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23227 |
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Date: July 14, 2021 at 09:31:02
From: Akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Catholic Church must come clean about what it did to Native Americans |
URL: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/06/30/native-american-boarding-schools-catholic-church-investigation-240950 |
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The Catholic Church must come clean—completely—about what it did to
Native Americans
June 30, 2021
"Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has helped all Canadians
and First Nations communities grapple with the sorrowful realities of their
nation’s colonial past, particularly the gruesome legacy of its residential
schools for Indigenous children. Those schools, many administered by
Catholic religious orders and intended to be engines of assimilation, became
centers of despair and brutality.
The recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at two schools, and
the likelihood that thousands more will be found at other residential school
sites, have added to the anguish. But at least in Canada, a foundation for
healing is being laid by the government-sponsored truth and reconciliation
commission.
No similar process has started in the United States, though many of the
same outrages likely occurred on this side of the border, in the system of
more than 350 Native American boarding schools in the 19th century that
were the model for the Canadian network. And just as in Canada, the
Catholic Church had a significant role in the administration of this
“schooling,” which stripped Native American children of their languages and
cultures.
Forgiveness and healing can begin only after the most difficult part is
addressed: confronting the past, speaking the truth, revealing the worst.
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Beginning in 1819 and continuing through 1969, the U.S. government
provided the resources and logistical support for the schools, and religious
groups, including the Catholic Church, were among the willing recipients.
According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, by 1926 there were 357 schools in 30 states with more than
60,000 children. Catholic religious orders here in the United States
administered 84 of the schools. The Society of Jesus managed four of
them.
The Department of Interior is for the first time in U.S. history being led by a
Native American. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has ordered an
investigation into the history of these schools and a search for graves of
children who may have perished at them.
Announcing the initiative, Ms. Haaland said she hoped it would “shed light
on the unspoken traumas of the past.”
“I know that this process will be long and difficult,” she said. “I know that
this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss that so
many of us feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a
future that we’re all proud to embrace.”
It will be difficult after so long to determine the cause of death for many of
the children that will be found in such graves. Many of the deceased will
surely be found to have perished because of diseases like tuberculosis,
which likewise claimed many lives among the school children at residential
schools in Canada. But identifying TB and other forms of “natural” mortality
among these schoolchildren will not tell the full story.
A thorough review of surviving records will be important to help tease out
individual stories and help build a broader narrative of mortality at the
boarding schools. The church in the United States should make every effort
now to prepare for this Department of Interior investigation and for the
larger, comprehensive undertaking to unravel the complete history of the
boarding schools and the church’s role in the mistreatment of these
Indigenous children.
For decades the people of God were anguished by the obfuscation on the
part of those church leaders who allowed only a trickle of incomplete
document releases from diocesan and provincial archives while investigators
struggled to get to the truth about the abuse of children by U.S. priests and
the coverup of those crimes. The church in the United States must
demonstrate that it has learned from the suffering such failures imposed on
survivors, their families and Catholics everywhere.
Now is the time and here is the opportunity. As this preliminary investigation
begins, the church must bring everything out into the light—completely and
quickly. U.S. church officials should vigorously seek out and share the
archives and material locked away in chanceries, academic archives and the
attics of religious communities. Forgiveness and healing can begin only after
the most difficult part is addressed: confronting the past, speaking the
truth, revealing the worst."
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Responses:
[23229] [23232] [23233] [23228] |
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23229 |
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Date: July 15, 2021 at 11:39:29
From: joe stampingbull, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Catholic Church must come clean about what it did to Native... |
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My Spirital teacher Rolling Thunder told me of meeting
Lakota elders who had difficulty speaking. In the rush
to assimilate the children, the schools prohibited the
speaking of their Native language and if they did so
were punished by having their tongues burned by heated
metal utensils.
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Responses:
[23232] [23233] |
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23232 |
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Date: July 16, 2021 at 12:44:42
From: kay.so.or, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Catholic Church must come clean about what it did to Native... |
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ooooooo!!!! oh yeah Joe 'America' is just 'so great'!(not, never has been)...I wish I knew more about my cherokee ancestors, they were women and I wish I knew why they married 'white men'?? wonder about their lives and what made them do that.
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Responses:
[23233] |
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23233 |
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Date: July 16, 2021 at 14:57:13
From: joe stampingbull, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Catholic Church must come clean about what it did to Native... |
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Hi Kay, good to hear from you. Cherokees started mixing
with Europeans from very early. Chief Powhatan even had
some Cherokees living with his group when the English
came over. Not many "pure blood" Cherokees left.
Have been feeling pretty doomy about the future. People
have been getting pretty crazy and the "signs" are not
good at all. Everything seems to be out of whack. Am
expecting some big events in the Fall. Hoping they won't
be too bad lol. Take care.
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Responses:
None |
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23228 |
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Date: July 14, 2021 at 15:26:22
From: chatillon, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Anglican Church was also heavily involved(NT) |
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Responses:
None |
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