Hours after apologizing for the role members of the Catholic Church played in Canada’s residential school system, Pope Francis received a welcome greeting Monday at the Church of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples in Edmonton, where he offered his own reflections on the meaning of reconciliation.
The Pope is undertaking what he calls a “penitential pilgrimage” as part of an effort to acknowledge wrongs committed against Indigenous Peoples in Canada through the residential school system.
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis issued a public apology and apologized during a stop at the former Ermineskin Indian Residential School in Maskwacis, Alta.
Addressing parishioners at Sacred Heart, a Catholic parish that incorporates indigenous rituals, Pope Francis praised them for their openness and inclusion, as well as their charity work.
“It pains me to think that Catholics contributed to policies of assimilation and (disenfranchisement) that instilled a sense of inferiority, stripping communities and individuals of their cultural and spiritual identity, cutting off their roots, and fostering harmful and discriminatory attitudes, and that this it was also done in the name of an educational system that was supposedly Christian,” Francisco said, speaking in his native language, Spanish.
About 250 guests were expected to attend, many parishioners, with others traveling from communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba to represent their homeland.
The Edmonton church released the pope’s itinerary in advance, which included indigenous cultural songs, prayers, a papal address and the blessing of the statue of Algonquian-Mohawk Catholic saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
During his sermon, Pope Francis shared his thoughts on the word “reconciliation,” saying that “you can only imagine the effort it must take for those who have suffered so much, because of men and women who should have given an example of Christian life.” “. “
“If we want to reconcile with each other and with ourselves, reconcile with the past, with the grievances suffered and with the memories wounded by traumatic experiences that no human consolation can ever heal, our gaze must be raised to Jesus crucified,” he said. he said he.
“Peace must be achieved on the altar of his cross, because it is precisely on the wood of the cross where pain is transformed into love, death into life, disappointment into hope, abandonment into communion, distance into unity. Reconciliation is not only the fruit of our own effort. It is a gift that springs from the crucified Lord, a peace that radiates from the heart of Jesus, a grace that must be sought”.
Although its history dates back to the early 20th century, the church officially became Church of the Sacred Heart of the First Peoples on October 27, 1991.
The church underwent a redesign after a accidental fire damaged it on August 30, 2020.
During the redesign, the church added a tipi structure above the altar, with the four poles supporting the tipi symbolizing the four stages of life in Catholicism, as well as the indigenous culture.
“It’s allowed us to truly reclaim this building as something that we can be proud of and that is truly indigenous. So now we can indigenize the rest of the community, indigenize the city, and of course nationally across Canada and, with luck in the world.” Candida Shepherd, a member of the Sacred Heart council, said CTV News Edmonton on its reopening day last week.
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If you are a former survivor of a struggling residential school, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419 . Additional resources and mental health support for indigenous peoples are available here.