Updated Oct. 3, 2025
Sister Kristin Peters commits to a four-day, 41-mile walking pilgrimage around Wisconsin's Lake Mendota in Madison. She is standing in solidarity with Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians and environmental groups contesting Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline in Northern Wisconsin. Sister Kristin walks to draw our attention to the need to care for the water as every living thing needs it for life and it is up to us to protect it. She started Oct. 1 at Lake Mendota's Picnic Point and offered this reflection, "If we realize water is our sibling, we'll protect it." Watch her full reflection below.
Join her at Lake Mendota or join in the pilgrimage from where you are any time this month. Follow this link to record the distance you commit to walk and pray.
Walk with a vessel of water, listening to it, and carrying it with reverence and gratitude. Return it to the body of water from which you drew it or to the earth when you complete your day’s walk. Sister Kristin’s pilgrimage of prayer ends on St. Francis’ Feast Day, the patron saint of the environment, who refers to water as Sister Water in his famous prayer the Canticle of the Creatures. However, the effort to pray, work, and act to protect and honor water will continue as it is a daily and lifelong commitment.
Ho-Chunk Land
Visit Wisconsin Historical Society's hand-drawn, watercolor and ink, map of Lake Mendota. Locations and many small figures appear around the shore with explanations referring to Indian legends. View the map here.
Read and Watch: Ho-Chunk Land - Stories of Teejop
Stories of Teejop, panelists discussed the importance of this area and shared the stories of Teejop, passed on from generation to generation. They also discussed how Teejop continues to shape the social and cultural experiences of Ho-Chunk people. Watch the story here.
The Facts on Line 5
Clean Wisconsin: Stop the Line 5 Oil Pipeline
Oil & Water Don't Mix: The oil tunnel is a false solution for America's most dangerous pipeline
Healthy Climate Wisconsin: Health, Youth, and Faith voices speak out in support of legal challenge to Wisconsin reroute
The Freshwater Lab: Oil pipelines and the Great Lakes
Prayer Resources
Image by Violeta Abitia
The Canticle of Creation
O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God,
to you belong praise, glory,
honour and all blessing.
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun,
who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently.
O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon,
and for the stars
which you have set shining and lovely
in the heavens.
Be praised, my Lord,
for our Brothers Wind and Air
and every kind of weather
by which you, Lord,
uphold life in all your creatures.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water,
who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom you give us light in the darkness:
he is bright and lively and strong.
Be praised, my Lord,
for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth
fruits and vegetables of many kinds
and flowers of many colours.
Be praised, my Lord,
for those who forgive for love of you;
and for those
who bear sickness and weakness
in peace and patience
- you will grant them a crown.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Death,
whom we must all face.
I praise and bless you, Lord,
and I give thanks to you,
and I will serve you in all humility.
The Canticle of the Turning, published by Land Justice Futures
This is inspired by the hymn of the same name by Rory Cooney, a peoples' musical take on Mary's Magnificat that centers God's power to humble the mighty and lift up the poor and oppressed. Read The Canticle of the Turning here.
St. Francis Prayer (adapted)
By Friar Cristofer Fernández, OFM Conv., Our Lady of the Angels Province, adapted and expanded from the “Reverse St. Francis Prayer.”
Lord, make me a ripple of disruption:
where there is apathy or argument, let me provoke charity;
where there is over compliance, critical reflection;
where there is silence, a voice of accountability;
where there is too much comfort and too little action, discomfort;
where there are closed doors and locked hearts, honest disarming;
where “other’s” personhood is not affirmed, listening, dialogue, and goodness.
Most High Good Creator, grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it;
to be with, as well as for, the alienated;
to love the unlovable as well as the lovely.
When laws dictate and pain is overlooked;
when “tradition” speaks louder than need; when ideas take priority before realities, and conflict before unity,
Disturb us, O Lord, that we might live out our prayer, that we might live out penance and reconciliation, that we might touch the wounds of Christ’s passion in the world of today, that we might live out your revolution of mercy and holiness, that we might live out your mission as peacemakers and wholemakers of the kindom. Amen.
Movies to deepen your journey
Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation
"In the face of despair associated with environmental injustice. I walk 41.5 miles in persistent hope. October 4th marks the anniversary of St. Francis’ Canticle that speaks of that deep interrelationship with God through creation. That hope is called forth on this 10th anniversary of the Encyclical Laudato Si', Praise Be to You which invites us to reverence creation." - Sister Kristin Peters
Learn more about the Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation here
Sister Kristin's Purpose
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. I walk with the indigenous people of the Bad River Tribe in Northern Wisconsin and lawyers seeking justice and leading the fight to protect the water and fighting to stop the destruction proposed by rerouting the Line 5 oil pipeline through rivers and marshlands and sensitive waterways.
Join Sister Kristin
Let us know how you'd like to commit to standing in solidarity and reverencing water this October. You might commit to walking or sitting near a body of water or to prayer during the month of October. You also might learn about who stewarded the land and waters you're near, using the Native Land Map. And, consider wearing orange or red. Orange honors Indigenous children sent to residential schools, a tool of colonization and recognizes the ongoing impacts on survivors and their communities. Red is worn in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls and all relations at high risk with pipeline construction