We – Bishops Tracy Malone and Sally Dyck – thank all of you who are donating to our World Series Challenge for Haiti to help the people of that country recover from Hurricane Matthew.  We appreciate the special offerings that have been taken, and the support from people across the country who have given on behalf of their favorite team.  No matter which team wins – and we’re each still confident that our team will prevail! – Haiti needs our support. Please be sure to submit your donations/offerings no later than Wednesday, November 2.

We apologize for, and are deeply grieved by, the unintended hurt and harm caused by our promotion of the World Series. While we were careful not to use the Cleveland team’s mascot logo, we now realize that just promoting the World Series has caused great hurt and harm to our native sisters and brothers, and to others.

We pledge to join with United Methodists from across the denomination to address the many places around the country where native brothers and sisters continue to be exploited. Delegates to General Conference 2016 overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on United Methodist agencies to raise awareness about the harm caused by sports teams that use mascots or symbols that are racist and disrespectful to Native Americans. This work is necessary because, as we have been reminded, we are not addressing an “issue” but a matter of personhood and basic human rights.

Thank you for your support of the mission challenge for Haiti, and for walking with us in imperfection as we minister together to all of God’s children.

Your sisters in Christ,

Bishop Tracy Malone
Bishop Sally Dyck