Engaging with Native Americans

Bill Quackenbush, Tribal Preservation of the HoChunk, speaks with Grace members and staff of the Wisconsin Council of Churches about the sacred space of Grace Church and of the HoChunk.

Starting the Conversation

In 2021, a group of interested Grace members began exploring how our congregation might engage with the violent history of settler colonialism, genocide of Native Americans, and begin developing relationships with our Ho-Chunk neighbors and other Wisconsin tribes, especially the Oneida with which the Episcopal Church has a long history. We are working with other Madison churches, other congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee and a number of native people in this important endeavor. While we are beginning by educating ourselves and others, and slowly building working relationships with individuals and tribes, ultimately we will explore concrete restorative actions that will shape a more just community in Madison and state-wide, and a church that embodies a vision of community inclusive of all.

Our group meets regularly on the first Wednesday of the month. Contact Fr. Jonathan for more information or for the Zoom link.

Learn More

The conversation begins when we acknowledge that the land on which we live, work, and worship was violently seized from the peoples who lived here, and that in most cases those peoples were killed by genocide and forced removal.

This video produced by the Episcopal Church offers an introduction to the Doctrine of Discovery.

 Resources on the Doctrine of Discovery

From Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church, a collection of statements, liturgical materials, and other info.

Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery (Anabaptist-Mennonite). Lots of material here, a documentary, curriculum, how-to guide for congregational land acknowledgement, steps toward restorative action: click here

Boarding Schools

Native Voices: A Response to The Episcopal Church’s History with Indian Boarding Schools

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition

Home from School: The Children of Carlisle. A recent PBS documentary on the repatriation of native children buried at the Carlisle Indian School

Book Recommendations

Books marked with * are available to borrow from our growing library of resources. Books designated “MPL” are available from the Madison Public Library

*Patty Loew, Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal. 2nd Edition. 2013 MPL

David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America 1890 to the Present. 2019 MPL

*Kaitlin Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God. 2019 MPL

*L. Gordon McLester, III, Laurence Hauptman, et al., eds. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church: A Chain Linking Two Traditions. 2019 MPL

*Eileen Enns and Ched Myers, Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization. 2021 MPL