October 12, 1792, was the first observance in the United States of America of what we now know as “Columbus Day.” The Columbian Order of New York, better known as Tammany Hall, held a commemoration of the 300th anniversary of his historic arrival in the “New World.”
In 2022, the 225th General Assembly approved an overture to meaningfully address the wounds inflicted on Alaska Natives, who were directly impacted by the sin of the unwarranted 1963 closure of Memorial Presbyterian Church, a thriving, multiethnic, intercultural church in Juneau, Alaska.
Nearly 60 members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s national staff joined the Rev. Irvin Porter and Ruling Elder Carla Alexander of Brook Presbyterian Church in Hillburn, New York, Wednesday for an online chapel service celebrating the gifts of the world’s Indigenous population, estimated to be 476 million people living in 90 countries.
A Lenten devotional from the staff of Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice will highlight Native American and Indigenous voices and perspectives, from Ash Wednesday to Easter.
In response to a referral from the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) for the Presbyterian Mission Agency to develop theological resources for how the church has benefited at the expense of Native American peoples, a consultation was held with Native American leaders at Stony Point Center in New York Sept. 13-15.
In 2018, commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to create a Native American & Native Alaskan Fund to take in donations. Its sole purpose is to help pay for the then-$5.2 million in needed repairs to the denomination’s 97 Native American churches.
For the greater part of a decade, Gloria Klomsten has been traveling to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to spread love to Native American communities while working hand-in-hand with mission partners, such as Southminster Presbyterian Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Racial Equity and Women’s Intercultural Ministries has chosen five projects to honor with grants, totaling more than $96,000, from the Native American Leadership Development Fund.
The Rev. Irvin Porter, associate for Native American Intercultural Congregational Support in the office of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, has offered up many presentations on the Doctrine of Discovery and the more than 500 years of history between Native American and white people in this country. Porter told Between Two Pulpits hosts Bryce Wiebe and Lauren Rogers Monday that only once has someone responded, “I didn’t do any of that, so why should I feel guilty?”
