How to move forward on reconciliation a year after papal visit

National Post, 27 July 2023

There are many ways to build on what was accomplished during Pope Francis's 'penitential pilgrimage'

Exactly one year ago, Pope Francis was on his “penitential pilgrimage,” as he called it, to visit Canada’s Indigenous peoples. The wheelchair-bound Pope, making his way across the land — even to Nunavut — to offer a contrite apology for Catholic involvement in residential schools deepened a relationship that has existed for 400 years.

The Catholic relationship with Indigenous peoples, many of whom are Catholic and nearly two-thirds of whom are Christian, was already profound when the federal government launched the residential schools in the late-19th century. The Catholic operation of most of those schools inflicted a wound on that relationship. Reconciliation was and is a necessity.

What, then, ought to be done a year out? On Saturday, I will write about what Catholic leadership might do. Herewith some suggestions for Indigenous leadership in Canada.

The departure (for unrelated reasons) of the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald, is a welcome step, for she had little interest in Catholic reconciliation, refusing even to accept a papal invitation to meet in Rome. Her prominence gave too bleak a picture of the situation; there are plenty of Indigenous leaders who are constructively engaged, who wish to move from conflict to co-operation in order to make practical improvements in the lives of Indigenous Canadians. It’s time to let those voices grow in prominence.

In many Indigenous communities across Canada the local chiefs speak of a spiritual crisis, especially among the young. It’s partly a crisis of identity, the consequence of not knowing their own history, language and culture. Efforts are being made to remedy that. But there is something else at work, too, not unrelated to the despair that is more and more evident across all aspects of society, Indigenous or otherwise. The term “deaths of despair” has entered our social analysis for good reason.

Spiritual crises require spiritual responses. The Catholic Church was a partner with Indigenous peoples long before Confederation and residential schools. It has something to offer. Too many Indigenous youth — and those not so young — are in too much need to ignore the power of spirituality. A Catholic contribution is not the whole answer, but ought to be part of it.

That would be easier if the reality of Christian faith was acknowledged as part of both Indigenous history and present reality. It is a mistake to see Christian faith as alien to Indigenous peoples, and an insult to the generations of faithful Christians who were and are pillars of Indigenous communities.

Last year’s papal visit included constant praise for the figure of the grandmother in Indigenous culture. (That was somewhat curious, as if other cultures don’t honour grandmothers; just try disrespecting an abuela, nonna or babushka.) Many of those Indigenous grandmothers animated Christian parishes, taught their grandchildren bible stories and sustained their families inspired by a life of constant Christian prayer.

The oldest Canadian Christmas hymn is the Huron Carol. It was written by a French Jesuit missionary but it survived for 400 years precisely because it became part of Indigenous spirituality. Saint Jean de Brébeuf, friend of the Wendat (Huron) and brutally martyred by the Iroquois, is not alien to the history of Indigenous Canadians. He is, like so much else, a complicated part of it.

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