Pope Benedict XVI appointed Paul J. Swain as the eighth bishop of Sioux Falls on August 31, 2006 and he was consecrated as Bishop of Sioux Falls on October 26, 2006. Bishop Swain previously served as a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.--bio, Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls.Protection of children and young people, my sore ass.
Andrea Cook has reported in the Rapid City Journal that two tribal nations are preparing to sue the South Dakota Division of Social Services.
From a piece by Stephen Rex Brown in the New York Daily News:
A 15th century Catholic decree permitting Europeans to seize Indian land in the New World is a load of papal bull. That was the message Tuesday from the Onondaga Nation, which is calling on the new Pope to revoke the so-called Discovery Doctrine, which evolved from a papal decree written by Pope Nicholas V in 1455. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited the doctrine in a 2005 ruling against the Oneida Indian Nation. The ruling affirmed the government’s sovereignty over lands, even if they’re sold to an Indian tribe. If the church were to dissavow the decree, Lyons said it would remove a legal argument against tribal land claims.
If I understand this correctly, Columbus got somewhat close to America in 1492, yet Ginsburg used a 1455 papal decree to rule against the Oneida Indians as if 1455 papal doctrine is 'stare desis' in the United States.
ReplyDeleteThat does not sound right at all.