Christian church, Native Americans reconcile in NY
Written by Verena Dobnik   
Friday, 27 November 2009 14:01

Curtis Zunigha, left, and Charles Morris, right, shake hands after an exchange of symbolic gifts as Ron Holloway, center, looks on during a healing ceremony involving the Lenape Native Americans and the Collegiate Church Friday, Nov. 27, 2009 in New York. Collegiate Church, one of the oldest surviving institutions of the early Dutch settlement of New York, is publicly acknowledging its role in helping to relegate Native Americans to the margins of society. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)NEW YORK (AP) — Members of America's oldest Protestant church have apologized — for the first time — for the massacre and displacement of Native Americans 400 years ago.

The Collegiate Church, formerly the First Dutch Reform Church, and representatives of the Lenape (LEN'-ah-pee) tribe held a ceremony of reconciliation Friday in New York City.

The ceremony took place on the spot where the First Dutch Reform Church once stood. It was known as the "company church" of the Dutch merchants, whose trading post helped develop the city's economic power.

The ceremony was held where Broadway begins. Four hundred years ago, Broadway was an American Indian trail.

The Rev. Robert Chase told the Lenape: "We consumed your resources, dehumanized your people and disregarded your culture."


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