Doctrine of Discovery is topic of Lakeland ethics discussion
The negative impact on Native Americans of the centuries-old Doctrine of Discovery will be the topic of a program by Lakeland University’s Ulrich Center.
An Ethics Colloquy will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 4, on the second floor of the Younger Family Campus Center on Lakeland's Main Campus.
The program will be led by Larry Littlegeorge, a member of the Hochunk Nation, the Warrior Clan, and the Rev. Rob McDougall, associate minister with the Wisconsin United Church of Christ, whose primary responsibility is for the Northwest Association of the Conference.
Littlegeorge was baptized in 1957 at the Hocak (Hochunk) Church (formerly Winnebago), which is part of the Wisconsin Conference of the UCC. He completed the WI Conference Lay Academy in 2016 and is currently a spiritual leader of the Hocak Church.
He has personally felt the effects of racism that he traces back to historic documents like Papal Bulls laying out the Doctrine of Discovery, and he has done a great deal of study and writing on the topic.
He will McDougall in providing an overview of the Doctrine of Discovery and explaining why the issue is being studied by Conference churches prior to considering a resolution to repudiate the document at the 2019 Annual Meeting.
