The Residential School Experience is very similar in Australia.  This is partly why an unchecked black and white world view is so dangerous to the lives of children and others living on this planet.  

Traditional Catholics and Conservative Catholics within the conciliar church must exercise great discretion in applying a world view that is narrow and restrictive.  I am not talking about relativism but certainly we should not limit the work of the Holy Spirit be so narrowly defined as to deny the basic world views of others.  

Thoughts?

Bruce Ferguson

Trickster

The Residential School Experience in Canada is a major barrier to the reconciliation of the church and what the traditional church did and today's indigenous peoples.  

It seems to be an illusory barrier thrown up by liberal victim politics and the grievance industry, in a post-revolutionary culture where it pays, literally, politically and socially, to take potshots at the mean old Catholic Church.

The "truth and reconciliation" projects which provide the raw material for the mythical “Residential School Experience” rely on a fatally flawed methodology where testimony of childhood memories is taken as sacred truth (unless of course the memory is favourable to the white man: then it is regarded as an exception to be swept under the rug). It's well-known to psychologists that "traumatic childhood memories,” especially when recalled under suggestion, are prone to misinterpretation, exaggeration, and even fabrication, all of which does not even touch on the existence of greedy or ill-willed partisans in Aboriginal politics, of which you and I know there are plenty. I don't thereby deny all problems of cruelty at Catholic schools. Yes, there were such problems, far too many of them, and if it means something to you, I am sorry for them and the scandal they cause. The point, however, is that “truthful” investigation cannot be had with such a partial process.

Furthermore, “truth and reconciliation” projects always take for granted that the extirpation of paganism ("Aboriginal spirituality") was a grave injustice, since they conceive of religion not as a matter of truth or falsehood but of subjective conscience, a proposition condemned by the Catholic Church. They therefore obscure the most fundamental fact of the case, namely that the schools existed for the sake of the Aboriginals' spiritual good. Unlike Catholic residential schools, the modern politics of victimhood and the grievance industry do the Aboriginals the greatest possible disservice by seeking to separate them from true religion and thus all true hope of betterment.

But admitting that the policy of assimilation was in some respects excessive (in for instance the loss or near-loss of many native languages), few people consider that the Catholic residential schools, for most of their history, operated under the aegis of the WASP (read: Judaeo-Masonic) federal government that produced the Indian Act. Even fewer people consider that the schools offered conditions (food, clothing, shelter, skills training) that were frequently unavailable in the students' home reserves, many of which were already plagued by hopelessness, alcoholism and dysfunction as a result of WASP policies. The point is, very few people grasp to what an extent the Catholic Church made the best of circuмstances that were not of her invention.

I would someday like to see a competent historical study of how Catholic colonists under their own steam, prior to WASP domination of the continent, interacted with natives. From what I can tell, the Catholics where possible attempted cooperation, conversion (of course), and respect, as can be seen for example in the early and lasting friendship of the French Acadians with the Micmac nation. We do not see there the attrition alternating with cultural assimilation that was favoured by the English.

In any case, the true history of the Catholic Church in North America during colonization, when it is written, will have nothing to do with "truth and reconciliation" shams nor with pandering to a neo-pagan “Aboriginal spirituality.” I pray for the day when Aboriginals see, as so many of their ancestors did, that the Holy Church with her Sacred Tradition is no alien colonizer but their true home. We shall all be much stronger for it.

Graham and Captain McQuigg.. now your responses are the kinds of responses I am talking about.   Your critical analysis of what I believe is exactly that "outing from my comfort zone" that I was talking about in earlier threads.  It's great.  Bellisimo as I think the Italians say.

I also agree with many of your points around victim mindsets...psychological assessments of traumatic childhood events...reconciliation is indeed a big business...I also call for a balancing of the story.  

The fact is that residential schools did exist, being removed forcibly when you are 5 or 6 years old for any nation or peoples would be traumatic and the highness or holiness in which most pre-council catholic held their clergy only to be impacted by the human nature and sinfulness of that clergy as humans does a lot - even inter-generationally-  to destroy one's faith....

Now there are two opposing narratives of this history and sometimes narratives are inspired to support a dualistic conclusion.   I support the idea of looking at what worked (i.e. the purpose of evangelization), what didn't (the methodology of the residential schools denying cultural tools such as language, imagery, etc. that other orders such as the Oblates on Vancouver Island in their invention of a teaching stick modelled on the traditional talking stick that showed the salvation history as understood and taught by our church.  This is clearly a failure of the residential schools and their catholic authorities....what are the strengths and weaknesses of each narrative so that we can move away from a politically inspired retelling of this story towards a retelling that is based on a more balanced exercise in telling the truth.

I need more time to examine the responses and I promise to get back to you.. but I leave you with these initial thoughts that come form the top of my head.

Trickster

Bruce Ferguson

Guys..what did you think of the lyrics of the rap song "Thank You God" by Warrior...  :)

Bruce

I don't know. I don't listen to rap songs.

Europe went through a similar process.  Many ancient religions and cultures were destroyed when Europe  converted to Christianity.

Neo-pagans   sympathize  with what happened to the Native Americans. They believe the same happened to their pagan ancestors in Europe.  To them Christians are oppressors and destroyers of cultures. Wiccans and such repeat this ad nauseam.

This is certainly not how Christians view history but it is how the enemies of Christendom want us to view history.


---

"On the rap song"

Christians don't need to adapt to the mainstream culture  or resort to any other lame gimmicks to gain converts.

I also agree with many of your points around victim mindsets...psychological assessments of traumatic childhood events...reconciliation is indeed a big business...I also call for a balancing of the story.  

I'm glad to hear that. An important part of the balance will be to sort Catholic approaches to instruction from non-Catholic ones, with special reference to how the post-confederation Indian Act directed and systematized the school system.

The fact is that residential schools did exist, being removed forcibly when you are 5 or 6 years old for any nation or peoples would be traumatic and the highness or holiness in which most pre-council catholic held their clergy only to be impacted by the human nature and sinfulness of that clergy as humans does a lot - even inter-generationally-  to destroy one's faith....

School was only made mandatory for Aboriginals in the late 19th Century, following Confederation and therefore under English leadership. (The Catholic leadership did not choose this system, but worked within it of necessity.) It should be recognized that prior to that time, some Aboriginal families did actually choose European-style schooling for their children, whether in day schools or boarding schools, Catholic or otherwise. It's likely that even after Confederation and the mandating of education, many Aboriginal children were not "removed forcibly" but were sent more or less willingly. We should also keep in mind, for the sake of balance, that residential schools were less common than day schools.

For these reasons, the idea that the Catholic Church sought to forcibly remove Aboriginal children from their homes is therefore very skewed.

Now there are two opposing narratives of this history and sometimes narratives are inspired to support a dualistic conclusion.   I support the idea of looking at what worked (i.e. the purpose of evangelization), what didn't (the methodology of the residential schools denying cultural tools such as language, imagery, etc. that other orders such as the Oblates on Vancouver Island in their invention of a teaching stick modelled on the traditional talking stick that showed the salvation history as understood and taught by our church.

That reminds me of the Two Roads Map used by the Jesuits among the Sioux.

Trickster,

You need to renounce all non-Catholic beliefs and embrace the Catholic faith because it is the Deposit of Faith handed to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ.  You can't play both sides of the fence - that would be the worst of both worlds.

Now, I do realize this is difficult today when you may consider the Novus Ordo to be Catholic when it is in fact Conciliar and a blend of Catholicism with Masonic beliefs and a small dose of Jєωιѕн ideas all mixed together.  A person can only be mixed up if they embrace the Novus Ordo.  But you are a bright guy and you can see through this if you try.

You should pray that the Native Americans are bestowed with the sanctifying grace to seek out, and find, the Traditional Catholic Church.  That is what you should spend your time on.

Now, if in your secular life, you are an attorney who represents Indians, then good luck but mention to your clients that they should seek out a Traditional Catholic Church also.  

Hopefully, there is an SSPX or CMRI or SSPV chapel in your area.

These ideas of holding on to grievances, real or imagined, only leads a person to anger and that anger can become uncontained thereby leading a person to hatred.  This is all wasted energy.  Dedicate a decade of the rosary to the American Indians and place it all in God's Hands.

Excellent advice, Capt. I hope that Trickster will take it to heart and reflect on what you've written.

I'd like to add a couple of things. I know that really bad things happened in some of the Catholic residential schools for Indians. But the dominant Protestant culture should also be considered. Is the idea of residential schools for Indians really a Catholic construct? I don't think that it is.

Compare the situation with the Indian population in Mexico when it was first settled by the Spanish. The policy there, if I recall correctly, was to integrate the Indians into the greater culture. Hence, there were Indians who worked in the government very early on. I don't think that they were thought of as being inferior (though there were cases of slavery of Indians). I think that most Mexicans are part Indian due to the integration of the native population into greater society. There's a good book written on the history of Mexico called, "Blood-drenched Altars." It gives a history of Mexico from a truly Catholic perspective.

Trickster, please also keep in mind that there were those Catholic religious and clergy who treated the American Indians well, such as Fr. Junipero Serra, and the North American Martyrs, as well as others. One of my favorite saints is St. Kateri. She was treated well by her confessors, and was a wonderful example of the holiness which some of the Indians in those days were capable of achieving.  St Kateri wasn't the only example of holiness - there were others, too, who haven't been canonized.