953, this pipeline — which has long outlived its anticipated lifespan — has significantly deteriorated over the course of the last several decades and poses catastrophic risks to the neighbors, valuable freshwater sources (including 400 rivers, streams, and wetlands), and tribal lands that it cuts through.
In June 2024, FSPA, affiliates and partners in mission testified during U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public input sessions.
FSPA Position on Land Resource Decisions
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Position on Land Resource Decisions
-Affirmed by FSPA Leadership Team. February 16, 2024
This position paper is the FSPA congregational foundation for making land resource decisions.
We see creation as the visible expression of God’s infinite love. We believe that all is Gift from God. As Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, we are committed to a mission of being Eucharistic presence to all God’s creation through prayer, witness and service. We freely choose to follow Saints Francis and Clare as women living Eucharist and Poverty as intertwined expressions of Gospel living.
We recognize that humans are only one of many species in the Web of Life. This challenges us to recognize that each has needs as well as gifts to share. With this awareness, we are motivated to compassionately interact with all creation. It enhances our efforts to include the excluded, with justice and equity as a foundation for making land resource decisions.
Our Franciscan simple lifestyle expresses a lived economic perspective of plentitude. We must let nothing impede our senses in order to live in ways that enhance the building of trusting relationships with all.
To enact this mission of Eucharist, paired with poverty, we believe we are one with land, which is:
- A visible reflection of God’s infinite love, goodness and abundance
- A source for knowing God’s beauty and deepening our spirituality
- A critical factor for a diverse, sustainable community of life
- A source for equitably meeting the needs of all creation
- An entrusted gift to be shared for the greater cosmic common good
- An entrusted gift to be used responsibly for ministry
- A source for modeling the sacredness of creation by use of regenerative ecological practices
- A privileged holding of resources to provide healing and hope for future generations
Based on these held beliefs, Land Resource decisions require:
- Heightened sensitivity about how actions will build trusted relationships with others, especially those who have historically been excluded from land access.
- Intentional valuation in addition to fair market value.
- Intentional analysis of long-range impacts on society, the environment and future generations, as well as fiscal responsible stewardship.
- Deep witness to lived Franciscan poverty and Eucharistic presence based on sustainable/regenerative practices for healthy land, capable of supporting all of creation for the greater cosmic common good.
- Consideration be given to how neighbors and surrounding property are impacted.
- Conscientious effort for dialogue and input from congregational members when major changes or divestments are made.
FSPA returns property to Lac du Flambeau Tribe
In the spirit of relationship and healing, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration transferred the Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center property to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, the original caretakers of the land. The transfer closed on Friday, October 31, 2025, and is the first known return of Catholic-owned land to a Tribal Nation as an act of repair for colonization and residential boarding schools.
Located on Trout Lake in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin, Marywood rejoined the landbase of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe – serving as a site for Ojibwe culture and traditions, re-establishing vital lakeshore access, and potentially providing housing for healthcare workers. The property was sold to the tribe for $30,000, the amount of cash the sisters paid for the property in 1966, just over 1% of its current market value.
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are a sovereign Tribal Nation located in northern Wisconsin, part of the larger Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people whose traditional territories span the Great Lakes region. Historically, their ancestral homelands covered vast areas of what is now Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, rooted in a deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land and waterways.
Today, the Tribe’s reservation represents only a fraction of those traditional territories. Rebuilding and protecting Tribal land bases is vital to sustaining sovereignty — it restores the ability for self-determination, cultural preservation and community development. A strong land base supports essential services, creates employment opportunities and provides a foundation for long-term economic and social resilience.
“This return represents more than the restoration of land — it is the restoration of balance, dignity, and our sacred connection to the places our ancestors once walked,” says John D. Johnson, Sr., Tribal President. “The Franciscan Sisters’ act of generosity and courage stands as an example of what true healing and partnership can look like. We are proud to welcome Marywood home, to ensure it continues to serve future generations of the Lac du Flambeau people.”
Since 1966, the FSPA community has stewarded Marywood as a place for spiritual renewal, contemplation and holistic living. Facing challenges to its viability as a spirituality center, the sisters began to discern a future for the land that was aligned with the community’s three priorities: right relationship, joyful Gospel living, and the equity and inclusion of all.
“The return of Marywood is both a conclusion and a beginning,” shares Sister Sue Ernster, FSPA President. “We honor the decades of FSPA ministry, and we see this transition as a hopeful step toward healing and right relationship.”
The sisters have also been in a process of reckoning with the history of St. Mary’s Catholic Indian Boarding School, which they administered from 1883 to 1969. As the community listened to more Tribal voices, they uncovered how Indian Boarding Schools were designed to break cultural continuity—separating children from their families, suppressing Native identity and paving the way for the large-scale seizure of Native homelands.
“It was painful to address our complicity, but we knew it had to be done,” reflects Sister Eileen McKenzie, former FSPA president. “We wanted to leave a legacy of healing.” With support from partners at Land Justice Futures, the community began to explore creative solutions for the property that might help heal the land and the past.
“Christian colonization has been the cornerstone of our modern property system for 500 years, authorizing a small elite to make decisions about the land,” says Brittany Koteles, Co-Founder and Director of Land Justice Futures. “But we don’t have to keep repeating the cycle of commodification and extraction. This historic act is proof that we can choose a different path forward.”
Most Rev. James P. Powers, Bishop of the Diocese of Superior, called the transfer “a tangible act of justice and reconciliation that flows directly from the heart of our Catholic faith. Following in the spirit of Pope Francis's own commitment toward repentance, we pray this action will help build on a future of mutual respect and trusted relationships with the Lac du Flambeau Tribe, acknowledging their connection to this land.”
The sisters hope that the example continues to ripple outward. “We hope to model, especially for Catholic religious congregations, that it is possible to pursue alternatives to conventional land transitions,” says Sister Sue Ernster. “The land now lives into its deeper purpose as a place of renewal and we trust and pray that it will plant seeds of cultural renewal for generations to come.”
The Lac du Flambeau Business Development Corporation is assisting the Tribe in the purchase and return of this historic property. “Land is the foundation of sovereignty, and this moment represents both respect for the Tribe’s history and a path toward a stronger, more self-sufficient future.Through Tribal ownership and LDF Business Development Corp management, this property will create opportunities for growth, employment, and community benefit, ensuring it continues to serve the people of Lac du Flambeau for generations to come,” says LDF Business Development Corp., CEO Larry Turner.
President Johnson adds, “The Lac du Flambeau Tribe extends heartfelt gratitude to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration for their commitment to healing and justice. This land, known to our people for centuries, carries the songs, stories, and spirits of our ancestors. As it returns to our care, we honor their memory by continuing to live in harmony with the waters, forests, and all living things that make this place sacred. The circle is being made whole once again.”
This news release was written in collaboration with Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Lac du Flambeau Business Development Corporation.
Stories
National Catholic Reporter
"As we place this land back in your hands, we also place our gratitude and our friendship in your hearts," said Sue Ernster.
Read: "In act of reparation, Franciscan Sisters return land to Chippewa Indians in Wisconsin" (Global Sisters Report also shared this story)
Wisconsin Public Radio
“I’m a big fan of Sister Sue and all of them for their kindness and their willingness to acknowledge the trauma that happened here on our reservation,” Araia Breedlove, spokesperson for the tribe said.
Listen: "Franciscan Sisters transfer land to Lac du Flambeau tribe in bid to repair boarding school legacy"
FSPA repatriates cultural items to Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa
The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration met with Bishop James Powers and Father Jerome D’Souza while in Ashland, Wisconsin. The meeting was held June 2, the day after members of the FSPA Truth and Healing Team took part in a repatriation ceremony with the Bad River Tribe. During that ceremony, thirty-nine cultural items from FSPA, including 25 paintings by Peter Whitebird, were returned home.
FSPA operated St. Mary’s Indian Boarding School from 1883 to 1969. And during the meeting with Bishop Powers and Father D’Souza, FSPA President, Sister Eileen McKenzie, explained, “We’re looking at the era of boarding schools through a different lens—a lens of cultural genocide. And, we’re understanding FSPA’s complicity in that era.” Sister Eileen was joined by eight members of the FSPA Truth and Healing Team, including sisters, affiliates and staff. Each member shared their experience of not only the repatriation ceremony, but of the education they’ve been undergoing, in earnest, since 2020.
“It’s complicated, difficult and hard to make a general statement,” said Sister Roselyn Heil, who ministers with the Catholic Communities of the Ashland Cluster. And Sister Kristin Peters added that “Our work now is holding sacred the stories and the trauma.”
Sister Eileen offered a timeline to Bishop Powers and Father D’Souza. She noted that the repatriation ceremony came after almost two years of study and exploration. “In 2020, the La Crosse County Historical Society invited FSPA to participate in an article about our history with St. Mary’s Boarding School. Shortly after, we formed a Truth and Healing team charged with studying our past. We also became members of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.” She added that in fall 2021, members of the Bad River Band Tribal Historic Preservation visited St. Rose Convent. A second visit is scheduled later this month.
Both the Bishop and Sister Eileen connected this work to the Synod on Synodality, the two-year process of listening and dialogue which began in Rome in 2021. “It’s a vulnerable process,” said Sister Eileen. We listen, dialogue and discern what healing can look like.” According to the Synod website, “The aim of the Synod is to provide an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together how to move forward on the path toward being a more synodal Church in the long-term. Asking ‘How does this journeying together allow the Church to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the mission entrusted to Her.’”
Both Sister Georgia Christensen and Sister Eileen offered that “We talk about truth and healing, not reconciliation. Healing because reconciliation takes for granted you had a mutual relationship in the first place. We need to reconcile with ourselves, but everyone gets to decide their own healing process.”
The FSPA Truth and Healing Team, Bishop Powers and Father D’Souza ended their time together asking “Who are we as Church?” And recognizing that this recent visit is really just the beginning of what’s to come in the journey of truth and healing.
This visit to Ashland follows Pope Francis’ apology to Indigenous leaders and survivors of Canada's residential schools (April 1) and the Department of Interior’s Investigative Report outlining next steps in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative (May 11). And, the invitation came just weeks before the FSPA’s 2022 Mission Assembly, A Revolution Through Encuentro, where from June 10 to 12, sisters, affiliates and partners in mission met to deepen the FSPA commitment to celebrating authentically unity in diversity by challenging ourselves to unveil our white privilege.
Department of the Interior Report, Road to Healing Tour, Oral Histories
On Jan. 16, 2025, Native News Online shared "In Farewell, Haaland Reflects on Historic Interior Tenure: 'No One Has Accomplished Anything Alone.'" In the article, Haaland offers, "The Boarding School Initiative was not the only difficult challenge that we tackled. By creating the Missing and Murdered Unit and convening the Not Invisible Act Commission, we took diligent steps to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples. This is a crisis that we need to talk about every single day. I was an advocate for these issues long before I came to Congress or the Department, and I will continue to use my platform to bring light to this issue as long as I have one."
On July 30, 2024, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland released the second and final volume of the investigative report called for as part of the Initiative, led by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. The second volume builds on the initial volume published in May 2022 to significantly expand on the number and details of institutions to include attendee deaths, the number of burial sites, participation of religious institutions and organizations, and federal dollars spent to operate these locations. It also includes policy recommendations for consideration by Congress and the Executive Branch to continue to chart a path to healing and redress for Indigenous communities.
On May 11, 2022, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland released Volume 1 of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. This report lays the groundwork for the continued work of the Interior Department to address the intergenerational trauma created by historical federal Indian boarding school policies.
The report reflects an extensive and first-ever inventory of federally operated schools, including profiles and maps. Wisconsin includes 10 identified boarding schools, which includes the FSPA-run St. Mary's Indian Boarding School in Odanah.
Oral Histories
Announced in April 2023, the Department of the Interior and National Endowment for the Humanities announced a partnership to expand the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative through the collection of oral histories and digitization of records documenting the experiences of survivors and descendants of federal Indian boarding school policies. Read Interior Department, National Endowment for the Humanties Partner ot Preserve Federal Indian Boarding School Oral History and Records
Road to Healing
"As part of the initiative and in response to recommendations from the report, Haaland announced the launch of 'The Road to Healing' year-long tour. It’ll consist of a tour across the country to allow boarding school survivors to share their stories, help connect communities with trauma-informed support and to gather a permanent oral history."
"Today, Native American elders of our generation, in speaking about the past, are allowing for the uncovering of truths. It is a painful but necessary to expose what happened so that our People and generations to come can begin to heal. It is time to break the intergenerational trauma caused by Indian boarding schools." Read Native News Online's "Elders are finally talking about their Indian Boarding School experiences."
April 2023 Update: As the Road to Healing tour continues across the country, read more about the latest stop in Washington in this article by ICT: Deb Haaland visits Tulalip to hear from boarding school survivors
Catholic-Operated Native Boarding Schools in the U.S. (list)
Compiled by a group of archivists, historians, and concerned Catholics, the List of Catholic-operated Native Boarding Schools in the United States, pre-1978, represents the first and most comprehensive source for information on Native boarding schools that were overseen or staffed by the Catholic Church before 1978. Our motivation for assembling this data was to provide a resource to help boarding school survivors, their descendants, Tribal Nations, and the Church itself navigate the history of Catholic involvement with Native boarding schools.
“While the list alone doesn’t provide us direct access to archives, it is a critical step in the process,” then NABS’ CEO Deborah Parker (Tulalip) said in an emailed statement to Native News Online in response to the Catholic list. “We strongly encourage other institutions to follow suit in acknowledging the historical and ongoing injustices inflicted upon Indigenous peoples.” Read "'A Critical Step in the Process': Archivists Release List of Catholic-Run Indian Boarding Schools, from Native News Online
Doctrine of Discovery
On March 30, 2023, the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery used to justify colonization. “...the new Vatican statement makes clear that the principle is not a Catholic doctrine and the 15th century papal bulls were no longer official Catholic teaching.” The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition responded, demanding more transparency and accountability.
Read NABS statement on Vatican statement renouncing Discovery Doctrine lacks accountability
Read National Catholic Reporter's Vatican formally repudiates 'Doctrine of Discovery' used to justify colonization
Former President Biden apology: Boarding school history 'a sin on our soul'
In a historic moment on Oct. 25, 2024, President Joe Biden offered an apology to Native people for the nation's history of Indian Boarding Schools. Indian Country Today reported on the event and you can watch it below.
Wellbriety Journey to Forgiveness
The Wellbriety Journey to Forgiveness is a powerful video from White Bison about its 40-day, 6800 mile cross-country journey to present and former Indian School sites. This is an extremely powerful film produced for truth-telling and healing by White Bison. It is difficult to watch and will bring up all kinds of emotion. Watch with care.
Land Justice: FSPA as a Focus Community
Land Justice Futures is an initiative that, together with religious communities and movement partners, creates new land transitions rooted in ecological and racial healing. The Focus Community program is a peer-based cohort of religious communities who are actively exploring a land justice property plan. Hosted events include:
Moving Toward Repair: Boarding Schools and Land Justice, featuring Maka Black Elk and Henry Greengrass
Introduction to Land Justice and Transforming "Property"
Talk: Indigenous Stewardship and the Conservation Movement
Early on in our work, we explored five modules that expand the options available for land transition that protect and regenerate land, repair racial harm, cultivate climate-resilient communities, and expand land access. With long-term educational, technical, and financial support, and hand-in-hand movement partners, we can enable just and regenerative futures for lands and communities.
Module 1: Land, Regeneration and Repair
Module 1 dives into the call and possibilities to “protect land, regenerate ecosystems, and secure long-term access, tenure, and equity to regenerative stewards — especially those most oppressed by our current economic system and colonial history. We also heard from guest speakers about the Indigenous-led regenerative kelp farm on the Sisters of St. Joseph coastal retreat center property. We hear about the trust and love from which this project flows, and their dreams for the future of the collaboration. Click here to watch the recording.
Further Reading
- To learn more about the Shinnecock struggle for sovereignty and wellbeing, check out the PBS Documentary Conscience Point.
- Instagram tips: Follow the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers here. Follow the wider movement to protect ancestral Shinnecock lands here.
- Read the Imagining Land Justice guidebooks on Landback and Regenerating the Commons.
Module 2: Colonization, Racism and Re-imagining Solidarity
Module 2 of Land Justice Futures was a deep dive into the history of land dispossession, and the visions of a future without enclosure or injustice. Click here to watch the recording.
We spent our time with guest teachers, Priscilla Solomon, a Sister of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie and Ojibway Anishinabekwe elder, and Deseree Fontenot of Movement Generation.
Check out the further resources recommended by them as well as members of our team.
Module 3: Laudato Si' & The New Cosmology: Evolving Our Spirituality Through Land Legacy
In Session 3, Sr. Sharon Zayac, Rick Ufford-Chase, and Sister Christin Tomy's sharings weave together a "contextual spirituality" for land justice: Sr. Sharon illuminates the "sense of the sacred interconnectedness of the whole" that undergirds this work, and the cosmic impulse that shifts us "from stewardship to solidarity." Rick shares why he sees racial and ecological healing and reparation as the central call of Christians today, and tells of how his local Presbyterian community returned the former Stony Point Church to the Ramapough Lenape people. And finally, Sr. Christin Tomy blows us all away, saying, "I am becoming increasingly aware of the collective power of women religious...What if we could all dream together about what [land justice] could look like? Click here to watch the recording.
We invite you to dream with Sister Christin's closing reflections:
"How are we called, in this moment, to move from stewardship to solidarity?
How are we called to be about that concrete work of healing and repair?
How can we start to see things that might feel like burdens — buildings, land, things that are too big for us — how can we see those as not problems but opportunities?
... And how can we dream together?"
Module 4: Collaboration and Co-Liberation: Meet the Stewards of a Climate Resilient Future
Session 4 wove together two powerful addresses from guest speakers Naima Penniman and Pat McCabe.
From Naima, we learned about the realities of Black land dispossession and food apartheid; the long and unbroken lineage of Black land stewards in the U.S.; and the powerful ways that Soul Fire Farm is nurturing a new wave of food (r)evolutionaries through training, education, and expanding land access to BIPOC farmers.
Pat McCabe, or Woman Stands Shining, offered powerful, open-hearted, and clear-seeing testimony to the complex braid of generational pain held by Indigenous people, the call to put life "back in the center" of our decisions, and the vision of an "unshakeable sisterhood" that can heal the world. Traversing many layers of story and wisdom, we hear stories ranging from the trauma of Pat's parents and grandparents in missionary boarding schools, to her own journey to re-open Diné access to land at the base of one of the four sacred mountains of the Diné people. Pat's testimony is unique in its candor, its power, and its belief in the magnitude of healing that is possible.
Consider journaling or reflecting with a fellow participant on Pat's closing question: "What could happen if the Church could fulfill its promise to be refuge, to be way-shower; to foster love, and peace, and justice, and understanding?"
May we ask this beautiful and courageous question, together, again and again.
Module 5: Nuts & Bolts: New Models for Prophetic Land Legacies
Session 5 included an all-star, all-heart lineup of law, real estate and land trust leaders: Janelle Orsi and Alejandra Cruz from the Sustainable Economies Law Center, Cassandra Ferrera from the Center for Ethical Land Transitions, and Ian McSweeney from Agrarian Trust. Together, they walked us through some of the "Nuts and Bolts" thinking of land transitions. Click here to watch the recording.
>>> ENCOURAGED READING: Legal Tools for Land Return! <<<
Janelle Orsi has prepared this article especially for Land Justice Futures attendees! In plain, accessible language, Janelle walks through the current problems with the real estate system, the possibilities for new thinking and healing action, and helpful links and ideas to get us there. While it is not required, we strongly encourage you to give it a read before watching Session #5. Click here for the discussion guide.
Land Acknowledgment
FSPA acknowledges that St. Rose Convent occupies the unceded ancestral and traditional land of the Ho-Chunk. We understand that our organization and our city were founded upon the exclusions and erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including the Sauk and Meskwaki, and the Ochethi Sakowin who frequented La Crosse, and we vow to work towards dismantling the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism. But we realize that saying this only has meaning when coupled with the development of authentic relationships and sustained action. We therefore pledge to move beyond mere words and to develop programs, policies and actions that fully embody our commitment to indigenous rights and cultural equity. We affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold ourselves accountable to the needs of our Indigenous brothers and sisters.
FSPA Anti-Racism Vision
Our truth and healing work intersects with our commitment to awareness, analysis and action; we are praying, learning and acting with those who grant us the insight and courage to know how we can begin dismantling FSPA racism.