On the Pope Benedict thread re sexual abuse, here:
https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2414883...Lot's Wife wrote: "And this is why Pope Francis won't move forward with a child-friendly policy for the church. There is simply no way that the senior officials could have spent decades in authority in the RCC without knowing about, and helping suppress, various molestation scandals."
The phrase "child-friendly" brought to my mind the ongoing saga of the residential schools in Canada where First Nations children were abused in every conceivable way, bringing immeasurable pain to their families through the generations up to and including this very moment this very day.
The affected communities await still an apology from Pope Francis. He did "grant" an audience to First Nations, Metis and Inuit leaders to discuss the matter, which was to have taken place in December but had to be postponed due to the situation with COVID. It is hoped that the meetings will be a prelude to a papal apology. We'll see.
The apology will be seen in part as a much sought after acknowledgement that indeed the rampant abuses and cultural genocide did occur. As Indigenous representatives have stated, acknowledgment of wrongdoing - "Truth" must come before "Reconciliation" and truth demands an apology from the current head of the Catholic Church, which had a major role in running the residential schools and was responsible for the conduct of the priests and nuns who perpetrated the abuses. (Of course, they were/are personally responsible also for their own actions).
This past summer, an article in The Globe and Mail newspaper, July 6, 2021 stated: “From Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc near Kamloops to Cowessess in Saskatchewan, First Nations have used ground-penetrating radar to find the remains of lost children [buried in mass or unmarked graves]. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts.
I've known about the debacle of residential schools for many years. I thought I was aware of the details. Then, today, in a news article from Global News more details were spelled out, and are even more horrific than I have ever heard before. It is beyond comprehension what was going on in these schools. Other churches were involved, not just the Catholic Church, but they have all issued apologies and made restitution, financially at least. How can you make good to a family for taking their children by force (government mandate) and not returning them alive? Or at least intact? Not having suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse, the "legacy" of which reverberates for a lifetime and beyond. Some of the main involved churches were Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian. The Catholic Church is the only one yet to apologize.
Today, from Global News: “An initial sweep of the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C., has uncovered 93 possible burial sites [so far].”
https://globalnews.ca/news/8537298/93-possible-burial-sites-former-bc-residential-school-williams-lake/Excerpts:
“In May, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc sent shockwaves of grief and anger across the country when it announced the remains of 215 children had been found in an unmarked burial site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
“Between the 1800s and mid-1990s, Canada’s residential school system aimed to “eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural and spiritual development” of Indigenous children, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“The state- and church-run institutions removed more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children from their families and imprisoned them in schools where many were physically, sexually and spiritually abused.
“Some were also starved as part of scientific experiments on the effects of malnutrition. Many became ill with smallpox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis and other unknown illnesses due to lack of proper care.
“Thousands died and many parents were never told what happened to their children. The harrowing system of assimilation created intergenerational trauma that has had a deep and lasting impact on survivors, their children, relations and communities.
“In 2015, the commission found Canada guilty of “cultural genocide,” and to this day, governments have failed in many ways to meaningfully repair or compensate for the lasting harm.
“This journey has led our investigation team into the darkest recesses of human behaviour,” said Sellars [First Nations spokesperson]. “Our team has recorded not only stories involving the murder and disappearance of children and infants, they have listened to countless stories of systematic torture, starvation, rape and sexual assault of children at St. Joseph’s Mission.”
“According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, one student died of exposure after trying to escape St. Joseph’s in 1902. Another died and eight others became ill after eating poisonous water hemlock, which parents believed was a response to discipline at the school.
“The First Nation’s investigation, which included deep archival research and extensive interviews with survivors and descendants, also uncovered harrowing stories of gang rape, child molestation, confinement, exposure to extreme conditions, intentional starvation and beatings to the point of unconsciousness. The school also employed child slave labour through the ranch, said Sellars.
“The initial operation of the mission was an industrial school where First Nations’ pupils performed labour-intensive tasks, including serving white children and staff, timber-splitting, cattle-rearing, farming and sewing,” he said.
“There were reports of children dying or disappearing from the facilities. For the bulk of St. Joseph’s Mission history, these reports were, at best, given no credence. At worst, there was something darker going on and an effort to suppress the emergence of the truth.”
“In the 1980s and 90s, writes the centre, two former staff pleaded guilty to charges related to sexually abusing students.
“Sellars said it’s clear from survivors’ stories that there are still children unaccounted for even after this initial geophysical sweep: “Their bodies were cast into the river, left at the bottom of lakes, tossed like garbage into incinerators.”
“The abuses suffered at St. Joseph’s Mission and other institutions are not forgotten footnotes of the past,” he said. “The horrors that occurred inside walls of St. Joseph’s Mission are still very real for those who live them in the legacy of these atrocities and is still readily apparent in the numerous ways that intergenerational trauma manifests in First Nation communities.”
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That one teacher or religious leader could perpetrate such grievous wrongs is hard to fathom. That the entire staff of multiple schools, including representatives of various religions, could do so and/or could cover up such actions of others is totally incomprehensible. Asking what were they thinking is a pitifully weak reaction.
The world reportedly sees Canadians as polite, nice, harmless folk. So I've heard. Google us and see that we're apparently heavily into "human rights" and "social justice" and are "not corrupt".
Well, apparently not all of us. And not all the time. Especially for these families and their cherished children from the 1880s up to 1996.
In my first job in a medical clinic, on a corner in an insalubrious neighbourhood, the lifelong stereotype of "the drunken Indian" played out, literally fallen in gutters. In nursing training we were taught that Indians (a word now replaced with Indigenous or Aboriginal) had a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. Years later, when I did training as a volunteer with the police, an Indigenous physician was one of the speakers. I still remember his passion and tear-filled eyes when he told us "My people are not genetically deficient". As we speak, there are known instances of Indigenous patients in Canadian hospitals who suffer from the effects of staff bias, if not outright prejudice, which affects their emotional and physical health and in some tragic cases, costs them their lives. Stereotypes can be killers, literally.
We don't want to know, or accept, these realities because it's hard to admit we don't live up to the hype about these nice Canucks.
From today's article linked above comes mention of the Canadian CRT, so to speak:
“The findings are the latest of many residential school searches that have taken place since last year, forcing Canadians to reckon with the insidious violence of colonization."
The insidious violence of colonization. That's quite the phrase. Beyond tragic. We could have done so much better.
Reading this article and hearing the news about the GPR results has made me feel so sad today. That's nothing, of course, in comparison with the overwhelming grief of the affected communities and their members most directly affected. So much talent. So much beauty. So much potential. And we tried to wipe it out.
Our very great loss.
Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip wrote a song, "The Stranger", about an Indigenous youth, Chanie (Charlie) Wenjack, who ran away from residential school. The boy died from hunger and exposure trying to make his way home. He also made a film about it and there's an accompanying novel by Jeff Lemire. Here's an article about it:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/gord-downie-chanie-wenjack-1.3753823Here's the song:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=za2VzjkwtFc&list=OLAK5uy_nPs9AovD2beNH5OwOWBm1hP-GTLQO_sjwLyrics include "I am a stranger. You can't see me. I am a stranger. Do you know what I mean? That is not my dad. My dad is not a wild man. He doesn't even drink."
From the article:
"I never knew Chanie, but I will always love him," Downie said in a statement on Friday, announcing plans to release the package in October [2016].
"Downie is using his celebrity to draw attention to the legacy of residential schools and what he sees as the need for all Canadians to be involved in reconciliation.
"Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada's story," Downie said. "We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable."
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Yes, indeed.
So. Pope Francis and a child-friendly policy.
Does not compute for me.
Sometimes people are so busy protecting their past or their image or else are so deep in denial they can't see over the steaming heap they're standing in.
I believe it's seven delegations from the First Nations that will be rescheduled to meet with Francis sometime this year. A Vatican spokesperson (one of the Pope's private secretaries I think) who was answering media questions a while back extolled the Pope's wonderfulness in granting "a whole hour" to each delegation and then went on to say how incredibly busy the Pope is and an hour is beyond fabulous of him.
Seven hours. Not all that many minutes for each lost child and all the grieving parents and other family members throughout the generations.
There is no way around the stark fact that many major churches were involved in running the residential schools. The government mandated attendance, up to and including forcibly removing children from their homes and taking them to faraway places that were foreign to the kids. Parents were not allowed to visit. The children were subjected to abuse in every way imaginable, as detailed above. The Canadian government provided the funding.
What were their beliefs and prejudices against First Nations peoples that they thought this was an acceptable approach to "caring for" children?
The most mystifying part to me over and above all that is that so many First Nations folks remain in the Catholic Church. I have tried, and not enjoyed (understatement), various churches of several denominations in my day. It was a wrench at times to leave but the reasons for departing always overcame any positives for me. I can understand, though, the feelings one may have for the religious principles in which they believe and how that can hold you there. But. Residential schools. That must take a lot of "getting over" and understanding and forgiving and feeling. However, it's not up to me to question or judge. I am just trying to understand. And it isn't easy. Maybe one day I'll hear the why of it from a survivor.
(edited for spacing, and to add a few thoughts at the end)
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2022 08:48PM by Nightingale.