Weekly Update | October 13, 2024

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated by the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum from September 15 to October 15 to honor the Hispanic Americans who have and continue to enrich our nation and society.

At St. John’s Cathedral we are celebrating Hispanic Heritage during the month of October, and Indigenous People Day on October 13 – a day early of 10/14. In our congregation are

Hispanic and Indigenous members of our church for whom we give thanks and celebrate their cultures. Last week we hear Arcadio read a lesson in Spanish, and this week we will hear Juana read and pray in Mayan, representing the Indigenous people of Guatemala.  Later this month, we will hear Deacon Dionicio and Luisa read in Spanish, Jay read in Portuguese and Brina read in Quechua. Then, on 27 Oct we will welcome the Rev. Canon Anthony Guillen, Missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries and Director of Ethnic Ministries of the Episcopal Church as our distinguished guest preacher and celebrate Dia de Los Muertos.

This weekend as we remember the Indigenous peoples of this land, we will read a land acknowledgement written by The Rev. Mary Crist, a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and appointed as the Indigenous Theological Education Coordinator for The Episcopal Church in 2019 as a member of the Presiding Bishop’s staff. Foremost, she is enrolled Blackfeet (Amskapi Pikuni) from the Douglas family in Babb on the reservation Montana (ENS, June 6, 2019). We extend heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Lo Sprague, President of the Guibord Center, for her role in calling us to remember, and Heyden Morales for his leadership and ideas with planning for this month of festivities in honor of our Hispanic and Indigenous siblings.

Before I share this land acknowledge, I invite us to lament the role of The Episcopal Church in the operation of boarding schools for indigenous children, taking these young people from their families and stripping them from their own cultures and traditions, thus aiding in the acquisition of land. Nearly every native family has been impacted by this chapter of our history. Let us commit to the work of truth telling and healing in our diocese and the wider Church. Let us honor the native people of this land.

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES written by The Rev. Canon Mary Crist (Blackfeet)

We respectfully acknowledge and recognize that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is

located on the unceded land of the Tongva people. Eighteen treaties were made between 1851 and 1852 with California tribes that the U.S. Senate decided not to ratify in secret session at the request of the state of California. If the treaties had been honored, tribes would possess more than 7.5 million acres of land in the state, but today California tribes own about 7% of their unratified treaty territory.”[1] This land holds great historical, spiritual, and personal significance for the original caregivers and for their relatives today. We are honored to give thanks today for the use of the land that was and is held sacred by the Indigenous peoples who called it home. We pray that the members of this church will be taught to treat the land with respect and to give honor to the Creator who made it.

_{[1] Introduced in January by Assembly Member James C. Ramos (D-40th District), the Tribal Land Acknowledgement Act of 2021 (AB 1968) passed the California Assembly on June 8 by a rare 76-0 vote.  The Tribal Land Acknowledgment Act legislation was referred to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water and is awaiting review. https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/california-legislation-would-encourage-schools-parks-}

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