Native American Heritage Month: Land Acknowledgments in Our Diocese

Over the past several years, the Episcopal Church has begun encouraging its dioceses and congregations to develop Land Acknowledgment statements in recognition of those Indigenous people on whose homelands our congregations worship. This is both a way to recognize the past harms that have resulted from colonization and displacement of Native people and also a way to commit ourselves to respectful, reciprocal relationships with Native people in our communities today.

This past year, our Diocese of Northern California approved its own Land Acknowledgment, which was used at our Fearless Faith Revival in April. It reads:

The Episcopal Church in Northern California acknowledges that its sixty-three churches are built on the unceded Native American land of forty-four federally recognized tribes and of other tribes that are seeking the return of federal recognition.With God’s help, we commit ourselves to acknowledging the truth of California’s history, as well as strengthening existing relationships and improving our efforts to build collaborative relationships with Native peoples.

In 2021 and 2022 our Commission for Intercultural Ministries applied for a grant from The Episcopal Church to fund consultation from Redbud Resource Group, a Sonoma County-based, Native-led nonprofit, to assist two churches to learn about local Native communities. Members of Incarnation, Santa Rosa, and Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, participated in this learning process. Trinity Cathedral went on to approve its own Land Acknowledgment statement, which reads:

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Sacramento gathers, worships, and serves on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Nisenan people. We recognize and thank the Indigenous stewards of this land—past, present, and future. With God’s help, we agree to hold ourselves accountable to forming new and ongoing relationships of honor and respect with these lands and peoples.

The members of Incarnation who participated in the Redbud Resource Group workshops developed a draft statement for Incarnation, but our Vestry was not able to reach a consensus at that time on whether or not to adopt it. The Vestry made a commitment to revisit the draft at a future date. The draft reads:

As part of our baptismal covenant to strive for justice and peace among all people, we recognize that we stand on unceded tribal and ancestral land. We worship on ancestral Southern Pomo territory and many of our members live in the homelands of Southern Pomo, Coast Miwok, Kashia Pomo, and Wappo people. We affirm Indigenous sovereignty and are committed to engaging in respectful, reciprocal relationships with our Native neighbors.

Our Becoming Beloved Community ministry team would like to see us officially adopt a Land Acknowledgment for our congregation, but we’d like to hear your input. What do you think about this draft? What would it mean for us as a congregation to have a Land Acknowledgment statement? Please email Daphne Vernon with your thoughts and we will collect them to help with our vestry’s ongoing discernment.