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An order of Catholic nuns in Wisconsin recently returned land they had purchased in 1966 to the Indigenous tribe that originally settled it. During a ceremony with deep spiritual symbolism, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration turned over land to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. It is believed to be the first such land transfer by a Catholic institution in the U.S., in the name of reparations for past treatment of Native Americans. Robin Washington of Wisconsin Public Radio reports on what both sides call a historic act of healing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN JOHNSON SR: (Speaking Ojibwe).
ROBIN WASHINGTON, BYLINE: The greeting in the Ojibwe language is to a gathering outside a Catholic spirituality center in a wooded area next to one of many small lakes in the northern Wisconsin town of Arbor Vitae.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHNSON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm tribal president John Johnson Sr. from Lac du Flambeau. It's a very good day here today for all of us.
WASHINGTON: For decades, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration used this Marywood property as a retreat center. On October 31, the sisters formally transferred it to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. Though it's now worth millions, they gave it back for the same $30,000 they themselves paid when they purchased it in 1966.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SUE ERNSTER: We hope that this transfer of what we called Marywood to the Lac du Flambeau is a sign of hope and light, that being vulnerable, dialoguing with each other can bring about what may seem impossible.
WASHINGTON: Sister Sue Ernster is president of the order. She says the land transfer is a form of reparations for the legacy of Catholic boarding schools that Native American children were forced to attend for decades. The sisters say returning this property, which was not itself a school, is a way to acknowledge a painful past.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ERNSTER: We knew the next caretakers needed to be those who honored and held sacred the land and all of creation as we do.
WASHINGTON: The transfer goes well beyond land acknowledgments, which have become commonplace nationwide, but are often criticized as empty gestures. Araia Breedlove is the public relations director for the tribe.
ARAIA BREEDLOVE: This is acknowledgment put into action, and I think that is the biggest difference compared to what we've been seeing nationwide.
WASHINGTON: The tribe and the sisters say their action last month is unprecedented. In 2017, the Jesuit order returned 500 unused acres in South Dakota to the Rosebud Sioux tribe, but experts say the Franciscan Sisters' return of their land is different.
BRITTANY KOTELES: This is definitely the first land transfer from an order of Catholic sisters to an Indigenous tribe. It is the first land transfer from any Catholic institution to a Native nation in the name of healing and reparations.
WASHINGTON: That's Brittany Koteles of Land Justice Futures, a group that advises Catholic orders and help guide this action. Back at the shores of the lake, it was time to make the transfer official.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: All right. At this time, we are going to be signing the official documents.
(CHEERING)
WASHINGTON: As the signatures made the transfer official, both parties marked the transaction in their spiritual traditions.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHNSON: The return of this land is far more than a symbolic act. It is a living acknowledgment of our sovereignty and to the sacred relationship that connects our people to these ancestral territories.
WASHINGTON: The Lac du Flambeau tribe plans on using the facility for professional housing, spiritual events, healing, education and intertribal meetings.
For NPR News, I'm Robin Washington in Superior, Wisconsin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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