WASHINGTON-
Pope Francis’ “penitential pilgrimage” to heal the relationship between Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the Catholic Church has been resonating in the United States, a country that is coming to terms with its own troubled history of residential schools.
The Pope’s visit to Canada was featured prominently on U.S. cable news channels, late-night network news and newspaper front pages this week, a surprising display in a country that rarely turns its gaze media north of the border.
And as has already happened in Canada, the pontiff’s historic apology on Monday also drew mild praise from indigenous groups, many of them newly empowered by government efforts to confront the injustice of boarding schools in the US.
“An apology must include steps forward that seek justice and open pathways for healing,” said Deb Parker, executive director of the National Healing Coalition of Native American Boarding Schools.
Parker highlighted the so-called Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th-century series of edicts and decrees by the Catholic Church that justified and encouraged European colonization of indigenous lands in the Americas in the name of promoting Christianity.
“Now is the time to rescind the Doctrine of Discovery,” he said. “The indigenous delegation to the Vatican asked Pope Francis to do exactly this four months ago and he still hasn’t responded.”
A personal apology from the pope was No. 58 on a list of 94 calls to action included in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report, a six-year comprehensive examination of the tragic legacy of Canada’s residential school system.
“In the face of this deplorable evil, the church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of his children,” Francis said Monday in Maskwacis, Alta., the centerpiece of a weeklong visit notable not only as a moment in history, but also because of its likely cost to the frail 85-year-old pontiff.
“I humbly ask forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.”
Maka Black Elk, executive director of truth and healing at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, SD, said she shares some of the grievances of the Indian community on both sides of the border.
Still, it is an important milestone, he said in an interview on Wednesday.
“I was moved by a momentous historical moment that this has finally happened, that the church, represented by the Pope, has taken this step,” Black Elk said.
“It is the step that had to be taken so that more steps could follow, and for the church to follow the Pope, opening that door.”
The cascade of Canadian developments in the residential school file in recent months and years has reached the US.
A study commissioned by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history, found marked and unmarked burial sites at the locations of 53 former Native American residential schools in the US. At least 500 students died, linked to 19 of the 408 schools that operated with funds from the United States government in 37 states and territories between 1819 and 1969.
Both numbers are expected to increase as the investigation continues.
The rules were enforced through corporal punishment, including flogging and whipping, solitary confinement, starvation, slapping and handcuffing, according to the report, released in May. On occasion, older students were forced to abuse their younger colleagues.
In some cases, funding for some schools may come from money set aside for indigenous communities that have ceded their land to the US.
The pope’s visit is an opportunity for “real and honest dialogue on the issue of boarding school accountability here in the United States,” said Chieko Noguchi, spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The bishops and Catholic conferences have engaged in “ongoing dialogue” with tribal and indigenous leaders in the U.S. “as a vital part of the process of inclusively discerning how to move forward together as the Catholic Church walks with affected communities in a path to healing.”
The National Congress of American Indians recognized the apology as a historic moment, but President Fawn Sharp has already written a letter to the Pope, urging the church to do more.
The residential school system in Canada was actually modeled on the US system, Sharp wrote, calling on Francis to take urgent action before further evidence and personal testimony is allowed to subside.
“As the remaining victims and survivors of federal Indian boarding schools age and walk on, the opportunity for answers, accountability and closure dissipates.”
The church continues to maintain important historical records on the systems in both countries, Sharp continued, vital documentation for ongoing research efforts.
“We cannot hold abusers accountable, seek redress for harm, or reconcile with the church, government institutions and, in some cases, our own communities and families, until we know the full and unadulterated truth, the truth that the Catholic Church is committed to. actively retaining. ,” she wrote.
“It is crucial that we have the support and partnership of the church to work to bring the truth to light.”
But it’s something of a misnomer to suggest those next steps need to be taken by Pope Francis himself, Black Elk said.
“The work is not in the hands of the pope, really, it is in the hands of the whole body of the church,” he said.
“This moment has put the burden of reconciliation and justice and the work of straightening out the relationship with indigenous peoples back into the hands of the church body. That’s where the work is going to be.”
The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their families who are suffering from trauma invoked by the memory of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 27, 2022.