Catholic Sisters Return Land to a Tribal Nation

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration sold a two-acre lakefront property in northern Wisconsin, valued at $2.6 million, to the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for $30,000, the price the sisters paid for it in 1966. Over the past years, the sisters have been involved in several educational, Land Back, and Land Justice movements. They are aware they can never repair the damage of the past from the boarding schools in which they participated that stripped Indigenous children of their culture. “One of the Franciscan hallmarks is to be in right relationship with all of creation, all people. And so this is another opportunity to live into that.” The Tribal President said, “This return represents more than the restoration of land — it is the restoration of balance, dignity, and our sacred connection to the places our ancestors once walked.”