Navajoland seeks to become missionary diocese in resolution proposed to Episcopal general convention
Volunteers at Good Shepherd Mission in Fort Defiance, Arizona, fill boxes of food for delivery to Navajo Nation residents as part of a feeding ministry of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland in November 2021. (Photo by Leon Sampson)
Navajo Episcopalians are asking the Episcopal Church to elevate their area mission, known as Navajoland, to the status of a missionary diocese—a step that, if approved in June by the 81st general convention, would enable Navajoland to elect its own bishop while continuing to receive financial support from the wider church.
The change is proposed by a resolution which was endorsed and submitted by a special convocation held in January by the Episcopal Church in Navajoland. Their work followed a previous resolution, approved in 2022 by the 80th general convention, entrusting Navajoland “to establish its own rules and procedures for a process of discernment for the calling of a bishop that reflects the values, teachings, and traditions of the Diné.”
In Navajoland, “we have a church that is growing,” Cornelia Eaton, the area mission’s canon to the ordinary, said in an interview. Eaton is one of five ordained Navajo clergy now actively serving Navajo Nation communities, and in recent years, they and other church members have expanded Navajoland’s ministries that serve local residents and bolster the mission’s financial sustainability, from starting a beekeeping operation to the opening of the Hozho Wellness Center.
