Monthly Spiritual Gathering - TODAY
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Our next Decolonizing Spiritual Gathering is today (Friday, August 28th) at 1pm PT / 4 pm ET. The theme this month continues with the
Sacred Value Courage/Bravery
. This is especially timely given the Covenant signing by our new Regional Leaders and those who participated in the Annual Meeting; it was a courageous commitment. Please join us.
Register for the Zoom link
We will also be sharing how our community Decolonized Spiritual Gatherings went on July 31 while we were at the Annual Meeting. Be prepared to share stories, challenges and successes.
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The poll to determine the best time for our monthly Decolonized Spiritual Gathering revealed that Fridays are the most popular time with Wednesday evenings coming in second. As a result, the new time for the Decolonizing Spiritual Gathering will begin in November so we have a time to send out the change a few months in advance of the change in time.
In November the monthly Decolonizing Spiritual Gathering will move to 4:30pm PT / 7:30 pm ET on the last Friday of the month.
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2026 Annual Gathering Recap
July 31 - August 3rd
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The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery is a Spiritual movement, and when we gather together in person we do so to pray, learn, and build up our community in relationship. Our annual gathering this year was held in prayer throughout the weekend, during our tour of Carlisle, as we opened and closed the annual gathering sessions, and as we uplifted our current campaigns.
We are so grateful to our hosting congregations in Pennsylvania and their planning teams: St. Paul’s Episcopal and the Diocese of the Susquehanna (Harrisburg), Landisville Mennonite Church (Landisville), and Community Mennonite Church (Lancaster). Altogether 55 people gathered in person with 20 virtual attendees from across 20 different states, Washington D.C., and several Canadian provinces.
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Opening prayer circle in front of the Carlisle Barracks Visitor and Welcome Center
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Our gathering started on Friday, July 31st, with a tour of the former Carlisle Industrial Boarding School grounds. Carlisle was opened in 1879 with a mission of cultural genocide, to “kill the Indian, save the Man”. This policy and the strategies used to enforce it ended up serving as the model for many of the Native Boarding Schools across the US and Canada that would later be built.
Our group grounded ourselves in prayer throughout our visit. We prayed to grieve, we prayed for the healing of the land and peoples, for the courage to be truth tellers, and the transformation of systems of violence.
After the tour we closed our evening at St. Paul’s Episcopal with a collective debrief over dinner and a sacred song circle.
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The next day (Aug 1) we opened with prayer and ceremony led by our Chaplain Rev. Debbie Royals. We were also blessed to have Elder Mark MacDonald join us for the entire weekend, and offer a teaching that morning.
Since 2023, the Coalition has invited a ‘listener’ to attend our gathering and offer noticings and reflections before we close. This year we were honored to have Raquel Montoya-Lewis (Pueblo of Isleta and Pueblo of Laguna), the first Native American woman to serve as Justice on a State Supreme Court and a friend of Sarah Augustine, be our listener.
In keeping with our commitment to be a community rooted in prayer, Regional Leaders hosted prayer stations to hold Coalition campaigns in the Light.
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Rev. Debbie Royals opens us in prayer (St. Paul’s Episcopal Church)
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Mark MacDonald offers a teaching
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During the Annual Gathering sessions, staff presented the Coalition Regional Leadership organizing strategy. This model encourages local volunteer leaders, who are familiar with their contexts and communities, to lead campaigns within their state or region in alignment with the Coalition’s broader vision. Regional leaders hold Coalition values in their organizing work, maintain relationships, and connect communities around a unifying vision for their region. You can hear Sarah and Doe talk more in depth about this strategy during
Saturday morning’s vision casting.
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Part of our gathering also included presenting and reflecting on our
Coalition Covenant
and
Conflict and Right Relationship
policy. Our Covenant names and defines the seven sacred values (Love, Truth, Humility, Bravery, Honesty, Wisdom, Respect) that guide our work as we seek the liberation of our Indigenous kin and all of creation. We acknowledge we will experience conflict as we strive to live out our shared values, and our Conflict document describes our Coalition posture as we process conflicts and step deeper into right relationship. During our closing ceremony, we invited our regional leaders and all annual gathering attendees to sign our covenant.
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On Sunday we joined Landisville Mennonite Church for worship, and our Chaplain Debbie Royals preached, and our Organizing Director Doe Hoyer shared
“I Am” by Chiffon Lark
during children’s time.
You can watch Debbie’s sermon
here.
Sunday afternoon, Raquel shared her listener’s report, highlighting the support for Economic Justice that she had heard repeated throughout the weekend and challenging our Coalition to live out these values in the ways that we care for our Indigenous staff and leadership.
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We closed the Annual Gathering sessions in Ceremony, commissioning regional leaders, and blessing the signing of the Covenant. A beautifully hand written Covenant book allowed for the new Regional Leaders to sign and be gifted with dream catchers that were made by the Native women’s group in Tucson, AZ. At the end of the Covenant signing ceremony a light rain blessed us, the Covenant and the gathering.
In the evening, we held a storytelling event at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster. Coalition organizers Doe Hoyer and Cayce Ramey shared their personal stories of transformation that brought them into the movement for liberation. They were joined by local organizer, Frank Arcoleo, who has been instrumental in building community advocacy in the fight against AI Data Centers in the Lancaster area.
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Sarah Augustine (left) and Raquel Montoya-Lewis (right)
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Sarah Augustine signs the Covenant
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We ended the gathering weekend on Monday August 3rd with an Economic Justice training. During the training participants reflected on the extractive systems that built our economy and how we view financial security.
“We continue to embrace economic systems that prescribe infinite growth on a finite planet, as if somehow the universe had repealed the laws of thermodynamics on our behalf.” - Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi)
Reflective questions included: What does decolonization look like for the Stock Market? What can we learn from examples of Mutual Aid networks? What do income systems look like when they are based on mutual care and wellbeing?
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Circle Gatherings: Process the Coalition
’
s Position on Conflict Document
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At our 2026 Annual Meeting the "Coalition's Position on Conflict in a Society Dominated by White Supremacy" document was distributed.
On Monday, September 14 there will be two opportunities to meet with our Coalition Chaplain, The Rev Debbie Royals, Pascua Yaqui, in a discussion about the creation and application of this document. The 90 minute gatherings will begin at 11 am ET and 7 pm ET. The format for the gathering will follow the Coalition's Healing Circle model. A copy of the document can be found
here
.
To register for this gathering
follow this link.
Fill out the form and you will be emailed the Zoom link.
Any questions in advance of the gathering can be directed to
chaplain@dismantlediscovery.org
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Join our Quarterly Repair Network Call
September 1, 2026 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET
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This is the quarterly call for the Repair Network of Congregation and Communities of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. We will share updates from our network and offer information on how to get involved.
All are welcome!
For our September call, Sarah Augustine and Doe Hoyer will lead a discussion around engaging with repair and healing as communities and congregations, including how to support the National Day of Remembrance for those who attended Indigenous boarding schools, also known as Orange Shirt Day, on September 30th. We will feature the grassroots organizing efforts of the Truth Seeking and Truth Telling Initiative within the ELCA, and be in conversation with co-lead organizer Elizabeth Andress. We will also share some of the TSTTI resources so you can also feel empowered to host an event or prayer vigil in your community for the National Day of Remembrance.
Register for the Zoom link
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National Day of Remembrance Webinar
September 30 at 4:30pm PT / 5:30pm MT / 6:30pm CT / 7:30pm ET
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The National Day of Remembrance on Sept 30th is a day to remember and honor those who attended Indian Boarding Schools, to tell the truth about this history and how it continues to impact Native communities today. Many boarding schools were supported and run by Christian denominations and churches. As we remember this legacy, Christians have a responsibility to engage in the work of truth telling.
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Join the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery for a presentation and panel discussion about how churches are working towards truth telling and repair, and how you can join in this work.
Register for the Zoom link
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Oak Flat: Sign the Letter to AZ Governor Hobbs
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Resolution Copper threatens to destroy Oak Flat, a sacred site cared for by the Western Apache from time immemorial. Resolution Copper’s current mining plan for Oak Flat relies on access to Arizona state trust land.
This puts Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs in a position to stop it.
If you cherish Oak Flat, Indigenous religious freedom, and the well being of all living things both within and beyond the state -- this is our ask:
PRAY
for Governor Hobbs, that she might find strength and courage to say NO to Resolution Copper’s plans to dump a mountain of toxic waste on state trust lands in Dripping Springs Valley at Skunk Camp.
CALL
Governor Hobbs @ 602-542- 4331 and ask her to say NO to Resolution Copper’s plans to dump a mountain of toxic waste on state trust lands in Dripping Springs Valley at Skunk Camp.
SIGN A LETTER:
If you live OUTSIDE of Arizona, sign here:
bit.ly/4wK3c5p
If you live IN Arizona, sign here:
bit.ly/3SIOCNq
Share these calls to action with your community using
this flyer
:
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Take Action: Call on Congress to Stop the Destruction of Sacred Lands and Waters
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Call on Congress to STOP the destruction of sacred lands and waters happening as the administration works to expand the walls along the southern border.
From the Center for Biological Diversity:
"The Trump administration is moving fast along the southern border — bulldozing walls, roads, and other infrastructure through some of the United States' most spectacular and ecologically important landscapes.
In Big Bend National Park, Texas, the administration just broke ground and may soon blast canyon walls and block public access to the Rio Grande. In California it's building border barriers in the San Diego borderlands, endangering Tecate Peak, a sacred mountain for the Kumeyaay people. In Arizona multiple wall projects threaten the Tohono O'odham Nation; critical migration corridors for wild cats and other species in the San Rafael Valley; and Quitobaquito Springs, a desert oasis in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument home to critically endangered Sonoyta mud turtles and Quitobaquito pupfish. And in New Mexico border construction is sucking up precious groundwater."
Ask Congress to Stop the Border Wall Assault -
contact your legislator today
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Take a Course with Sarah Augustine:
Joining the Vulnerable in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery
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This Fall, Sarah Augustine is teaching a course at St. Stephen's University (SSU) as part of their Certificate in Reconciliation Studies.
Sarah's course is
Joining the Vulnerable in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery
In this course, we will unpack the legal and policy structure that is the Doctrine of Discovery, the basis of land-tenure policy pertaining to Indigenous Peoples in North America and around the globe. Writer, speaker and activist Sarah Augustine will share her life experience as an Indigenous woman to demonstrate its current impact, and lead discussion about how to resist and dismantle it in the context of Indigenous cosmology. Students will have the opportunity to generate creative responses that link Indigenous liberation with climate and environmental justice, joining vulnerable peoples in land and water defense movements for liberation.
This course can be taken either fully online or in a hybrid online/in person format, for academic credit or audited, and as part of the larger reconciliation certificate program or as an individual course.
Know someone who might be interested? Forward them
this program information
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About the Certificate in Reconciliation Studies program:
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The certificate can be taken on its own or integrated into a master’s degree at St.
Stephen’s University.
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The certificate requires a total of 18 credit hours, spread out over two semesters. Students may start with either semester.
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Semester One - in 2026 - starts on September 8 and ends on December 9, consists of three courses (each 3 credit hours, for a total of 9 out of 18 credit hours).
Complete an application online:
ssu.ca/application
Questions? Contact:
ssu.ca/contact
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Join Coalition leaders by Zoom on
Monday September 7th at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET.
Bring questions about the Land Justice Fund, our Rematriation partners, or Landback in general.
Open to anyone who wants to join!
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Looking for how to plug-in? Want to learn more about the Coalition? Join our next Volunteer Orientation on
September 17th
from 4-5:30 PST / 5-6:30 MST / 6-7:30 CST / 7-8:30 EST.
You can register below for the zoom link!
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Our next Coffee Hour - hosted by Coalition staff - will be Wednesday,
September 30th
at 9:00 am PST / 10:00 am MST / 11:00 am CST / 12:00 pm EST.
Grab a hot beverage of your choice and bring your questions as we spend time in community together. Register for the link below to join!
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Resource Corner
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Moving Towards Right Relations Training in September:
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Register for Module 1
on
Thursday, September 24
from 4:00pm - 6:00pm PT / 5:00pm - 7:00pm MT / 6:00pm - 8:00pm CT / 7:00pm - 9:00pm ET
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Register for Module 2
on
Saturday, September 26
from 9:00am - 11:00am PT / 10:00am - 12:00pm MT / 11:00am - 1:00pm CT / 12:00pm - 2:00pm ET
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Learn more and see our full schedule at
tinyurl.com/Trainings2026
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Read the latest
Calls to Action and reflections on
the Coalition Blog
, including our new Sacred Values reflection series from Coalition staff
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From Sarah and Sheri's Substack:
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Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast -
Episode 1 of Season 5 is out now:
Working Towards Shalom with Laurens van Esch
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All check donations to the Coalition should be sent to the following address:
Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery
3258 Thompson Ave.
Alameda, CA 94501
Checks should still be made out to our fiscal sponsor, Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. If the check is for the salary campaign or another special fund, that should also be mentioned in the memo line.
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Our Contact Information
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The Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Coalition is fiscally sponsored by and a ministry partner of the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference (PSMC).
Want to receive our appeal letters by mail? Email your address to us at
admin@dismantlediscovery.org
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