[Craic] Ideological Colonization: reflection on Francis' apology to the indigenous of Canada in light of the passion narrative.

[Arthur Blomme]

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Hi All

I promised to send out the link to the Sunday community virtual Catholic 
liturgy Months ago but have been negligent in doing so.

Below find my reflection on the text of the Popes apology for the 
treatment of the indigenous in Canada.

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*Reflection: *by Arthur Blomme

    *Ideological Colonization***

    **In recent weeks we are celebrating the long awaited apology of the
    Vatican for their treatment of indigenous and first nations of
    Canada.  Core to this apology is Francis' description of  the nature
    of the Church's sin in respect to their treatment of the indigenous.

    /Yet that tree, rich in fruit, has experienced a tragedy that you
    described to me in these past days: the tragedy of being uprooted.
    The chain that passed on knowledge and ways of life in union with
    the land was broken by a colonization that lacked respect for you,
    tore many of you from your vital milieu and tried to conform you to
    another mentality.////In this way, great harm was done to your
    identity and your culture, many families were separated, and great
    numbers of children fell victim to these attempts to impose a
    uniformity based on the notion that progress occurs through
    /*/ideological colonization, /*/f//ollowing programmes devised in
    offices rather than the desire to respect the life of peoples. This
    is something that, unfortunately, and at various levels, still
    happens today: ideological colonization. How many forms of
    political, ideological and economic colonization still exist in the
    world, driven by greed and thirst for profit, with little concern
    for peoples, their histories and traditions, and the common home of
    creation! Sadly, this colonial mentality remains widespread. Let us
    help each other, together, to overcome it. *(Pope Francis Apology
    for Residential schools)*/*//*

    //Francis here admits that the church participated in what some
    liberation theologians call the ideology of death. The programs
    developed under this ideology did not  "respect the life of
    peoples".  Perhaps by understanding better the nature of this
    ideological sin we can better help each other as Francis says,
    overcome it.

      To demonstrate how deep this ideology of death exists in our world
    view one only has to consider what Matthew Fox calls the doctrine of
    discovery.  At a very deep level, the beliefs that make up our
    worldview include the belief that Columbus discovered America.  This
    belief is core to how we justify the colonization of much of the
    planet by Europe  and Christendom.  The individuals who founded the
    dominant Canadian Culture believed they were doing the right thing
    by destroying the Indian inside the child.

      As a species we have an innate reverence for hierarchy which
    includes a moral hot button for authority.  Many of our societies
    are structured with a small elite class  who control the behaviour
    and aspirations of a much larger group who serve the interests of
    the small elite.  The principle way that the masses are controlled
    is through ideology.  Ideology is a shared set of beliefs or a
    story, often referred to as a narrative which justifies the vision
    and outcomes desired by the elite. Liberation theologians now
    recognize how the thinking of the church serve the elites in
    achieving their outcomes.  This added wisdom of church thought
    leaders on how our faith can be manipulated into an ideology of
    death equips us to better develop a more fruitful relationship with
    creation. At the same time the tools afforded by surveillance
    capitalism in the hands of wealthy oligarchies create a greater
    capacity for small elites to control larger groups, putting us in
    greater jeopardy to ideologies of death. Ideology is a component of 
    a  power relationship in which one group has power over the other .

    The three gospel  passion narratives use the Gospel of Mark as a
    source.  In his gospel Mark identifies four sources of ideological
    "power over":  the Herodians(vassal authority of the Roman Empire), 
    the scribes and pharisees , the Sadducee  and  lastly, the zealots
    represented in the character of  Judas Iscariat.  These different
    ideological factions who are normally at war with each other join
    forces to do away with the decolonizing prophet, Jesus.



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