Catholic nuns join Sioux in opposing Dakota oil pipeline

The Sioux tribe has been joined by other indigenous people and hundreds of supporters at a camp near a proposed $3.8 billion pipeline route for months, arguing it endangers their reservation's water supply and infringes on sacred tribal grounds. Recently, they were joined by the Sisters of Mercy.

Dennis Sadowski
November 4, 2016
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - When Sisters Aine O’Connor and Kathleen Erickson heard a call for a peaceful and prayerful presence on the front line of a campaign to protect sacred Sioux lands in North Dakota from a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline project, they knew they had to respond.

The two members of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas joined more than 500 ministers and religious leaders Nov. 4 for a day of prayer and conversation in south central North Dakota to confront what they contend is an ecological disaster waiting to happen.

“I was responding to the call to come and bear witness,” O’Connor told Catholic News Service Nov. 4 as she prepared to return home to Baltimore.

Erickson said that as a native of North Dakota who now ministers to migrant people in Omaha, Nebraska, she wanted to be on hand to stand with people whose rights are often ignored.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2016/11/04/catholic-nuns-join-sioux-opposing-dakota-oil-pipeline/