Monthly Spiritual Gathering - TODAY |
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The Decolonizing Spiritual Gathering today will focus on the last of the Covenant Sacred Values: Knowledge/Wisdom. Instead of a planned gathering by the Spiritual Care Team we are going to hear from you ... the When, Where, What and How of your community Indigenous Peoples Day gathering. When did you host the gathering? Where was the gathering held? What did the gathering look like? How did you decolonize your community?
We are very excited about this opportunity to experience the Knowledge/Wisdom of the community. If you have music, pictures or anything to else share today, please send to chaplain@dismantlediscovery.org and include your name, your community, location and contact information in case we need to be in touch before we meet. | |
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The Decolonizing Spiritual Gathering currently scheduled for November 27 and December 25 are being rescheduled for the third Wednesday of these two months: November 18 and December 16 at 7 pm ET. Both gatherings will be an opportunity to review the 7 Sacred Values through the lens of the 4 Realms of Resistance and how we understand our faith journeys and spiritual lives holding these as central. See our public calendar at dismantlediscovery.org/calendar for the latest dates.
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Repair Network Quarterly Call Tuesday November 10th at 4pm PT / 7pm ET |
Join us on Tuesday November 10 for our Repair Network Quarterly Call! Coalition organizers will share about current campaigns and we will highlight a few calls to action you can bring to your congregation. We will also present two new resources from our Coalition network: a general prayer resource for individuals and congregations from our Activists Living with Disabilities working group, and a toolkit to help you prepare for Thanksgiving / The National Day of Mourning in November. Our toolkit will include liturgy, prayers of gratitude and lament, prayers for Coalition campaigns and partners. We invite you to consider bringing these prayers forward in your family and community gatherings.
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New Prayer Resource is LIVE |
The Activists Living with Disability (ALD) Working Group has been gathering prayer resources and offerings from across the Coalition for the last year. Now, these offerings have been compiled in a free Prayer Resource available on our website. The Activists Living with Disability working group offers this inclusive resource as an invitation to engage in decolonizing and multisensory prayer as part of our activism. We pray as a Coalition to ground our movement in loving kindness and to change reality in structural and spiritual ways.
Check out the Prayer Resource on our website This prayer resource is designed to offer an introduction to prayer practices that are accessible to Coalition members across various physical and mental capacities, and for different sensory and environmental needs. |
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Oak Flat (Karen Stephenson) |
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The prayer resource starts with an introduction to prayer, including why we pray and how we might begin to decolonize prayer. The resource is then divided into sections that cover various practice options for praying with creation, with the four elements, with words, with the arts, with movement, and with meditation. We thank all Coalition members, staff organizers, and Spiritual Care Team members who submitted prayer practices to be included in this resource. May you find inspiration within! |
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Prayer and Action Hour for He Sapa The Dewey-Burdock Uranium project threatens Lakota sacred lands |
Across the so called U.S. many sacred lands are under threat by extractive industry, and He Sapa is no different. He Sapa (the Black Hills) is ‘the heart of everything that is’ for the Lakota, the site of creation. Earlier this year Powertech, a subsidiary of enCore Energy, received approval to begin building infrastructure for the proposed Dewey-Burdock Uranium mine. The proposed project still requires various permits before mining begins, and this week Powertech has submitted applications for water rights in Fall River county.
The proposed Dewey-Burdock mine plans to use ‘in-situ’ mining to extract uranium from underground. This method requires injecting water-based solutions underground to dissolve uranium so that it can be pumped to the surface and extracted. After usage, the water will be treated and then pumped back underground causing pollution of local groundwater.
Local organizers like the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance are calling on allies to submit public comments in opposition to Powertech’s water rights applications:
The DEADLINE to submit public comment is (postmarked by) NOVEMBER 9
Petitions contesting Powertech’s water rights permit applications MUST be submitted on the official DANR form. If you're interested in intervening in both water permit applications, you must mail two petitions (both in one envelope is fine).
Link to the official DANR petition form: danr.sd.gov/public/PetitionForm.pdf
Join Coalition organizers on Sunday November 8, 2026 at 3pm PT / 8pm ET for Prayer & Action Hour where we will work on submitting public comments in opposition to Powertech’s applications. Register to join us
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Border Wall Resistance in Arizona Update: |
Border wall resistance persists and adapts. By October 14, after a week of standoffs between 20-40 land defenders and over 100 border patrol agents accompanied by other tactical units, Camp O:shad had to close down as the double border wall was erected. Reflecting on the stand off between border patrol and land defenders, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway remarked in his letter to the editor:
“Once we realized that the large contingent of federal officers and contractors in Lochiel were not in danger and that the federal government wanted to avoid their responsibilities regarding this clearly federal issue, we adopted the posture that the thousands of federal officers armed with machine guns, helicopters, drones, and chemical weapons should not pawn off their own border security job on the very small Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office by pretending that they are afraid of gentle unarmed folk that are a throwback to the flower children of the Vietnam anti-war movement.”
The border wall now overshadows the golden and green grasses, blocking the ancestral paths of the O’odham people and endangered ocelots and jaguars alike, destroying six 150+ year old Grandmother Cottonwoods in its path.
While some of the supplies from camp remain in storage for future usage, many of the supplies have gone to the Tadai M:ei Camp, still actively resisting the earth’s desecration on the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Camp o:Shad was a spark that has re-ignited the flame of Tierra Libre, a free, liberated world, is around us everywhere, and thus we must resist the border wall everywhere. This commitment to Tierra Libre, to support those struggling for a free and liberated world, means that the supplies gathered, prayers laid, and hearts mobilizing for the Grandmothers of Lochiel are not just for Lochiel. They are for our siblings resisting destruction along the scar that is MX-US border and beyond. Those who are resisting the dominating influence of the Doctrine of Discovery, that commodifies our relationship with the earth. Dreaming and working towards a time where people and plants and animals grow and move freely. Wrestle and build committedly. A time where minerals are kept in the ground and honored in their sanctity, rather than extracted for more domination and separation. Tierra Libre grounds those of us who poured our hearts into Camp O:Shad, who pour our hearts into a project, in the long arc of movement building and change making.
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Ongoing support is needed and action continues to protect the Earth and dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. -
Gather with your community and plan a solidarity action (call-out or a boycott campaign) against major players in the border wall operation: Fisher, Sand and Gravel, Sundt, and Stamback (AZ specific) are major targets
- Court dates are coming up for land defenders. You can support by donating to the camp legal fund here: https://tinyurl.com/borderlegal
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Come to the No Border Camp Nov 11-Nov 17 in Southern AZ. Stay tuned for updates.
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Host informational gatherings and solidarity brainstorming sessions. Email molly@dismantlediscovery.org if you want support with this.
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Tadai M:ei Camp continues to welcome prayers, supplies, and presence for those who come in a Well Way.
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Oak Flat Litigation Update:
Eleven Judges call for Supreme Court to protect Oak Flat |
In late September the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit failed to fully hear three cases related to the protection of Oak Flat. In response, Apache Stronghold said, "This won’t deter us from praying and working collectively to combat the evil that threatens us all."
Eleven federal judges immediately protested with statements calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to protect that sacred land. Ninth-Circuit Judge Susan Graber wrote, "This is our last chance to prevent the irreversible desecration of a place, of a religion, and of a people." In previous hearings the courts failed to extend protection of Oak Flat while cases are heard in full. A full hearing of the Apache Stronghold case for religious freedom is still pending.
ACTION: Let us also continue in prayer and collective work to protect Oak Flat and all sacred sites. There is still opportunity for you and your beloveds to join in a letter to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who can block the mine by refusing to allow state land to be used for storing a mountain of toxic mining waste. |
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An Interfaith Conversation on the DoD
November 11 from 7-8PM ET / 4-5pm PT |
The Doctrine of Discovery: An Interfaith Conversation - REGISTER November 11, 2026 from 7-8pm ET / 4-5pm PT | ZOOM
Join Sarah Augustine (Author of The Land is Not Empty) and Rabbi Toba Spitzer Wednesday evening November 11th 7-8:30 on Zoom in an important conversation about Native American history and politics in our current moment. While the DoD came out of the Christian churche, the legacy and its ongoing impact affects us all. The discussion will include how these issues are of concern for the Jewish community, in our commitment to Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. We hope you will join us.
Co sponsored by RIC (Reparations Interfaith Coalition of MA), The Coalition to Dismantle The Doctrine of Discovery, CDT Congregation Dorshei Tzedek and Boston Workers Circle. |
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Webinar: From Doctrine to Dignity
November 17 from 6:30-8pm ET / 3:30-5pm PT |
From Doctrine to Dignity: Moving Toward Right Relationship with Indigenous Peoples Through a Process of Truth-telling and Repair - REGISTER
November 17, 2026 from 6:30-8pm ET / 3:30-5pm PT | ZOOM
Sarah Augustine and the Rev. Joe Hubbard of the Coalition to Dismantle the DoD will lead this webinar. The educational call will introduce the foundations of the Doctrine and explore its ongoing impact in our church and communities. Topics will include: -
The origins of the Doctrine of Discovery
- How the Doctrine shaped U.S. law, policy, and systems
- Historical and present‑day impacts within the Episcopal Church and across Pennsylvania
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The Gospel imperative calling us to dismantle the Doctrine today
All are invited to learn, reflect, and take part in this important work of truth‑telling and repair as our diocese lives into its commitment. The Episcopal Diocese of the Susquehanna's Indigenous Justice Ministry Team is hosting this webinar. |
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MCC and DDoD Joint Training in Akron PA
Saturday November 21 from 8:30AM - 5PM |
Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Training - REGISTER November 21, 2026 | The Meeting Place (21 S 12 St, Akron, PA 17501)
Registration Fee: $40 - includes lunch and materials for continued learning. MCC and the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery invite churches and
constituents to raise awareness and develop understanding of the history of colonization and how colonial structures perpetuate systemic oppression and inequality today.
Trainings include a variety of activities: circle process, the experiential exercise Loss of Turtle Island, biblical reflection, group exercises moving towards being in right relationship, and thinking about how participants can use what they have learned. |
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Kupuna ʻĀina: Hawaiʻi, The Land Remembers
Film Premiere November 17-19 |
You are invited to experience the premiere of the new documentary Kupuna ʻĀina: Hawaiʻi, The Land Remembers from November 17-19 and sit in live conversation with Hawaiʻi elders, healers, and leaders who are revitalizing their language, reclaiming their land, and passing ancestral ways to the next generation. In this special community gathering, you will hear directly from kūpuna and cultural practitioners from Hawaiʻi:
“Intergenerationally, we all suffered. So it has to be intergenerational healing.”
For Native Hawaiians, the land is an elder, a teacher, and family. In Hawaiian, ʻāina means “that which feeds.” Yet since the illegal 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, generations have endured the suppression of their language, the banning of hula, and the loss of their ancestral land.
The new documentary Kupuna ʻĀina follows kūpuna, modern warriors, and cultural practitioners as they revitalize ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (the Hawaiian language), reclaim ancient rhythms, and take up the kuleana (sacred duty) of securing a living future for generations to come.
Stream the film anytime by donation. Click here to watch Kupuna ʻĀina now
Secure your spot for the live November 17–19 event (50% of net proceeds directly support Humanity Hale’s culture-based programs for Native Hawaiian foster youth).
SAND is entirely audience-supported. SAND has already contributed $5,000 to Humanity Hale, and donations for Kupuna ʻĀina help us raise another $10,000 toward a planned safe house where Native Hawaiian foster youth can build healthy lives rooted in their cultural heritage.
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Dangerous Faith Submission Call |
A Dangerous Faith young adult zine is calling for submissions to our Fall issue! Our theme is Seeing God in Creation.
“The practice of observing the living world and taking inspiration for human ways of living from its model is an essential element of indigenous science. It embraces the reality that there are intelligences other than our own, from whom we might learn.” ― Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Submit here and/or share the submission form with another young artist/writer you know! Deadline: Saturday November 14th, 2026
We want contributions from young people of faith who are passionate about justice and advocacy. We are interested in reflections (try to keep it to 600 words), poems, songs, and visual art pieces. You can see some examples from our previous issues online.
A Dangerous Faith is a collaborative project of Anabaptist World, Mennonite Action, Anabaptist Climate Collaborative, and the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. |
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| Land Justice Discussion Hour (formerly Land Justice Coffee Hour)
Join Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery leaders by Zoom on Monday, November 9th at 4 PM Pacific / 7 PM Eastern for an open discussion about LandBack, land rematriation, and Indigenous solidarity. Bring your questions about the Land Justice Fund and a hot beverage of your choice! Open to anyone who wants to join.
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Volunteer Orientation
Looking for how to plug-in? Want to learn more about the Coalition? Join our next Volunteer Orientation on November 19th 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! |
Coalition Coffee Hour
Our next Coffee Hour - hosted by Coalition staff - will be Wednesday, November 25th 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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The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery's old website domain, dofd menno dot org, is no longer owned by the Coalition and is owned by an unknown third party. We do not have access to this domain or the content that is being posted there. However, our name and branding are still on the website and when you search for "The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery" it is the second result that shows up. This may cause confusion when searching for us online.
We are working to get our branding and content on the old website taken down. In the meantime, please make sure that you are going to dismantlediscovery.org for any Coalition to Dismantle related information and materials.
Questions? Contact our Administrator Bekah at admin@dismantlediscovery.org |
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Resource Corner - Moving Towards Right Relations Training in November:
- From Sarah and Sheri's Substack:
- Season 5 of the Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery Podcast
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Episode 2: Healing in Community with the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative
- Episode 3: Who is the Declaration of Independence for? With Mark Charles
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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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