The Loretto Community wishes to acknowledge that the lands on which its members live and work embody the ancestral memory of Indigenous Peoples who lost their relationship with these lands to colonial occupants.

East of the Mississippi River

Considering our Loretto members who live and work in locations east of the Mississippi River, we acknowledge that the ancestral occupants and caretakers of those lands – including but not limited to the Cherokee, Shawnee, Yucci, Kickapoo, Kansa, Osage, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Myaamia, Missouria, Illini Confederacy, and Seminole – were removed unjustly, to the unwilling but substantial benefit of our membership’s white Christian privilege and access to those lands. We honor these ancestors and stand by their descendants in their work for justice and the restoration of the living Earth.

New York and Washington D.C.

Considering our Loretto members near the centers of global and national policy – the UN NGO office in New York and the US government in Washington DC – we acknowledge that the ancestral occupants and caretakers of those lands – including but not limited to the Haudenasaunee Confederacy, Munsee Delaware, Ramapough Lenape, Anacostans, Piscataway, Pamunkey – were removed unjustly, to the unwilling but substantial benefit of our membership’s white Christian privilege and access to those lands. We honor these ancestors and stand by their descendants in their work for justice and the restoration of the living Earth.

West of the Mississippi River

Considering our Loretto members who live and work in locations west of the Mississippi River in the Americas, we acknowledge that the ancestral occupants and caretakers of those lands – including but not limited to the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Ute, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Kalapuya, Siletz, Shasta, Coastal Miwok, Southern Pomo, Ramaytush Ohlone, the various Pueblo Peoples, Navajo, Apache, Q’eqchi’, Poqomam, Mayan and others – were removed unjustly, to the unwilling but substantial benefit of our membership’s white Christian privilege and access to those lands. We honor these ancestors and stand by their descendants in their work for justice and the restoration of the living Earth.

Pakistan

Considering our Loretto members who live and work in and around the Punjab province of Pakistan, we recognize and acknowledge the Ligharis, Mazaris, Khosas, Qaisranis, Nutkanis, Khitrans, Gorchanis, Dreshaks, and Buzdars and the ancestral land on which our sisters there are located. To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those Indigenous Peoples, and a way of honoring their life and work on these lands for thousands of years.