Episcopal Church joins ecumenical voices at UN for Indigenous Peoples

["Neva Rae Fox Episcopal Church Public Affairs" <publicaffairs@episcopalchurch.org>]

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Episcopal Church joins ecumenical voices at UN for Indigenous
Peoples

Episcopal Church joins ecumenical voices at United Nations

supporting and advocating for Indigenous Peoples

Presiding Bishop leads Episcopal delegation

[May 3, 2012] The Episcopal Church will join with other religious
voices in repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery at the 11th
session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues (UNPFII) beginning on Monday, May 7 through Friday, May
18.

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will
participate in an ecumenical delegation which is hosting a
service and panel presentation on Monday.

The UNPFII is an advisory body to the UN's Economic and Social
Council that has met annually since 2002 to discuss indigenous
issues related to economic and social development, culture, the
environment, education, health and human rights.

This year's special theme is "The Doctrine of Discovery: its
enduring impact on indigenous peoples and the right to redress
for past conquests (articles 28 and 37 of the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)."

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church repudiated the
Doctrine of Discovery in 2009.

May 7 Ecumenical Panel

Prior to the official opening of the United Nations Permanent
Forum on May 7, an ecumenical panel, sponsored in part by the
Episcopal Church, will address "Churches Disavow the Doctrine of
Discovery Calling for Poverty Alleviation and Healing." With a
focus on education, land rights, reconciliation, healing and
practical next steps, panelists include Presiding Bishop
Jefferts Schori; Sarah Augustine, Director of the Suriname
Indigenous Health Fund; Professor Robert J. Miller, law
professor at Lewis and Clark Law School, Chief Justice of the
Grand Ronde Tribe (Eastern Shawnee), author of Native America,
Discovered and Conquered and co-author of Discovering Indigenous
Lands; and Dr. Erma Vizenor, Tribal Chairwoman of the White
Earth Nation.

The panel is co-sponsored by the Episcopal Church, Anglican
Communion, World Council of Churches, Mennonite Central
Committee, World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church
Women, The Grail, Gray Panthers, U.F.E.R. â International
Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples, Suriname
Indigenous Health Fund, NGO Committee on the UN International
Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Salvation Army, World
Christian Student Federation, and Office of the Chaplain of the
Church Center for the United Nations.

Noting that this panel is a collective moment of healing and
reconciliation that benefits all indigenous peoples, Sarah Eagle
Heart, Episcopal Church Indigenous Ministries Missioner,
commented, "The opportunity we have before us, is likely one
that we will not have for a long period of time, a time where
worldwide indigenous communities are listening because the theme
of the UN PFII is the Doctrine of Discovery. We must be prepared
to share with indigenous communities that we truly seek to
acknowledge and lament the pain of our history. We can be a
voice that strives to help all realize we want the same thing at
the end of the day...to right some wrongs and help the people.
While we cannot change our history and cannot right every wrong,
we can help build a future that endeavors to work together. We
need to build trust in order for any community building endeavor
to work and not many indigenous communities know that The
Episcopal Church has supported tribal rights since 1976."

Episcopal Church delegation

This year, 14 accredited delegates will attend UNPFII proceedings
and advocate on behalf of indigenous peoples. Led by Presiding
Bishop Jefferts Schori, the Episcopal Church team members are:
Bishop Stacy Sauls, Episcopal Church Chief Operating Officer;
Sam McDonald, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Director of
Mission; and staff members Alexander Baumgarten, Director of the
Office of Government Relations; Sarah Dreier, Legislative
Representative for International Policy for the Episcopal Church
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; Eagle Heart; and
Lynnaia Main, Global Relations Officer. Joining the delegation
are: Nellie Adkins, Episcopal Diocese of Virginia; Elsie Dennis
Dofelmier, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia; John Dieffenbacher
-Krall, Episcopal Diocese of Maine; Dr. Kathryn Rickert,
Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and Dr. Erma Vizenor, Chairwoman of
the White Earth Nation. Attending for the Anglican Communion
will be Rachel Chardon, Special Assistant in the Anglican Office
at the United Nations and Ashley LhÃrisson, program assistant.

Also present will be a delegation representing a collaborative
effort between the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the
Episcopal Diocese of Oregon "as a beautiful and tangible example
of one project which is expressing the spirit of the
Renunciation of the Doctrine of Discovery."

May 8 Events

Two key events on May 8 at the Episcopal Church Center on Second
Ave. are:

- At 10 am Dr. Kathryn Rickert will sponsor a workshop, "Doctrine
of Discovery: A Call to Healing and Hope"

- A special Holy Eucharist on the Doctrine of Discovery at 12:10
pm in the Chapel of Christ the Lord. The Rev. Albert Krueger,
First Nations Missioner in the Diocese of Oregon, will preside
during a liturgy he designed for the occasion.

Keeping up-to-date

Participants will have many opportunities to share with the wider
community what is happening at UNPFII through social media:

Indigenous Ministries

Blog: anglicancouncilofindigenouswomen.wordpress.com/2011/02/

Web:  [http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/indigenous-ministries]

Facebook:
[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Native-AmericanIndigenous-Ministries-of-the-Episcopal-Church/121658134519767\]

Twitter:  [http://www.twitter.com/indig_episcopal]

YouTube:  [http://www.youtube.com/indig_episcopal]

Global Partnerships

Web:
[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/office-global-partnerships]

Facebook:  [http://www.facebook.com/episcopalglobalmission]

Twitter:  [http://www.twitter.com/episcoglobal]

Blog: episcoglobal.wordpress.com

Flickr:  [http://www.flickr.com/photos/episcoglobal]

YouTube:  [http://www.youtube.com/episcoglobal]

For more information, contact Eagle Heart at
[indigepiscopal@gmail.com] or Main at
[lmain@episcopalchurch.org].

Resolution D035: Repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery

At General Convention 2009, the Episcopal Church approved
Resolution D035, which called for the repudiation of the
Doctrine of Discovery

In D035, General Convention "repudiates and renounces the
Doctrine of Discovery as fundamentally opposed to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and our understanding of the inherent rights that
individuals and peoples have received from God."

It explains, "This doctrine, which originated with Henry VII in
1496, held that Christian sovereigns and their representative
explorers could assert dominion and title over non-Christian
lands with the full blessing and sanction of the Church. It
continues to be invoked, in only slightly modified form, in
court cases and in the many destructive policies of governments
and other institutions of the modern nation-state that lead to
the colonizing dispossession of the lands of indigenous peoples
and the disruption of their way of life."

Also part of the resolution requests that "each diocese within
the Episcopal Church be encouraged to reflect upon its own
history, in light of these actions and encourage all
Episcopalians to seek a greater understanding of the Indigenous
Peoples within the geo-political boundaries claimed by the
United States and other nation states located within the
Episcopal Church's boundaries, and to support those peoples in
their ongoing efforts for their inherent sovereignty and
fundamental human rights as peoples to be respected."

D035:  http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id
=983&type=Final
[http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=983&type=Final]

On the web:

Episcopal Church joins ecumenical voices at United Nations
supporting and advocating for Indigenous Peoples

[http://www.episcopalchurch.org/notice/episcopal-church-joins-ecumenical-voices-united-nations-supporting-and-advocating-indigenous]
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For more info contact:

Neva Rae Fox

Public Affairs Officer

The Episcopal Church

publicaffairs@episcopalchurch.org

212-716-6080Â Mobile: 917-478-5659

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