• Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Newsletter
Faithfully Magazine
Monday, June 5, 2023
  • About
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Advertise With Us
    • Submissions
  • Q&As
    John Blake photo by John Nowak for CNN

    CNN Reporter Talks Race, Faith and Reconciliation in Powerful Memoir ‘More Than I Imagined’

    Brown Baby Jesus author Dorena Williamson

    Author Celebrates Jesus’ Messy, Multiethnic Family Tree in ‘Brown Baby Jesus’

    KevOnStage and MrsKevOnStage in an interview with Faithfully Magazine.

    Interview: KevOnStage and MrsKevOnStage Talk Sex, Therapy, and Why ‘Marriage Be Hard’ (Video)

    Christina Edmondson and Ekemini Uwan on Truth's Table book

    ‘Truth’s Table’ Authors Talk Early Beginnings, Centering Black Women, and Inspiring One Another

  • Exclusives
    Karen Abercrombie

    After Award-Winning Role in Top-Grossing Christian Movie, Karen Abercrombie Is Leading Change From Within

    black women group

    ‘Righteous and Ratchet’ Black Women of Faith Embraced on Jemele Hill’s ‘Sanctified’ Podcast

    Josh McDowell

    Apologist Josh McDowell Backtracks After Claiming Black Families Don’t Value Education

    Christian author and preacher Dr. Voddie Baucham

    ‘Fault Lines’ Author Voddie Baucham Confused or Making Things Up, Richard Delgado Says in Response to Misquote on ‘Righteous Actions’ of Whites

  • Profiled
    Chris Broussard

    Sports Analyst Chris Broussard Uses Hoops and Christianity to Address Needs of Young Men

    Bishop Noel Jones

    Bishop Noel Jones: Engagement, Life, Family and Ministry (Profiled)

    nadine raphael

    From Prison to the Pulpit: Nadine Raphael on God’s ‘Greater Plan’ for Her Life (Profiled)

    lisa sharon harper

    Lisa Sharon Harper Is Her ‘Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams’ (Profiled)

  • Remember
    Rev. Dr. William Hiram Bentley

    Black Evangelicalism and the Reforming Influence of William H. Bentley

    Marie Bassili Assaad and Mother Irene

    Knitting Together the Community of Love: Lessons From Marie Bassili Assaad and Mother Irene

    Rev. Sutton E. Griggs

    The Complex Legacy of Sutton E. Griggs: From Respected Leader to Race Traitor?

    fannie lou hamer

    Fannie Lou Hamer: Forerunner of Faith-Driven, Pro-Life Democrats (Remember)

  • Opinion & Analysis
    migrants

    When Faith Says to Help Migrants — and the Law Says Don’t

    couple with child

    Missionary System That Brought US Man Accused of Abusing African ‘Orphans’ Was Always Deeply Flawed

    Civil Rights March 1963

    The Women Who Stood With Martin Luther King Jr. and Sustained a Movement for Social Change

    pile of books

    In New Jersey, School Segregation Didn’t End; It Evolved

  • Specials
    • All
    • Growing a Green Church
    clean energy

    Can Money-Making Microgrids Empower Black Churches to Close the Clean Energy Gap?

    laudato trees earthbeat

    Laudato Trees Planting Program Enlists Catholic Properties to Help Increase DC’s Canopy

SUBSCRIBE
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
Faithfully Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Canada’s First Nations Look for ‘Concrete Actions’ as Bishops Apologize for Indigenous Boarding Schools

FM Editors by FM Editors
September 28, 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School, circa 1910

Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School, circa 1910. (Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

ShareTweetPin It

By John Longhurst, Religion News Service

(RNS) — Canada’s 90 Roman Catholic bishops have “unequivocally” apologized for that church’s role in the Indian Residential School system that about 150,000 of the country’s Indigenous people were forced to attend, where they often suffered emotional, psychological, physical and sexual abuse.

“We acknowledge the grave abuses that were committed by some members of our Catholic community; physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, cultural, and sexual,” read a statement released after the Sept. 24 annual plenary meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We also sorrowfully acknowledge the historical and ongoing trauma and the legacy of suffering and challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples that continue to this day.”

It added, “We acknowledge the suffering experienced in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools.”

“Many Catholic religious communities and dioceses participated in this system, which led to the suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, failing to respect the rich history, traditions and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples,” the bishops said.

In addition to apologizing, the bishops confirmed they will continue to work with representatives from Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples to secure a papal visit and formal apology from the pope.

RELATED POSTS

Visions of Hell, Meeting Jesus, and Followed by Demons — This New Media Ministry Is *Not* Your Mother’s ‘I Am Second’

Will Smith’s ‘Emancipation’ Inspired by True Story of ‘Whipped Peter,’ Escaped Slave With Scarred Back

Hyepin Im, Gabriel Salguero, and Al Sharpton Tapped to Advise on Faith-Based Threats

Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said that, while she welcomed the apology, she will wait to see if the bishops’ promises will be kept.

“The words of the apology speak to a commitment by the church to the healing path forward with First Nations and Indigenous peoples,” Archibald said in a statement. “Only time will tell if concrete actions will follow the words of contrition by the bishops.”

Archbishop William McGrattan of Calgary, vice president of the CCCB, acknowledged there is still a way to go to show Indigenous people the apology is sincere and heartfelt.

“All we can do is offer it in humility and hope it is accepted and brings peace and healing,” he said. Any future reconciliation efforts will be done together with Indigenous people, he said, “not us telling them or directing them but listening to them.”

Canada’s government-sponsored and religiously run Indian Residential School system was established in the 19th century to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. The schools, which operated into the 1970s, were run mainly by the Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Churches.

In May, the unmarked graves of 215 students at the schools were found in British Columbia, prompting a re-examination of the churches’ roles.

The United Church of Canada apologized for its role in the schools in 1986, and the Anglican Church of Canada apologized in 1993.

While the apology came from the bishops, McGrattan hopes Canadian Catholics will “see this as an opportunity to also pursue reconciliation and commit themselves to tangible ways of pursuing it.”

McGrattan said the decision was a Kairos moment  — or “the right time” — in the life of that church.

“I believe God intervened in us coming together, with such a strong, committed message of this apology,” he said, adding that it was “an opportunity for us to speak with one voice, a moment not only for the Roman Catholic Church, but for all Canadians.”

The bishops said they plan to urge Catholics to educate themselves about the role the church played in the schools and also to donate to a new $30 million Canadian dollars ($23.7 million U.S.) healing and reconciliation fund.

“It’s going to be a national effort with a national goal, but the distribution is to be done locally with local accountability with Indigenous people,” McGrattan said, noting this campaign is intended to make up for the failed effort by the church in 2008-13 to raise money for a healing fund.

That campaign, with a target of C$25 million ($19.7 million), raised less than C$4 million ($3.1 million).

“I hope it (this new fund) will resonate with the Catholic faithful,” he added.

Of the proposed papal visit, he said: “We heard loud and clear this is important to Indigenous people, and we want to convey to them we see the importance of this, too.”


Share This Post

Share via

Share This Post

  • Digg
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • SMS
More
  • Report
ShareTweetPin It
Tags: Indigenous PeoplesNewsRoman Catholic Church
FM Editors

FM Editors

Faithfully Magazine is a fresh, bold and exciting news and culture publication that covers issues, conversations and events impacting Christian communities of color.

Related Posts

clean energy
Growing a Green Church

Can Money-Making Microgrids Empower Black Churches to Close the Clean Energy Gap?

May 31, 2023
silhouette of kneeling man
Clippings

Why Did Hundreds Follow Preacher’s Instructions to Starve Themselves to Meet Jesus?

May 14, 2023

Recommended Stories

dalia mogahed

Faithfully Podcast 14: For Evangelicals Concerned About Anti-Semitism

September 30, 2016
George Floyd Mural

Convicted Civility: Engaging as Christians in a Post-George Floyd America 

June 18, 2020
Jamal Natasha Miller

This Christian Couple Went From Food Stamps to Building a $10M Enterprise

May 24, 2021

Popular Stories

  • stream movies laptop

    Free Christian Movies: How and Where to Watch Free Christian Movies Online

    463 shares
    Share 185 Tweet 116
  • Are Jesus and John the Baptist Cousins or Related in Anyway?

    417 shares
    Share 166 Tweet 104
  • Paige Hilken, Wife of North Coast Church Pastor Christopher Hilken, Dies by Suicide

    408 shares
    Share 163 Tweet 102
  • After 20 Years, Bishop Noel Jones Says He’s Finally Ready to Marry Partner Loretta Jones

    364 shares
    Share 146 Tweet 91
  • NYC Megachurch Pastor A.R. Bernard’s Son Dies After Losing Battle With Alcoholism

    286 shares
    Share 114 Tweet 71

Copyright © 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC. This website participates in affiliate programs.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
    • Staff and Advisors
    • Advertise With Us
    • Submissions
  • Q&As
  • Exclusives
  • Profiled
  • Remember
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Specials

Copyright © 2023 Faithfully Media, LLC. This website participates in affiliate programs.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Share via

Share This Post

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Copy Link
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • Flipboard
  • SMS

Add New Playlist

Add to Collection

  • Public collection title

  • Private collection title

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Send this to a friend