The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota's Prayer to Remember the Innocents, a prayer crafted by members of Woniya Wakan (Holy Spirit) Church in Wagner, received its first approval in the House of Deputies at the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday night.
The prayer, composed by Woniya Wakan members Pat Roulette, LaHoma Johnson, Nadine Selwyn, Janice Provost, Deanna Stands, and The Rev. James Marrs, Superintending Presbyter of the Santee-Yankton Mission, was presented to The General Convention to be added to Lesser Feasts and Fasts on a set day in the church year.
The Prayer to Remember the Innocents commemorates the Native children who attended, and in many cases died, at residential Indigenous boarding schools throughout the United States from the late 1800s until the 1970s.
South Dakota Deputy Deanna Stands explained that Woniya Wakan (Holy Spirit) created the prayer instead of building a monument to the children, after Niobrara Convocation in 2019 asked all of the Niobrara congregations to create some sort of memorial. Niobrara Convocation adopted the prayer in June 2022. This prayer, she told the House of Deputies, is not just for use on one day of year; at her congregation, they pray it every Sunday. She encouraged Deputies to take the prayer home and use it as often as possible.
South Dakota Deputy Warren Hawk explained his role as Itancan of the Niobrara Council as well as co-chair of the A127 Commission on Native Boarding Schools, a commission set up at the 2022 General Convention that is charged with investigating, and then telling the truth about The Episcopal Church's historical role in Indigenous boarding schools. "This is hard work," he told the Deputies, "but it needs to be done."
The Rev. Cathlena Plummer, a deputy from the Missionary Diocese of Navajoland, spoke about how powerful the prayer was when Deanna Stands shared it with her to use in her congregations in Navajoland. "It gave people the ability to tell their stories," she said. "Great-grandmothers. Grandmothers. To hear those stories in a safe way is powerful."
The Rev. Canon Dr. Lauren R. Stanley, another South Dakota Deputy who serves as Secretary of the A127 Commission, urged the Deputies to pass the resolution with the prayer so that the The Episcopal Church's role in the schools can finally be told. "We established them. We ran them. We supported them. And we made money off them. This is true not just for the Dioceses where schools were located, but for every Diocese in this country."
Canon Stanley added that the Diocese, which approved this prayer at its Diocesan Convention in September 2022, offered this prayer so that people in the Church "will be strengthened in our endeavor as a Church to discover the truth, tell the truth, and begin to bring about healing from that awful truth that still impacts every single Indigenous person in this country to this day."
After the nearly unanimous vote by the House of Deputies to approve the Prayer to Remember the Innocents, the chaplain of the House offered the following prayer:
Almighty God, Source of all that is, giver of every good gift: You create all people in your image and call us to love one another as you love us. We confess that we have failed to honor you in the great diversity of the human family. We have desired to live in freedom, while building walls between ourselves and others. We have longed to be known and accepted for who we are, while making judgments of others based on the color of skin, or the shape of the features, or the varieties of human experience. We have tried to love our neighbors individually while yet benefiting from systems that hold those same neighbors in oppression. Forgive us, Holy God. Give us eyes to see you as you are revealed in all people. Strengthen us for the work of reconciliation rooted in love. Restore us in your image, to be beloved community, united in our diversity, even as you are one with Christ and the Spirit, holy and undivided Trinity, now and forever. Amen.
On Monday, during debate on the resolution in the House of Bishops, some of the discussion centered on changing the wording of the prayer to make it more “poetic.” Bishop Jonathan Folts told the bishops that “Native people do not need white people to tell them how to pray,” which ended that discussion and led to the unanimous approval in the House of Bishops.
The process to be added to Lesser Feasts and Fasts, a book of prayers commemorating saints and spiritual leaders throughout the year, takes two successive General Conventions for final approval. Thursday's action means that the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music will, over the next three years, work with Indigenous communities to recommend Scriptural lessons to go with the prayer as well as decide on a specific day on the calendar when this prayer can be used throughout the whole Church. Then the Standing Commission will bring the prayer back to General Convention in 2027 for final approval.
The Prayer to Remember the Innocents.
Deanna Stands speaking on the Prayer to Remember the Innocents in the House of Deputies.
Deanna Stands with The Rev. Michael Sells and The Rev. Cathlena Plummer, both of Navajoland, leading the Deputies in praying the Prayer to Remember the Innocents.
Deanna Stands with The Rev. Michael Sells and The Rev. Cathlena Plummer, both of Navajoland, as they lead the House of Deputies in prayer.
The House of Deputies praying the Prayer to Remember the Innocents.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Lauren R. Stanley urges the House of Deputies to approve the prayer.
The vote, taken by orders (laity and clergy voting separately in each Diocese), showing overwhelming approval.