National Catholic Reporter: By Renee K. Gadoua
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When Onondaga Nation faithkeeper Oren Lyons accepts an honorary degree Sunday, May 20, at Le Moyne College, the Jesuit institution will recognize his international advocacy for indigenous peoples, human rights and environmental stewardship. The award also honors the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in the college’s first public acknowledgement that the Jesuits harmed the region’s original inhabitants as they sought to convert them in the 17th century.
“We didn’t need them to convert us,” said Lyons, 88. “We knew who our creator was.”