Bishops apologize for residential schools and raise possibility of Pope visit to Canada
OTTAWA -- Canada’s Catholic bishops have “unequivocally” apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system and have raised the possibility of a visit by the Pope to Canada as part of the “healing journey” between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the Church.
Fr. Raymond de Souza: Church’s job remains sharing the good news
In our examination of the issues related to residential schools, we looked last issue at the problems of state power in evangelization. But what about evangelization itself?
First Nations, Catholics unite to seek truth
VANCOUVER -- The personal accounts of residential school survivors will be a key part of an investigation into the former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School.
What is the role of the state — the civil power, be it the crown or another form of government — in evangelization?
First Nations and Catholics working ‘shoulder to shoulder’ at North Vancouver residential school site
An investigation is going ahead at the former site of St. Paul’s Indian Residential School, roughly where the parking lot sits at St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary School in North Vancouver.
Questions over Church’s ‘in-kind’ services
As Catholics across Canada scramble to make up for the failed “best efforts” fundraising campaign of 2007 to 2013, they’re now answering questions about their “in-kind” contributions to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement — a stream of compensation that Catholic residential school operators over-fulfilled by at least $5 million.
There are now a number of Catholic initiatives to raise money for residential school survivors and Indigenous communities. The Catholic bishops of Saskatchewan have launched a fundraising drive and there is a lay-led initiative to do the same. At least two dioceses which never operated residential schools — Calgary and Toronto — have announced that they will be raising funds.
Diverse cultures have voice with Journeying Together
Teresa Rojo Tsosie’s Catholic faith is one of the most important parts of her life, but she has often felt that as a Native American Catholic, her voice wasn’t being considered or heard by the Church as a whole.
The Archdiocese of Toronto has announced a three-pronged plan aimed at supporting its efforts to aid residential school survivors and Indigenous communities, including a fundraising campaign.
VANCOUVER — The ground-penetrating radar specialist who studied the area near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia has released more details about her findings.
Fr. Yaw Acheampong: Jesus leads us on path to healing
Bishop Grandin removed from Alberta schools
The Calgary Catholic School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to change the name of Bishop Grandin High School in light of Bishop Vital Justin Grandin’s (1829-1902) key role in establishing residential schools in Canada’s west.
Indigenous scholar and former Cowessess First Nation Chief Terry Pelletier is challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate to ensure any Cree person can look up the full records of their family members who attended the Marieval Indian Residential School, where approximately 751 unmarked graves were found in June.
Over the last five years retired Ontario Superior Court Justice George Valin has asked three different Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ presidents why the bishops can’t simply, unanimously and open-heartedly invite Pope Francis to apologize on Canadian soil for the long, sad history of Catholic-run residential schools. He has yet to receive an answer.
In 2018, American Catholics experienced their “summer of shame” — first the revelations about Theodore McCarrick and then the Pennsylvania grand jury report on priestly sexual abuse. Given the media reach of the United States, the shame spread around the world. Soon Pope Francis announced a global summit on sexual abuse for February 2019. From that emerged some key reforms for episcopal accountability.