“That its beginnings can be traced to papal decrees means the church had a direct hand in launching this belief and practice. For this reason alone, it serves us well to shine light on this history, to not only remember, but as fellow ambassadors of Jesus, who has given us the ministry of reconciliation, to renounce such evil,” Ivanoff said.
In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report on the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system, which came after six years of investigation.
One of the commission’s accompanying calls to action asked the pope to come to Canada within the year to apologize to Indigenous peoples there for the Catholic church’s role in administering residential schools.
“We call upon the Pope to issue an apology to Survivors, their families, and communities for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children in Catholic-run residential schools,” it read.
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated that call for an apology in Canada from Pope Francis.
But, Smith told delegates at the Evangelical Covenant Church’s annual meeting, “In the U.S., we haven’t done that. We’re invisible. They don’t even care enough to know.”
Canada operated more than 130 residential schools and has an idea how many children attended them, he said. Meanwhile, the U.S. operated 367 boarding schools.
Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery is an important first step toward healing and solidarity, Smith said.
In recent years, several mainline Protestant denominations have taken similar actions, including the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Church of Christ, the Community of Christ, Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They’ve been joined by the World Council of Churches and a number of Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) meetings.
And U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo, recently announced a Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to look into the history of boarding schools in the U.S.
The latest resolution by the Evangelical Covenant Church sets the table for Indigenous people to be seen and their stories heard, Smith said.
“With the passing of this resolution, you’ve advanced the Evangelical Covenant Church as a place where we as Indigenous people and populations are seen and welcomed. We’re accepted and acknowledged as who we are and who we are created to be,” he said.
“With the passing of this resolution, we can now participate and learn from you and you can learn from us what the creator has for us.”
This article originally appeared here.
