Building relationships at the Land Justice Futures Focus Community Gathering

To build relationships you have to “waste time” together. The Focus Community Gathering in Racine, Wis., did that and so much more. The Land Justice teams from 15 different communities of women religious, the former Nuns and Nones Land Justice Project staff (now known as Land Justice Futures), elders, advisors and partners came together April 21-25 to learn what is emerging, what is challenging and where we can journey together.

Ritual, music, art and presentations were part of the formal work, but being in such a beautiful place with others who share a passion for land justice was an overpowering experience.

We began with an outdoor ritual acknowledging the ancestral homelands of the Fire People — the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi and other Peoples who continue to cherish this land. We acknowledged Earth Day with a procession indoors, bringing with us water from Lake Michigan and elements from the places we each call home.

Brittany Koteles, the director of Land Justice Futures, reminded us that institutions built on the colonial paradigm are breaking down in a time of wealth and racial gap. The colonial worldview has separated us from Earth. Necessary shifts need to include: a shift from the notion that land can be owned to a common care of land; from rights to responsibilities; from domination to interdependence; and from an idea of scarcity to enoughness.

What is the work of women religious at this time? Brittany asserted that our job is “to powerfully resource new alternatives; engage in deeply transformative work; raise the power of love upward; and grapple with how to midwife the next expression of countercultural life.”

From Debbie Asberry, we learned that in living systems, the whole is different than the sum of its parts. Emerged systems cannot be fixed from within. Chocolate chip cookies made with salt instead of sugar can’t be fixed. Response to the environment is essential to living systems. We are a living social system. Systems can become closed by fear, and closed systems cannot evolve because they cannot respond to the environment.

An experience during the Grief and Love Ritual touched me deeply. Pat McCabe/ Woman Stands Shining led us into the practice of grieving with song, communal sharing and reflection. After several people shared their grief with us, Mama Bear from the Mohawk Nation brought two of these women to the center. She led us in a remarkable ceremony that left all of us moved to tears.

Manifesting Mother Law: Removing Our Consent from the Doctrine of Discovery was another moving and enlightening experience. The presenters were Louise Wakerakats:se Herne (Mama Bear), Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining) and Abi Huff. They spoke about our need to remove our consent from the Doctrine of Discovery. Women have an inherent connection to Earth. Elder women hold authority in leadership, land, war and peace. What do we gain by taking this risk? We gain the possibility of reclaiming our honor, accepting responsibility for harm and the possibility to learn and be part of new relationships. Relationships are the basis of who we are becoming.

This gathering left me with much to ponder and much hope in what we can accomplish together. Our foundation story was full of risk and struggle. We are the legacy of that. The legacy is alive now, and we are powerful. Power and authority reside in all of us responding together to the needs of our times.