The Episcopal Church in Minnesota, in collaboration with its partner organization Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, and following the lead of numerous Indigenous-led organizations, will take part in the Treaty People Gathering June 5-8 in Park Rapids, MN, protesting the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which threatens to pollute 13 watersheds and which violates 1855 treaties with Indigenous peoples.

Bishop Craig Loya, X Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, will attend this weekend’s actions in support of the Indigenous leaders of this movement, the environmental activists protecting God’s unique creation in northern Minnesota and beyond, and the people of northern Minnesota, who face upheaval and unrest as the construction of this pipeline, and resistance to it, proceed.

In speaking about his support for this resistance, Bishop Loya said: “Our tradition has actively been complicit in the decimation of creation and has actively perpetuated and endorsed violence against Indigenous peoples. Our traditional also believes that our primary purpose as human beings is to care for the earth and to respect the dignity of everyone who lives on the earth. Indeed, according to scripture, stewardship of the environment is the original and primary human vocation. My opposition to the line is not a matter of political preference, but moral and spiritual vocation.”

To learn more about the Treaty People Gathering and resistance to Line 3, please visit: www.mnipl.org/event/treaty-people-gathering/