by Reverend Philip Callaghan
[Phil Callaghan is a long-time member of the Latin American Mission Program (LAMP). He is a retired clergy and lives in Charlottetown]
The Latin American Mission Program (LAMP) of the Diocese of Charlottetown apologizes from the depths of our Spirit and heart to our indigenous brothers and sisters across Canada and around the world for the actions of church members and institutions who abused and mistreated children or allowed this to happen. We apologize also for our own inaction, revealed in our silence.
Led by your voice, we are choosing to be Silent No More and will continue to be guided on the path to healing by the indigenous communities.
There are no words to assuage the pain of 215 children who are buried in Kamloops or the numerous others in residential schools throughout this country. As Christians, we must acknowledge our involvement in allowing these deaths to occur and commit ourselves to working for change. We must take responsibility for the ongoing pain and broken spirits of so many survivors of the residential schools.
Although our words are insufficient, they are the least we can do and are a point from which we can begin to transform ourselves and our communities.
Taking to heart the leadership of the dispossessed, we call upon the Canadian Conference of Bishops to reiterate their sorrow and apologize without reservation to the indigenous peoples of Canada for the Catholic Church’s part in this genocide. Further that the CCCB hand over any documents requested by the indigenous leadership in relation to residential schools.
Finally, we strongly urge Pope Francis to further concretize the Catholic Church’s apology to indigenous peoples of the world. In July, 2015 while visiting various countries of Latin America, Pope Francis said the following,” I say this to you with regret: many grave sins were committed against the indigenous peoples of America (referring to North and South America) in the name of God. I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the Church itself, but also for the crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest”. While this apology was a beginning, Pope Francis needs to clarify and update this apology in relation to the crimes of the residential school era in our country and the Catholic Church’s role in this.
We (LAMP) are a small group within the Church who took up as our mission over 50 years ago to see the vision of Christianity being founded upon the marginalized and dispossessed of the world or as Jesus puts it ,”whatever you do to these brothers and sisters of mine, you do to me.”As we walk with our indigenous brothers and sisters, led by them in their grieving for their buried innocents, we believe this path to reconciliation and the building of a more just society is possible through the Great Spirit.