By Oregon Faith News Note,
The Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon is working with members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to restore traditional land to the tribes while retaining its use of a portion for religious retreats and camps offered through Ascension School, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Rejecting the centuries-old Doctrine of Discovery, religious edicts that gave churches and governments the right to colonize the world, the Eastern Oregon Episcopal Diocese reiterated a 2009 move by the national church, but it wants to go further and recognize the sacredness of the land for the indigenous people before white settlers ever arrived. Native Americans Bobby Fossek of Caretakers of the Land and his partner, Brosnan Spencer, have devoted three years to returning the 80 acres in Union County near Cove to their original state, before white people settled the community and later gave the land to the diocese.
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