Indigenous Communities Push For an Apology of Residential School Deaths During Meeting With Pope Francis

By Currents News Staff and Michael Swan

TORONTO (CNS) — Beginning March 28, residential school survivors, Indigenous elders and youth will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican as a prelude to a papal trip to Canada. The Indigenous want an apology, on Canadian soil, for historic abuses they suffered at government-owned residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic Church.

Religious orders that ran Canada’s schools have apologized, engaged with Indigenous communities, partnered with them on healing projects. Last year, every Canadian bishop apologized for the Catholic Church’s complicity in the government’s program of assimilation, which wreaked havoc on Indigenous families and cultures.

But if average lay Catholics aren’t involved in some way in reconciliation, will there be reconciliation?

From the Indigenous side of the table, that contact with Catholics in pews matters, said Rachael Crawford-Rendine, co-creator of the Royal Bank of Canada’s first Indigenous employee group and a member of the RBC’s elder council.

Speaking to about 35 members of Ignite, the St. Patrick’s Parish young adult group in Toronto, Crawford-Rendine encouraged the young people to seek out opportunities for reconciliation.

“You have an opportunity to be part of the solution,” said Crawford-Rendine, whose Algonquin spirit name translates into “Blue Morning Dancer.”

Crawford-Rendine considers herself blessed to have been raised in the church and guided by the Indigenous spiritual and cultural values of her father. It gives her a perspective on the world and her own life. She has learned that reconciliation is not easy.

“The listening is the hard part,” she said. “This is definitely an important time for us to come together for listening.”

Getting that listening started in parishes and schools across the country has been a major focus for the Jesuits, who have ordered the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice to promote listening circles wherever they can.

Last year, the Jesuits teamed up with the Catholic publisher Novalis to produce “Listening to Indigenous Voices,” a kind of guide book for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians to meet in structured encounters, where they can examine Canada’s history and, particularly, the history of residential schools.

Jesuit Forum executive director Mark Hathaway estimates about 4,000 copies of the guidebook have been distributed to schools, parishes and individuals.

That doesn’t translate into 4,000 listening circles. There have been pioneering efforts at the Oblates’ St. Joseph Parish in Ottawa. The Jesuits’ Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto has begun a series of listening circles. There’s interest at Holy Name Parish, also in Toronto. At St. Ann, home of the Native Peoples’ Mission in Toronto, there’s a modified and simplified version of the “Listening to Indigenous Voices” model running through this spring.

The hope at St. Ann’s is that people from across the Archdiocese of Toronto will get a taste of the listening circles experience and take it back to their own parishes.

The listening circles idea has leaned heavily on the Jesuits’ own resources throughout Ontario: at the Anishinabe Spiritual Centre in Espanola, the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, and the Jesuit retreat houses in Guelph and Pickering.

Catholic school boards have expressed interest, and the Jesuit Forum led an introductory session with about 50 social workers from the Toronto Catholic District School Board recently. Getting listening circles into the schools “will take some time,” Hathaway said. There has also been interest at Catholic universities.

If it has been hard to get action on reconciliation started in parishes, it may be because good intentions are not matched by organizational resources, said Sister Patricia Lourdes Lao, a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions and Native Peoples’ Mission pastoral associate.

“It’s really a marginal work of the church that depends solely on volunteer support and the generous hearts of those who are passionate about reconciliation work,” she said.

Sister Lao said she believes the listening circles model could use some support from higher up.

“We do not have that kind of structural support to enable this to happen in different parishes,” she said. “Even if there is a group of people who are dedicated or interested in having this resource in their localities, there is the problem of funding.”

Finding an elder, connecting with Indigenous people in the community, learning about ways Indigenous spirituality has been incorporated into the liturgy of the Church are big tasks for individual parishes to take on without support.

“There is no office of Indigenous relations, for example. Those are the areas that need to be done before this more public involvement happens, or church involvement happens. It has to be really instituted in the church,” said Sister Lao. “It’s a matter of structure.”

In some parishes, having an elder lead the congregation in a smudging ceremony at the beginning of Mass could be a first step. But it can also be a problem if the people aren’t prepared.

“We have some pushback from Catholics who are not so used to the smudging ceremony and think of it as pagan, or they become afraid of that ceremony,” said Sister Lao.

For urban Catholics who have little or no contact with Indigenous people, there’s a lot to learn about the reconciliation work already going on in rural Canada, on reserves and in small towns, said Redemptorist Father Santo Arrigo.

“In the small towns and the reserves, who is working up there to walk with the people? It’s the church. We have not abandoned the people. We’re with them now,” he said.

If people’s only understanding of reconciliation between the church and Indigenous people comes from news reports the picture is incomplete, Father Arrigo said. The listening circle model has the potential to get Catholics involved in the story: “This puts it front and center.”

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Historic Confirmation Hearings Continue as Republicans Accuse Her of Not Being Tough Enough on Crime

Currents News Staff

Senators turned up the heat on day two of Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation hearings. Republicans accused her of not being tough enough on crime and wasted no time zeroing-in on the most important issues.

“The issue involving child pornography,” said Sen. Dick Durbin. “I want to turn to that issue because it was raised multiple times primarily by the senator from Missouri. And it was, he was questioning your sentencing record in child pornography cases.”

“As a mother and a judge who has had to deal with these cases,” said Jackson. “I was thinking that nothing could be further from the truth.”

They pressed Jackson on her judicial philosophy.

“I am acutely aware that as a judge in our system, I have limited power,” said Jackson. “I am trying in every case to stay in my lane.”

Jackson shared her thoughts about expanding the Supreme Court beyond nine justices.

“In my view, judges should not be speaking in to political issues and certainly not a nominee for a position on the Supreme Court,” she said.

Senators also discussed her work as a public defender representing detainees at  Guantánamo Bay.

“That’s what you do as a federal public defender,” Jackson said. “You are standing up for the constitutional value of representation.”

 

Migration Crisis Central In Pope Francis’ Meeting With President of Lebanon

Currents News Staff

Pope Francis met with the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun. It was a much-anticipated visit, as the pontiff has expressed his desire to travel to the country.

The two discussed the state of diplomacy between their two countries. This year, they will celebrate 75 years since they established diplomatic relations. They also addressed the problems currently facing Lebanon.

Among them, the migration crisis, for which they are appealing to the international community for support, and the threat of violence among different religious communities in the country. Pope Francis and President Aoun spoke of the need to offer reparations to the victims of the 2020 Beirut explosion and their families.

The Lebanese President gave the Holy Father a reproduction of a book of Psalms from the year 1600 and a collection of honeys from the presidential garden that Pope Francis greatly appreciated.

“To sweeten life!”

In return, Pope Francis gave the President the main texts of his pontificate, a bronze statue in which an angel embraces the planet’s two hemispheres, and his message of Peace for 2022.

“I signed it for you today,” Pope Francis said.

At the end of their half-hour meeting, the President of Lebanon met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

The Tablet Newspaper Fundraiser Is Back Helping Catholic Schools and Students

Currents News Staff

Students in Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Brooklyn are brushing up their sales pitches getting ready to be paperboys and papergirls again.

“We just made a video elevator pitch,” said the 2021 Third Place Winner Santiago Diniz. “My mom sent it as a text message to everyone we knew.”

For the second year, The Tablet newspaper is holding its “COVID relief fundraiser for Catholic schools.”

Here’s how it works: Students compete to sell the most subscriptions to the diocesan paper. Kids who sell at least three get paid $100 dollars for each subscription they sell. Their schools get $5 bucks for each. This year, high school students get to participate too.

“I’m going to win! No, I’m going to win, I have more friends, but I’m better with the family,” said siblings Christopher and Jenna Ghorra.

Bring on the sibling rivalry because now there are even more incentives to sell the papers. The student who sells the most from today until April 29 gets $3,000 dollars. Noelle Pianoforte, a student at St. Athanasius Catholic Academy, won it last year after selling 48 subscriptions.

“I can’t even explain how I’m feeling,” said Noelle. “I’m just so happy about it.”

A total of $40,000 dollars went to students and their schools last year. Msgr. David Cassato, Vicar for Catholic Schools, told us it was a big relief, especially with all of the unexpected expenses related to COVID.

“Everybody today is struggling financially,” said Msgr. Cassato. “I don’t care who you are, every church is struggling financially, every school is struggling financially, and you know what they say, every little bit helps. A little bit here, a little bit there. It pays tuition, it keeps the school electric bill paid.”

If you don’t know a student selling subscriptions, don’t worry, you can still participate. Just go to TheTablet.Org/COVIDReliefFundraiser.

There you can select the parish school of your choice. You can also extend your subscription if you’re already a big fan of The Tablet.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday, 3/21/22

The Tablet’s COVID Relief Fundraiser is back! Catholic school students will compete to sell subscriptions to the paper, raising money for themselves and their schools.

President Biden will visit Poland this week for urgent talks with NATO allies.

Pope Francis spent his weekend visiting Ukrainian refugee children at a hospital in Rome.

Russian Airstrike Hits Kyiv Shopping Center, Schools and Other Civilian-Filled Areas

Currents News Staff

Russian troops have barely made any progress on the ground in the past couple of days, so instead they are taking to the skies and striking anything they possibly can. Kyiv has awoken to new scenes of utter devastation after a Russian airstrike late on March 20 destroyed a shopping mall.

On Monday morning, they hit four schools, six homes and a 10-story mall. By sunrise, that shopping center was a complete shell. What’s not clear is what exactly is the military objective of all the chaos. The areas appear to be mainly civilian areas.

 

Ukrainian Orphans Make Harrowing Journey After Rescued from Bombed-Out City

Currents News Staff

They are too tiny to understand the meaning of war, but these orphans are already victims to its cruelty. They are among the 71 children that were rescued in the hard-hit northern city of Sumy in Ukraine.

Many are disabled, all under the age of fouch and each with individual needs, some requiring constant medical attention. Dr. Borys Todurov is the director of the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

“These are kids from Sumy orphanage Malutka,” the doctor in this video says. “They were evacuated yesterday and miraculously they brought them here to Kyiv. Their journey was very difficult.”

For two weeks, caretakers sheltered the babies and toddlers from Russian bombardment in a basement. When a humanitarian corridor finally opened, they made the dangerous journey here, to the capital. Each little one arrived with an orange tag with minimal details – just name, birth date, and their most urgent medical needs.

All the children were packed across just four ambulances with only two doctors among them.

“Just four babies in the car journeyed from Sumy to Kyiv during six hours without doctor, just the driver,” said nurse Oksana. “Just the driver.”

Now the babies are receiving the medical attention they require but with Russian forces shelling Kyiv, they are still not safe. Nurse Oksana has a simple plea: that the children don’t die.

But in an unprovoked war where the most innocent are targeted, there are few guarantees.

 

Ukraine Response: President Biden Begins Week of Talks With European Leaders

Currents News Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems undeterred by increasing civilian casualties in Ukraine.

“Civilians,” said one civilian fleeing violence, “they (the Russians) killed all the civilians. These bastards, reptiles, parasites. They don’t fight troops. They fight people.”

This week, the White House is expanding its efforts to help. President Joe Biden is holding a call with European leaders this morning. Then he’s talking with American CEOs about the war.

On Wednesday, he travels to Europe for an emergency NATO summit. He’ll visit Warsaw, Poland on Friday for talks with that country’s president about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Also, the president got another personal invitation.

“Why don’t he visit Kyiv next week as a symbol of our solidarity?” asked the former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The Ukrainian capital is a war zone right now, so Biden does not plan to stop there. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has his own ideas of what he’d like in the president’s agenda.

“What I would like to see the president do is to reassure our eastern block allies,” said McConnel.

The Ukrainian people are begging Biden and the U.S. to offer more support. The besieged city of Mariupol refused Russia’s demand to surrender today. The Ukrainian president says he’s ready to talk to Putin at any time.

But he’s worried, if talks fail. 

“That would mean,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky, “that this is a third world war.”