Sisters, staff, associates, and members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation gather at The Center at Mariandale

As Sister Donna Brunell, OP handed the youth of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans gift baskets containing hand quilted mini-mats, she encouraged each recipient to allow the mats to serve as reminders “of the gift you have been to the Dominican Sisters of Hope and The Center at Mariandale.” 

The group consisted of eight youth and two adult mentors from the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican community who were closing their second immersion week at Mariandale. They first visited Mariandale in the Summer of 2024; this year, they spent June 13-22 kayaking on the Hudson, holding drumming sessions in front of the Hudson River, touring the Museum of the American Indian, and visiting the Shinnecock Nation in Hampton Bays. They held daily talking circles to reflect on their experiences. Sister Donna Brunell presents gift bags to the participants

Most of the group were part of the Summer 2024 immersion; two participants were new.

Sisters bless the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican youth

According to Riley Mohawk, a youth leader on the immersion, “when it comes to cleaning up the relationship between [the Catholic Church and Indigenous people], I feel we’re taking steps in the right direction.”

“You’ve been very welcoming in letting us be who we are as Indigenous people,” he told the immersion participants and Catholic Sisters at the closing ceremony. “This land used to be just ours. Then it used to be just yours. Now we’re sharing it.”

Weengeetah Mohawk, also a youth leader on the immersion, said that the sisters made the group “feel so welcome.”

“Giving us this time and opportunity to be on our homelands. Coming to us with open minds and willing to learn. Seeing people who are willing to change makes it feel so beautiful,” she said. “It gives me so much hope.”

For Sister Patricia Magee, OP, Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, the youth bring a wisdom and connection to Earth that she personally didn’t cultivate until adulthood. As such, she sees the congregation as “depending on their wisdom to guide us.”

“We have come into an understanding of the importance of our relationship with earth as adults,” Sister Pat said. “We so benefit from our relationship with this Indigenous community, as they offer us an opportunity to receive wisdom from people who have it genetically encoded in them. It’s a part of who they are.”

The immersion week was made possible by a grant from New York Community Trust – Westchester with support from the Mortimer Fund for Native American Indian Children. The Trust has generously sponsored the immersion experiences over the course of two years.

According to Bob Krebs, Director of Development for the Dominican Sisters of Hope, the Trust and the Sisters have both witnessed a “transformative experience.”

“These immersions take these young adults who have inherited generations of separation and bring them back to the homelands of their ancestors where they can open their hearts and minds to the transformative power of hope, to the reality that there can be a different future for them than their ancestors had,” he said.

And, the relationship is just beginning. Mariandale and the Dominican Sisters of Hope will host another Indigenous immersion from August 18-26, bringing together young people of the Nanticoke, Ramapough, and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans.

Shawn Stevens leads a prayer in front of the Hudson River on the first immersion in 2024