MY NAME IS OWANAH;
I AM A CHOCTAW ELDER
If you're an American Indian, growing old has certain advantages. In most all of our many 500-plus Native communities, the status of the elder is one of honor and respect.
This honor and respect manifests itself differently from tribe to tribe, just as our languages differ and our histories, cultures and even physical appearance.
Read More »
As a young Native person, I am constantly exploring the duality and conflict between indigenous beliefs and my Christian faith. This is especially true as I enter discernment for ordination. For as long as I can remember, I have felt God's presence in my life. As a child it was not always articulated, but His spirit was with me always. When I was seven years old I knew that I wanted to be a priest, and I told my parents. They were surprised, but discounted it as "just a stage". Today, twelve years later, it is still what my heart most desires.
Read More »
The Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota has five candidates on the slate for the election of a Diocesan Bishop at their Diocesan Convention on October 31st. Three of the nominees are currently serving congregations within the diocese. Two of these clergy were nominated by petition one of whom is the Rev. Doyle Turner an enrolled member of one of the eleven tribal nations in Minnesota, the White Earth Reservation (Anishinaabe).
The Secretary General of the Anglican Indigenous Network, Malcolm Naea Chun, was invited to be one of the keynote speakers to the recent Sacred Circle meeting of Anglican First Nations at Port Elgin, outside of Toronto this past August. Other keynote speakers were the Canadian Primate and Indigenous Bishop. Malcolm used the opportunity to summarize the historical and painful journey of the indigenous church in Canada to this point in time where they can form their own dioceses and area missions ending the church mission to the "indians."
My dear relatives,
We are entering a great time in Indigenous Episcopal history, I can feel it. I feel the Spirit so strongly I am deeply humbled to be here in this time and place as a witness and servant to history happening. I have been reminded and guided by this passage time and time again in the past five months:
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. -- Isaiah 40:31
Donald Whipple Fox, ITTI Executive Director Did you know that ITTI works with the Episcopal Church to award scholarships to theological and undergraduate students? That’s right, ITTI has been offering scholarships to Native American students involved in the Episcopal Church since 1996.
In May of this year numerous Alaskan villages along the Yukon River experienced record flooding. Hardest hit were Eagle, Tanana and Stevens Village.
In 2009 the Diocese of Virginia formed the Native American Ministry Team, with a special focus on Virginia’s Native Americans. This came in response to the realization that while many churches in our diocese had relationships with tribes across the nation, relatively few churches, with the exception of a group working with the Monacan Tribe in central Virginia, were aware of the Native people in our own backyards.
New committees would center on aspects of Episcopal Church's mission
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Church's Executive Council informally reorganized itself October 6 in an effort to refocus its work on the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church.
