Sacred Lands Coalition
JustFaith has established a Sacred Land: Food and Farming 8-week program. The program emphasizes indigenous wisdom while also reviewing Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, and other texts and videos. This is the first program in JustFaith Ministries’ Eco-justice Series which "explores our connection to the land and our responsibility for it.  Small groups learn how food and farming practices affect the climate crisis, marginalized communities, and their own health and spiritual wellbeing. Participants explore practical ways to implement sustainable food and farming practices in the communities and the institutions of which they’re a part.”  https://justfaith.org/sacred-land-food-and-farming/ 
 
The Sacred Lands Coalition believes in the importance of putting faith into action and supporting individuals in carrying out work in their communities after participating in the JustFaith Sacred Land program.  To begin, the Coalition will offer a virtual JustFaith Sacred Land program to a cohort of individuals who are interested in the ongoing work of promoting Sacred Lands. Those from marginalized communities as well as those who are allies are encouraged to participate so that the work of healing communities can be done together.
 
The Sacred Lands Coalition is a network of organizations and individuals offering a supportive community for people interested in participating in JustFaith's Sacred Land program and the ongoing task of learning to live interdependently with Mother Earth, thereby improving our food systems and public health. In St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures which is the basis of Laudato Si, St. Francis refers to our ‘Sister, Mother Earth’:
 
“‘LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore’ – ‘Praise be to you, my Lord’. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. ‘Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.’” [Laudato Si, 1]
 
In Jesus’ act of sharing the Last Supper with his disciples, He is grounding Christianity in the act of eating and sharing in communion with Christ and each other.  
 
The Sacred Lands Coalition recognizes that sacred land produces food that is essential for our health and well-being, and that it is the responsibility of the consumer to create demand for this food.
 
The Coalition believes the eco-spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi and indigenous wisdom are foundational to advancing policy, systems and environmental changes for improved human relationships with land and creation.

The Coalition, while based in the U.S., stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in other countries and their indigenous wisdom.  The Coalition acknowledges that ecological protection cannot be constrained by geopolitical boundaries, and that many countries are filled with people who have immigrated from different countries and continents, no longer living on the lands inhabited by their ancestors, while others are living on their ancestral land but it has been claimed and co-opted by colonizing governments. While the book of Genesis in the Bible speaks of creation as very good and tells humankind to be stewards and have dominion over creation, this call has been misconstrued as giving humans carte blanche to dominate and exploit creation.

The Coalition recognizes that the 15th century series of papal documents, the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, contributed to perpetration of colonization and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, leading to native peoples being violently taken away from their lands, enslaved, and killed, violating the sanctity of life and creation.  This mentality of scarcity and domination, rather than the abundance of Mother Earth and understanding humankind as part of creation, still infiltrates society today and contributes to racial and ethnic health disparities. Therefore, this Coalition will work towards justice, healing and reconciliation, by returning to the wisdom found in humans living interdependently with the rest of creation.

If you are interested in participating in the ongoing coalition, please complete the form below.  

(If you would like to register specifically to join the 8-week program starting in January 2021, please register here: https://forms.gle/eowJKEeoyMMqRJYY6 )
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