The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church ― A Chain Linking Two Traditions

This unique collaboration by academic historians, Oneida elders, and Episcopal clergy tells the fascinating story of how the oldest Protestant mission and house of worship in the upper Midwest took root in the Oneida community. Personal bonds that developed between the Episcopal clergy and the Wisconsin Oneidas proved more important than theology in allowing the community to accept the Christian message brought by outsiders. Episcopal bishops and missionaries in Wisconsin were at times defenders of the Oneidas against outside whites attempting to get at their lands and resources. At other times, these clergy initiated projects that the Oneidas saw as beneficial—a school, a hospital, or a lace-making program for Oneida women that provided a source of income and national recognition for their artistry. The clergy incorporated the Episcopal faith into an Iroquoian cultural and religious framework—the Condolence Council ritual—that had a longstanding history among the Six Nations. In turn, the Oneidas modified the very form of the Episcopal faith by using their own language in the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum as well as by employing Oneida in their singing of Christian hymns.

Christianity continues to have real meaning for many American Indians. The Wisconsin Oneidas and the Episcopal Church testifies to the power and legacy of that relationship.

Deborah Heckel, an Oneida, is the Deacon of the Oneida Church of the Holy Apostles.

Kathy Powless Hughes, an Oneida, is the former Vice Chairperson and former Treasurer of the Oneida Nation of Indians of Wisconsin

Betty McLester, an Oneida, is a member of the Church of the Holy Apostles and the church’s Altar Guild. By her talks and demonstrations of lace-making techniques, she is actively involved today in promoting this artistic tradition introduced by missionary Sybil Carter and the Episcopal Church in the late nineteenth century. She is also a member of the Oneida Hymn Singers.

Pearl Schuyler McLester, an Oneida, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for nearly seventy-five years. She has served on numerous church committees and was a member of the Altar Guild for many years.

Michael L. Oberg is SUNY Distinguished Professor of History at Geneseo. His many publications include Professional Indian: The American Odyssey of Eleazer Williams (2015) and Peacemakers; The Iroquois, the United States, and the Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794 (2016). His textbook, Native America: A History?is now in its second edition (2017).

Very Rev. Steven Peay was appointed President of Nashotah House in 2014 after serving as Dean for Academic Affairs. He is also professor of homiletics and church history there. Father Peay holds a doctorate in history from St. Louis University. His articles have appeared in The Congregationalist, the Catholic Historical Review, and in other journals and magazines.

Blanche Powless, an Oneida and descendant of Chief Cornelius Hill, has been an active member of the Church of the Holy Apostles for over a half century. She helped lead the United Thank Offering that raised funds for the church and served as the director of the Altar Guild for twenty years. Her late husband Edmund served as the church’s deacon, and her daughter Theresa Rose, an Episcopal nun in the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God. In 2007, she received the Bishop’s Cross for her work on behalf of the church.

Sister Theresa Rose, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God.

Judy Skenandore, an Oneida, works in the offices of the Church of Holy Apostles and is a member of the church’s Altar Guild. She is also a member of the Oneida Arts Board and, as a lace-maker, is one of the Oneidas helping to preserve and revive this art form

Karim Tiro is Chair and Professor of History at Xavier University. He is the author of The People of the Standing Stone: The Oneida Nation From the Revolution Through the Era of Removal (2011), co-editor of Along the Hudson and Mohawk: The 1790 Journal of Count Paolo Andreani. (2006), and co-editor of the recent new edition of Cadwalader Colden’s History of the Five Nations first published in 1724.

Mother Alicia Torres, an Oneida nun, is a member of the Order of the Teachers of the Children of God.

Christopher Vecsey is Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of the Humanities and Native American Studies in the Department of Religion at Colgate University. He has written or edited fourteen books on Native American religions, including the standard three-volume history of American Indian Catholicism: On the Padres’ Trail (1996), The Paths of Kateri’s Kin (1997); and Where the Two Roads Meet (1999).