The above video was made by me in April 2014 as part of an effort to put issues on the table to be considered in the band election.
I think a lot of it is relevant when looking at how Catholicism is part of the Algonquin identity even if it is not widely practiced among our band members.
It also speaks to a lot of Poche's point around understanding the language as fundamental to the development of any aboriginal theological understanding.
Bruce
What is an "aboriginal theological understanding?"
Why does it need to be developed?
By whom is it to be developed?
What is it in Traditional Catholic theology - the Queen of Sciences, developed and nurtured by great saints and doctors over two millennia - that is so insufficient or imperfect that it requires the "development" of this "new understanding" in order to replace or supplement it?
It is a cultural understanding of the teachings of Jesus and his Church, pure and simple. It is not novus ordo as Europeans, those in the East (coptic, etc.) had their own cultural understanding and imprint upon the development of Catholicism. Aboriginal theology would provide a cultural, intellectual and spiritual embracing of our culture within a Catholic context. We don't have to be western (european) Catholics in otherwords.
It needs to be developed because the church must move beyond a missionary move to becoming an indigenous church at the same level it is a european church. The church changes as its body (via communion) expands throughout the world embracing what is good in all cultures.
Native people need to be directly involved in the articulation of our own Catholic experience, but that articulation has to be in conversation with the teachings of the church and towards that we have the magisterium and theology to help us in that taask.
In terms of your last question, the answer is yes. Not to replace but to enhance, because everyone of those doctors and saints will be the first to understand that their understanding is limited to the context of their time and place. Should Thomas Aquinas not developed theology because Augustine already did so?
We say no, so progressive revelation does not end with the church fathers (mothers) and theologians...there is much to enhance these teachings within an aboriginal culturre too.
No one is talking about replacing, one cannot replace the teachigns of the church, one can only come- through his or her life time- to an understanding that works for him and her, the rest will be worked out in purgatory as we move forward.
Bruce
Topic: Restoration of Identity (Read 357 times)