Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgement
The Cathedral is located at 127 Northwest Seventh Street in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City, the capital city of the State of Oklahoma. Clergy, cathedral members and staff acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples in the past occupied, lived on or passed over the space which the Cathedral currently occupies today. The Cathedral recognizes, accepts and acknowledges the loss of life, loss of territory, the historical consequences of the violent occupation by non-Indians of the region and the forcible removal of Indian Tribes from their Southeastern homelands into “Indian Territory” (later called Oklahoma) in the 1830s known as the Trail of Tears.
Prehistoric peoples, usually called today Paleo-Indians, lived on and traversed this area since at least 25,000 years ago. The rivers that crisscrossed the territory served as compelling pathways for movement, migration, hunting and trading. Wichita Peoples resided in the greater region for a very long time. Perhaps by A.D. 1100, Pawnee peoples separated from the Wichita peoples in Oklahoma - both are Northern Caddoan language speakers -- and moved northward. Caddo resided to the south and east. As the expansion of non-Indians spread westward, Native peoples moved into the Great Plains region that borders central Oklahoma and also made use of the resources, including game, water and forest lands nearby. Plains Apaches, later still Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho and others also crossed this region over time (today North-South Interstate 35 and East-West Interstate 40 have replaced the river paths).
The State of Oklahoma is now home to 39 federally recognized tribes and the Cathedral community is home to many parishioners with tribal ties. As a culture and cathedral deeply rooted in Native American heritage we remember and honor the peoples who lived on this land before us. We give thanks for their witness to being good stewards of the land. We strive to work in communion with our Native siblings in Christ in Oklahoma to live into our baptismal call and live in right relationship with one another and all of Creation; we are related to one another in Christ our Lord.
