EarthBeat Weekly: Catholic sisters, Native tribes dialogue over questions of land justice

Catholic sisters, Native tribes dialogue over questions of land justice   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change December 20, 2024   Some of the young people of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin, during an Aug. 30 outing to the Buttonhook Forest property in Chappaqua, New York. The visit of young people was shepherded by the Dominican Sisters of Hope, whose sponsored ministry, the Center at Mariandale, hosted the visitors. (GSR photo/Chris Herlinger) In late summer, the Dominican Sisters of Hope hosted a special group of visitors to their Center at Mariandale in the Ossining, New York, area. The 10 guests were all members  of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin, but whose ancestral lands include those now owned by the Dominican sisters. Their tribal community was among those forced from the Hudson River Valley following the American Revolution. "I can breathe," Janiyakuha Webster, 23, told GSR international correspondent Chris Herlinger as the young man marveled at the cool expanse of trees, hills and trails on the final day of August. "It feels like home." The weeklong homelands immersion back into their ancestral home was part of efforts by the Dominican sisters to promote land justice: the process of what one advocate described to Herlinger as "centering racial and ecological justice" in how land is used and loved, owned and governed. The congregation's openness to dialogue and hospitality is part of a wider initiative by Land Justice Futures, formerly known as the Nuns and Nones Land Justice Project. The Dominican Sisters of Hope are one of 14 congregations "seeking to build land justice into their property plans." It's a process the Dominicans know is a long one, but one they and other religious congregations are taking seriously. With many congregations engaged with themes of "integral ecology, cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor," sisters are making decisions about land that involve building healing relationships with "those around them," including those who have been disenfranchised, said Brittany Koteles, the co-founder and director of Land Justice Futures. Sisters, she told Herlinger, "are the leading edge of the world's largest private landowner, the Catholic Church. And so the decisions that they make, they have the power to really change culture and set precedent for a deepening of relationship and a healing of a wound that has been unfolding for 500 years." The dialogues with Catholic sisters come amid a moment when numerous Native tribes have sought to reacquire control over their ancestral lands, known as the land back movement. In the past year, governments in New York and California returned thousands of acres of land to Native tribes, as did the U.S. Interior Department over the past decade with nearly 3 million acres in 15 states. Another congregation involved in Land Justice Future's pilot project is the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood, New York, who are growing a relationship with the sovereign Shinnecock Indian Nation on Long Island. "At this transitional moment in the history of religious life, we need to explore other ways to engage in decisions regarding land that are contemplative, creative and just," said St. Joseph Sr. Joan Gallagher. Read the full story: Whose land is this land? Sisters, Native tribes begin process of land justice   What else is new on EarthBeat:   Biden just set a big new climate goal. Can the US achieve it? by Jake Bittle, Matt Simon, Grist The White House announced a new national goal that would see the country's greenhouse gas emissions drop up to 66%, but its fulfillment may fall on states and cities during a second Trump administration. Read more here »   Catholic education could be key to unlock greater climate finance by Griffin Thompson Local and regionally based Catholic universities around the globe could help provide the expertise, innovation and creativity to climate challenges that can benefit developing countries.  Read more here »   In his final weeks, Biden aims to cut off funding for oil and gas projects abroad by Jake Bittle, Grist As President Joe Biden prepares to exit the White House, officials in his administration are working with international partners to push forward an agreement that would see almost all funding for oil and gas projects scaled back from some of the world's largest public funding sources for energy infrastructure. Read more here » What's happening in other climate news:   Biden just set a new climate goal. Trump and other obstacles await. —Maxine Joselow for the Washington Post Biden administration approves California electric car mandate. Will Trump try to revoke it? —Alejandro Lazo for CalMatters  In Florida, a race is on to save the Everglades and protect a key source of drinking water —Dorany Pineda And Rebecca Blackwell For the Associated Press Montana Supreme Court backs youth plaintiffs in groundbreaking climate trial —Ellis Juhlin for Montana Public Radio Insurers are deserting homeowners as climate shocks worsen —Christopher Flavelle for The New York Times Who are climate migrants and what can the world do for them? —Md. Tahmid Zami for Thomson Reuters Foundation UN talks fail to reach agreement on dealing with rising risk of global drought —Sibi Arasu for the Associated Press Final Beat: Be sure to stay tuned to EarthBeat next week as we'll be publishing a few Christmas-themed stories, including one about how Catholics in Vietnam are bringing environmental awareness into their celebration of the season. In the meantime, thanks for reading EarthBeat.    Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org Instagram: @broewe_ncr     Featured Advertisers       Advertisement