TO LOOK AT

During the 19th and part of the 20th century, the Government of Canada established 139 residential schools across the country, in an effort to assimilate Indigenous peoples into the mainstream culture, as they felt their way of life was very back. Of these 139, about forty were entrusted to Christian institutions, the majority of the Catholic Church. Some 150,000 children were separated from their parents, often without their consent, for a national policy of forced assimilation aimed at westernizing their customs. They prevented them from speaking in their mother tongue, they gave them food they were not used to, they did not treat them well in their illnesses and, because of all this, thousands of people are criminally dead, buried in community graves. The present-day indigenous peoples, especially their descendants, have demanded reparation for the damage caused. Among his demands was that Pope Francis travel to Canada to issue a formal apology for the abuses committed. The pope wanted to receive them first in Rome and then made a visit to these cities, calling what happened genocide and condemning it as contrary to the Gospel.

However, what happened in Canada is not an isolated event, although perhaps not with the same cruelty. In our countries, there are teachers in public schools who forbid indigenous people to use their languages, to dress according to their traditions and to impose a culture very different from their own. Most teachers are unaware of the richness of these ancient cultures, they underestimate and ridicule them. The same thing happens in towns and cities, where natives are determined to hide their identity, so as not to be offended and discriminated against. This is why indigenous languages ​​are disappearing, because the dominant society does not take them into account, does not value them, and the cultures that have given life to generations are being lost. When I was parish priest in an Otomí community (ñhañhú), the catechists did not want me to learn their language, because they told me that it was no longer valid, that it no longer worked, that it was a thing of the past, and they themselves prevented their children from speaking it, so that they would not be discriminated against. This still happens in many places. There are priests with the same attitude, who do not allow, for example, parts of the Mass to be celebrated in these original languages. I accompany a group of Nahuatl and Otomi translators, and the frequent complaint is that the priests do not allow these languages ​​to be used in the Church.

Unfortunately, in seminaries and houses of formation for religious, there are cases of discrimination. Students from these cultures are not taken into account. As if they had nothing to contribute to the community. Years ago I accompanied meetings of seminarians and indigenous religious, and the frequent complaint is that in the process of their formation, their cultures of origin are underestimated.

DISCERN

I am transcribing only a paragraph of what Pope Francis said in Canada, and which he repeated in one way or another during his trip:

“Faced with this scandalous evil, the Church kneels before God and asks forgiveness for the sins of her children. I would like to repeat with shame and clarity: I humbly ask forgiveness for the evil that so many Christians have committed against the indigenous peoples” (25-VII-2022).

LAW

Do not despise or discriminate against indigenous peoples. They have other values, another way of being, of thinking, of relating. Let us encourage ourselves to know them, to value them, to respect them and to give them their place in the community and in the Church.