Vatican's Silence Sparks Historic Gathering of Int'l Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Rome

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul 03, 2008 -
PR Contacts:
Laura Jackson (USA)
13grandmothers@earthlink.net
212-535-7578
Janet Weber (USA)
845-624-8488
jkwebart@aol.com
Jyoti  (Italy)
209-602-9051
Vatican’s Silence Sparks Historic Gathering of
International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Rome
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
St. Peter’s Basilica

Vatican City –  July 3, 2008 –  An extraordinary group of indigenous female elders from all over the world, The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers,  www.grandmotherscouncil.com will convene at the Vatican on Wednesday, July 9 at 10:30 a.m. where they will be holding a prayer circle in St. Peter’s Square, accompanied by 9 year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, great great great great granddaughter of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, who will be performing traditional dances in native costume.  Included in the Grandmothers’ prayer will be the recitation of the names of all those who have come before them trying to open this dialogue between the Pope and indigenous people around the world.  Having received no response from the Vatican to their first letter delivered in 2005, one of the Grandmothers will ascend the staircase to the papal residence to formally present a second letter.  

Despite the Pope’s sudden cancellation of his July 9th public audience, to which they held tickets, the Grandmothers have decided to persevere, despite much hardship, in laying down their prayers at the Vatican.  Encouraged by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s official apology to the aboriginal peoples of Australia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent apology to First Nations people in Canada, and Barack Obama’s promise, if elected,  to appoint a Native American adviser to his senior White House staff, the Grandmothers will let nothing deter them from contributing momentum to this wave of support and healing for the world’s indigenous peoples.

In their first letter addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper at the Vatican, dated October 22, 2005, the Grandmothers  write, “Our peoples must still live with the continuing legacy of this first denial of our right to be treated as equal participants in the community of nations.  Our peoples are still struggling for the right to live on earth and practice our cultural and spiritual traditions as our ancestors did.”  No response was received from the Vatican.

The July 9th gathering represents an enormous physical and logistical feat as the Grandmothers gather from all four directions of the World.  The Grandmothers intend to present themselves in full native regalia and with the collective force of their individual personalities backed by centuries of indigenous tradition and wisdom.

BACKGROUND:
In the fall of 2004, thirteen indigenous female elders from all over the world—the Amazon, Asia, Africa, Mexico, the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Southwest and Midwest U.S. and Central America—met at a retreat center in upstate New York and agreed to form an alliance. They declared: We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.

The Grandmothers’ Council convenes every six months, as they travel the world to each other’s homelands to cultivate their unified prayer for peace and care for Mother Earth. In Spring 2005, the Grandmothers’ Council met at the home of Nicaragua Mayan grandmother Flordemayo in New Mexico. In May of 2006, they visited Mazatec grandmother Julieta Casimiro in Oaxaca, Mexico.  Next they met in Dharamsala, India, in October 2006, (the exiled home of the Tibetan grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyaltong), and the Council had a private audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama.  In June, 2007, the grandmothers gathered in the Black Hills of South Dakota to honor Rita and Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance, culminating in a Lakota Sundance.

This summer marks their first visit to Europe.  Following their stay in Italy they will continue on to Spain  to spread their teachings and light the fire for world peace in Barcellona. Their prayers will go out through the waters of the Mediterranean to the shores of the River Jordan as they join with a global day of Prayer for the Waters of the Earth on July 25th.

The grandmother’s teachings are quickly spreading around the world.  Their book, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Indigenous Women Elders Offer their Vision for Our Planet (Shambhala Publications, 2006) is in its fourth printing and available in Czech, Dutch, German, Japanese, Slovene, Spanish and Taiwanese. A documentary film about the Grandmothers, “For the Next Seven Generations,” directed by Emmy and Peabody award winner Carole Hart, will be released in the Fall of 2008.  


For more information please contact:

The Center for Sacred Studies
P.O. Box 745
Sonora, California USA 95370
(209) 532-9048

Jyoti, Spiritual Director
Ann Rosencranz, Program Director

Email:
info@grandmotherscouncil.com

Websites:
www.grandmotherscouncil.com
www.forthenext7generations.com
www.sacredstudies.org