<div dir="ltr">Thank you Allan, a thoughtful reflection on the Pope's visit and a generous take on his efforts at reconciliation. I think the author is quite correct in that he set himself an almost impossible task given the history of the institution and the so many limitations mentioned. However, at 85 to have undertaken this is an accomplishment itself of his papacy. Regrettably, had the mass graves not been discovered in Kamloops and elsewhere I doubt the Canadian bishops would have invited Francis. This was the reckoning moment and it seems to me they were shamed into action which itself does not speak well of them. As we also discussed now that the Pope has apologized on native land, where do we go from here? This remains the big question. The Catholic Church still has an outstanding financial court settlement debt that must be settled. I know I want to see action on this by the bishops. Further, what will be the next steps in bringing about true reconciliation.<div><br></div><div>It is also sad that the theological material stands in the way of a genuine acknowledgment of the harm the institution did which would require real humility, that we are not this perfect entity. It seems the Church holds dearly to some theological ideal that seems naive and immature. Those are some initial thoughts. Hopefully we can discuss more at a future Craic meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>Peace</div><div><br></div><div> <br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><font size="2">Greg</font></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Jul 31, 2022 at 4:20 PM Allan Baker via craic <<a href="mailto:craic@lists.integralshift.ca">craic@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;line-break:after-white-space"><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i>This e-mail is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list. If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns, send a blank e-mail (no message) to <a href="mailto:softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)" target="_blank">softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca</a>. Or write to me personally, </i><i><u><span style="color:blue"><a href="mailto:jimt@quixotic.ca" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)" target="_blank">jimt@quixotic.ca</a></span></u> or </i><i><u><span style="color:blue"><a href="mailto:rewrite@shaw.ca" style="color:rgb(149,79,114)" target="_blank">rewrite@shaw.ca</a></span></u></i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i> If your reply to anything in this column is blocked, use either address to write to me directly.</i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i> </i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i> </i></div><h1 style="margin:12pt 0cm 3pt;line-height:24.533334732055664px;break-after:avoid;font-size:16pt;font-family:"Arial Black",sans-serif;background-color:white">Expecting too much of the Pope’s visit</h1><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i>By Jim Taylor</i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i> </i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i>Sunday July 24, 2022</i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"><i> </i></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white">There is only one event worth writing about this week -- Pope Francis’s “penitential pilgrimage.”</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> “Penitential” means doing penance -- making amends for having done something wrong.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> The name alone acknowledges that the Roman Catholic church failed its indigenous members.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Church doctrines have long taught that Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. Figuratively, Pope Francis chose to do the same with his church’s involvement in residential schools.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> People have mixed feelings about his trip and his apologies.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Among the non-indigenous population, I hear everything from hand-washing to humility.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Many indigenous people, I gather, see the Pope’s words as exactly what they had hoped for. The highest Roman Catholic official came to their traditional territories to say that he was sorry for what members of his church had done.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Others see it as only a partial success. Because Pope Francis did not reject the “Doctrine of Discovery” -- he collection of papal decrees that authorized European adventurers to seize the lands and the resources of people who already lived there.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> He did not hold the Roman Catholic church as an institution guilty of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> And he did not magically make everything right again.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> </p><h2 style="margin:0cm;line-height:19.933334350585938px;font-size:13pt;font-family:"Arial Black",sans-serif;background-color:white">No magic wand</h2><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> I suggest we’re expecting too much of him. He’s not a fairy godmother who can change the world with a flick of his wand.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> In fact, he has far less power than most folks assume.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> The Roman Catholic Church is not a monolith. Every diocese is independent. The Pope appoints bishops and archbishops, but each diocese is otherwise autonomous.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Even within the Vatican, the Pope’s powers are limited. He cannot, for example, overturn 2,000 years of church teachings.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> That is why he has been careful to say that “some members” committed sins and evils in the residential school system. That “some Christians” acted contrary to the core message of Jesus.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> In March 2000, Pope Francis’s predecessor John Paul II used the same pattern in his “Day of Pardon.” In a series of apologies for historic wrongs done to women, Muslims, Jews slaves, and even heretics in the Inquisition, he referred to individuals in the church. Never to the Holy Catholic Church as a whole.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> </p><h2 style="margin:0cm;line-height:19.933334350585938px;font-size:13pt;font-family:"Arial Black",sans-serif;background-color:white">Unacceptable alternatives</h2><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Here’s the theological problem.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> If Jesus is God, and the church is the ongoing Body of Christ, then admitting that the Body of Christ has sinned would imply that Christ himself is not sinless. And therefore that God is also not sinless.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Which is unthinkable.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> To accept the institutional church’s complicity in ruthless and inhumane systems would require Pope Francis to do one of two things. Either deny that the Holy Catholic Church is the continuing Body of a Christ. Or assert that Christ himself could have sinned.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Personally, I have no problem believing that Jesus could have sinned. If he is fully human, it’s highly likely that he swiped a cookie from his mother’s kitchen. Or had murderous thoughts about Roman soldiers who gang-raped a Jewish girl.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> But this is not about my views. It’s about what the Pope can and cannot say.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> </p><h2 style="margin:0cm;line-height:19.933334350585938px;font-size:13pt;font-family:"Arial Black",sans-serif;background-color:white">What good is an apology?</h2><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> In that context, an article published by Conversation Canada, brings up an interesting parallel. Author Lori Campbell’s grandmother was a residential school survivor. All seven of Lori’s mother’s children were taken away from her in the infamous 60s Scoop.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Almost as an aside, Campbell wrote: “Canada continues to investigate and hold accountable individuals who committed war crimes during the Second World War. Where is the accountability for those who have committed crimes against Indigenous children?”</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> There are huge differences between the two race-based programs. But there are also some upsetting parallels.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Germany herded Jews into concentration camps. Canada herded “Indians” into residential schools and remote reserves.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Germany tried to eliminate a race with gas ovens. Canada used education, for the same purpose.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> During World War II, Pope Pius XII failed to denounce the Holocaust. He did not rally Catholics against Nazi pogroms.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Would a confession of complicity undo the pain and suffering of Jews? I doubt it.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> Similarly, would a confession of complicity in the residential school system undo the pain and suffering of generations of indigenous people? I doubt that too.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> As I look back on the week, I find Pope Francis’s actions more convincing than the words he cannot say.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> He came to Canada. To be where the iniquities took place. To be among indigenous peoples. To unite his pilgrimage with theirs at Lac Ste. Anne.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> And instead of having a subject people kiss his ring, he kissed the hand of an aboriginal woman.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> To my mind, those actions count more than any speeches.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:13.800000190734863px;font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:white">*******************************************************</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:13.800000190734863px;font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:white">Copyright © 2022 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.</div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:13.800000190734863px;font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:white"> To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write <a href="mailto:jimt@quixotic.ca" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(149,79,114)" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">jimt@quixotic.ca</span></a></div><div style="margin:0cm;line-height:13.800000190734863px;font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:white">********************************************************</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:white"> </p></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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