海角大神

Congregants filter through the doors for Sunday mass at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Aboriginal Catholic Parish in Winnipeg. Instead of holy water, they place their hands atop smoking cedar and sage to smudge before entering the church.

The Rev. Fran莽ois Paradis, wearing a moosehide stole, welcomes them in English, dotted with Ojibwe. Later, the priest leads them as they turn to face the four cardinal points and recite the Lord鈥檚 Prayer.

Blending elements of ceremony with Catholic mass is a natural expression of faith for many Indigenous Catholics across Canada. But it鈥檚 not without ambivalence, after more than a century of Canada鈥檚 violent assimilation policies听鈥� carried out by the Roman Catholic Church, among others听鈥� which cast Indigenous spirituality as 鈥渨ork of the devil,鈥� says Father Paradis.

As Pope Francis visits First Nations, Inuit, and M茅tis peoples across Canada this week in penance for the worst of those polices听鈥� the abuse of Indigenous children at Catholic-run residential schools that didn鈥檛 close down completely until the 1990s 鈥� he has elicited a range of emotion. Some view the trip as too little and far too late; others say they鈥檝e waited their entire lives to hear 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry.鈥�

His trip here resonates widely, for non-faithful and non-Indigenous too, as Canada comes to terms with the injustices of violent colonialism, particularly after hundreds of potential unmarked graves of children have been found in the past year on or near former residential school grounds. But for many Indigenous Catholics, an acknowledgement of that historic suffering is a crucial step in the path toward forgiveness and acceptance.

鈥淔or some people ... they need to hear the words 鈥業鈥檓 sorry,鈥� 鈥� says Father Paradis, who was the parish priest at St. Kateri from 2003 to 2007 and whose main ministry today is Returning to Spirit, a nonprofit that runs Reconciliation workshops. 鈥淲hile there cannot be healing without the pain being acknowledged, first of all, by the victim who has to be able to voice it, clarify it, and name it, when it is acknowledged by the perpetrators, it is a double blessing.鈥�

Pope Francis arrived in the western province of Alberta on Sunday, and is scheduled to travel eastward to Quebec on Wednesday and north to Iqaluit, the capital of the Arctic territory of Nunavut, on Friday. He has described it as 鈥渁 pilgrimage of penitence鈥� for the residential schools system, which Canada鈥檚 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concluded in 2015 amounted to 鈥渃ultural genocide.鈥� About 150,000 Indigenous children attended the boarding schools. Some 60% of them were run by the Catholic Church.听听

The visit follows a historic meeting in the Vatican between the pope and delegations of Indigenous survivors of residential schools听in the spring where he apologized. But听his words today were more sweeping. The TRC had also called for an apology on Canadian soil.听

鈥淚听humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many 海角大神s against the Indigenous peoples,鈥� the pope told thousands who gathered in听Maskwacis, Alberta, near the听former Ermineskin Indian Residential School Monday. 鈥淚 ... recognize that, looking to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient,鈥� he said as he addressed the crowd in a powwow circle, 鈥渁nd that, looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening.鈥�

Andrew Carrier, the minister for residential schools with the Manitoba M茅tis Federation, was part of the first delegation in Rome. He says he hopes this week鈥檚 visit brings solace to Catholic survivors, as it did for him as he shared his story with the pope this spring. 鈥淚 am a survivor of being sexually molested by a priest when I was 7 years old,鈥� says Mr. Carrier. He says he spent most of his life suffering in silence, after the nuns at his day school in Winnipeg failed to address the assault and his parents failed to acknowledge it.

鈥淪peaking to the pope, I felt relief after years of pain,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 realize the trauma of an incident like that, how it impacts your whole life, how it makes you wary about who you are and why you鈥檙e a victim. Speaking with the pope, I finally felt that I was heard. This apology meant everything.鈥�

For pope watchers like Annie Selak, an expert in feminist ecclesiology who has studied papal apologies at Georgetown University, the visit is 鈥渉ugely significant鈥� because it is centered around listening, she says: an important step in restorative justice and Reconciliation. 鈥淲hen you truly listen to someone else, there is the opportunity for conversion. And I think we鈥檝e seen mercy animate Pope Francis鈥檚 pontificate,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think the potential for healing and changes is as high as the potential will ever be in the Catholic Church.鈥�

The visit has sparked anger and backlash, too. Demands have grown alongside the visit for reparations, for more transparency, for perpetrators to be held accountable, and for the pope to go much farther and denounce the church鈥檚 15th century 鈥渄octrine of discovery,鈥� which justified the colonization and conversion of Indigenous lands and people across the Americas.听

Mr. Carrier says he hopes听the apology helps revive the church among Indigenous people in Canada. According to Canadian census figures from a 2011 household survey, 36% of Indigenous people identify as Catholic.听

But for Chantal Fiola, a University of Winnipeg associate professor who authored 鈥淩eturning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba M茅tis Communities,鈥� one of the most important things the Catholic Church could do is counter the shame听鈥� that continues to this day听鈥� that keeps Indigenous people disconnected from traditional spirituality.

Like many M茅tis, Dr. Fiola grew up Catholic. She sang in the choir at her church and was an altar girl. But she says as a woman, as an Indigenous person, and identifying as queer, she didn鈥檛 feel supported in Catholicism and left faith听鈥� until she found her way to Indigenous spirituality. 鈥淲hen I grew up faith was such a big part of my life ... and so that was missing for a long time,鈥� she says. But too many are afraid to explore sacred ceremony like the sun dance because for years they practiced covertly in the 鈥渂ackyard.鈥�

It鈥檚 not a zero-sum game, though. 鈥淢茅tis spirituality exists on a continuum with 海角大神ity, especially Roman Catholicism, on one end and traditional Indigenous spirituality on the other,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd then there鈥檚 the infinite, beautiful, syncretic blends in the middle.鈥�

That鈥檚 a fusion Beatrice Chartrand, a congregant at St. Kateri, found only later in her life. She was born M茅tis in small town Manitoba and always felt Indigenous, she says, but was told to hide and deny it at the same time she was raised a devout Catholic. Today she is proudly M茅tis; at church she joined the drumming circle. 鈥淭hey asked me to join, even though I鈥檓 not musically inclined at all,鈥� she says.

The pope鈥檚 apology, she says, is without a doubt too late. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been waiting for this moment a long, long time,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 a start.鈥�