Recently, a third mass grave of skeletal remains, 182 in number, alleged to be that of Indigenous children, was discovered in Canada in British Columbia, on the grounds of the former St. Eugene’s Mission School, a residential school operated by the Catholic hierarchy. The prior two discoveries, of 215 bodies at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia last week, and 751 bodies of probable Indigenous children in former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan in late June, had sparked anger among the First Nation tribes, and this latest discovery has only soured some people:
Since the first graves were discovered, more than a half-dozen churches across the country, including a number on Indigenous land, have been vandalized or burned. Authorities have cast the fires as suspicious.
“This is not the way to go,” he said. “The destruction of places of worship is unacceptable and it must stop.”
“Hate-inspired violence, burning down faith communities, targeting them with these acts of violence and intimidation is not reconciliation,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told reporters as he toured the charred remains of a century-old church in the town of Morinville.
Bellegarde, the First Nations chief, urged restraint.
“I can understand the frustration and the anger and the hurt and the pain,” he said. “But to burn things down is not our way.” [WaPo]
But I find it hard not to sympathize with the First Nations members who may be involved.
The actions of the Canadian government of the era and, more importantly, the Catholic hierarchy was atrocious. But the government agency is transitory and changes as understandings change; the Catholic Church subscribes to a moral system that is universal, doesn’t change, and is supposedly the rules put forth by a Divine creature.
This result, an evil to the grieving First Nations, is yet another blow to a Catholic Church which has lost prestige in Europe and North America due to a moral system which gives little practical reason to sympathize with it, has protected pedophiles in its own ranks.
The article states that there’s been no formal apology as of yet:
Pope Francis, who has expressed sorrow over the graves but stopped short of apologizing for the Catholic Church’s role, has agreed to meet with residential school survivors. The Canadian government and some Catholic groups, as well as the country’s Presbyterian, Anglican and United churches, which also ran the schools, have apologized for their roles in the abuse.
And if none comes, I suspect the Catholic Church in Canada will take another long step towards irrelevance. Does it realize that, much like its structures, it’s on fire? Pretending to some sort of moral perfection is a hubris which it cannot risk, because the world has taken long strides away from such positions. Today, recognition of past mistakes and institutional fallibility is part of what makes these institutions plausible players on the national stage, whether it’s here in the United States or in Canada.
