by Rosanne Fischer
Associate of the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota
I don’t believe in ‘chance’ encounters. I believe that Spirit connects us, increases our understanding and calls us to action.
In 2022, seven members, sisters, and associates of our Franciscan Community in Little Falls, Minnesota, registered for a Land Justice Futures course. The course coincided with our intentional efforts to act upon Pope Francis’ call in Laudato Si to respond to both the cry of Earth and the cry of People. We had just committed to the Dream Project, seeking to create an environmental learning center with healing and restoration of Land that the Franciscan Sisters inhabit. We realized that the healing of Land inherently involves healing of Peoples upon Land, with priority for those who have been displaced, mistreated, and denied access. Their healing is integrally related to our healing and the healing of Land: we are all connected. We chose to enter into a year-long program with the national Land Justice Futures team which, thankfully, has extended to a second year.
What a journey!! The capable and talented Land Justice Team, along with their BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) partners, have guided our learning about the roots of land injustice, including such information as:
- 98% of rural land and 95% of urban land in the US is ‘owned’ by white people;
- indigenous people make up less than 5% of the world’s population but protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity;
- 70% of farm workers are BIPOC but BIPOC ‘own’ only 2% of the land;
- since the 1970s, we have lost one-third of the topsoil in the US.
We learned about the series of papal bulls and legal precedents called the Doctrine of Discovery, which justified the attempt to annihilate the culture of the original inhabitants and take the land that supported their livelihood. As Sarah Augustine of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery has said, “The atrocities that were done in the name of Christ, must be undone in the name of Christ!”
Land is not property, solely for wealth accumulation and resource extraction. Land is part of the commons. We are in an embodied relationship with Land, upon which we all depend, just as we depend upon each other – two-legged, winged, finned, four-legged, soil-dwelling, water-dwelling, from the smallest microorganism to the largest mammal.
Through the Land Justice Futures team, our Franciscan community has connected with Dakota neighbors working toward restoration of community with all of the above. We have become a Repair Community with Makoce Ikikcupi / Dakota Land Recovery. We meet monthly to study and inform ourselves, plan legislative and other actions, fundraise and volunteer at workdays when invited by the Dakota community.
“What could happen if the church would fulfill its promise to be refuge, to be way-shower, to foster love and peace and justice and understanding? What would happen if the church, which is everywhere, could fulfill what it says?” – Pat McCabe, (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) a Diné (Navajo) ceremonial leader and international speaker.