Church ties may be looser and students may be less religious than in past generations, but most Presbyterian colleges and universities still believe in the role of a campus chaplain.
On Thursday, April 20, at noon EDT on the PC(USA)’s Facebook page, as part of its “Third Thursdays” series, ruling elder Rick Ufford-Chase, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s associate for interfaith formation and co-director of the PC(USA)’s Stony Point Center, welcomed as his dialogue partners Chief Dwaine Perry and Two Clouds, both of the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, which is located about thirty miles northwest of New York City in the Ramapough Mountains.
While water protectors, encamped near the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri rivers in North Dakota, endure brutal winter weather, Elona Street-Stewart, synod executive of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, recounted her mid-November trip to the encampment, describing the camp, the work to prepare for the north’s raw winter, the sacredness of water and the role of the church.
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders have been standing in solidarity with Native American tribes and groups protesting the construction of the Dakota access pipeline and its encroachment upon Native American lands.
The recent altercation between water protectors and law enforcement at Standing Rock proved the value of having professionals on site. Lawyers and medical personnel have been busy the past few days dealing with the legal and physical issues around Sunday night’s confrontation and the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.
The Cannon Ball (North Dakota) Gym was filled to capacity tonight with nearly 500 clergy representing 20 faith traditions in anticipation of their show of solidarity for self-described “water protectors” opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) north of Standing Rock Sioux reservation lands.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in conjunction with the Rev. Irvin Porter, associate in the Office of Native American Intercultural Congregational Support, issued a statement today in support of the Standing Rock Sioux protest of a crude oil pipeline set to skirt the northern border of the tribe’s reservation lands. A breach, they say, is a threat to the Missouri River, the source of the tribe’s drinking water.
