The Jesuits are sorry. Last fall, Jesuit-founded Georgetown University apologized to the descendants of 272 slaves sold by the institution in 1838. In addition to the formal apology, the school announced plans to rename some buildings, construct a public memorial, and possibly offer scholarships or preferential treatment to those descendants. Now, the Jesuits have started to consider other aspects of their behavior in 19th-century America and have announced that they plan to give 525 acres of land that they own in South Dakota to the Rosebud Sioux tribe.

The parcels, which were given to the Jesuits in the 1880s by the U.S. government for use in their work as missionaries to the Indians, do not currently house any church facilities. And there are certainly no plans to build any. In a YouTube video announcing the transfer, Rev. John Hatcher, president of the St. Francis Mission, explained, “the mission is not in the property business. .  .  . [W]‌e are out of a colonial approach to the work of mission.” He says it is time for the order to have an “adult relationship” with the Lakota people.