“A future Papal visit to Canada may be considered, taking into account all circumstances, and including an encounter with the Indigenous Peoples as a top priority.” It does not say this encounter would mean an apology.
Indigenous peoples
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Canadian Catholics support new office to oversee global mining interests
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops praised the new ombudsperson office, noting it “has called attention to concerns and complaints involving Canadian-based and/or Canadian-registered companies which operate in other countries.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Indian reservations are in poor conditions, show no signs of improvement
“Today, Indians are the poorest of all American ethnic groups,” said Father Michael Carson, a Choctaw Indian who is assistant director of Native American affairs for the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
In Peru, Pope Francis says the church stands with the peoples of the Amazon and the earth
Francis is the first pope to come to the Amazon region, and he insisted that his first event and major speech of his visit to Peru should be to this place.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Indigenous communities in Australia press for a national voice despite setbacks
The Uluru Statement proposed a constitutionally embedded, national Indigenous body (“the voice”) that would advise parliament on matters relating to Indigenous peoples.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Canada considers practical demands of U.N. declaration on indigenous rights
In 2010, Canada endorsed the declaration as “aspirational” without beginning a process for its practical implementation.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Church in Chiapas asks for help as violence displaces thousands of indigenous farmers
Approximately 5,000 indigenous Tzotzil Mayans have been scattered in small refugee camps in the area surrounding the town of Chalchihuitán, in Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas. They say they were chased out of their homes by unknown gunmen after the escalation of an old land dispute.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Priest makes documentary with survivors of Canada’s residential schools
An estimated 150,000 aboriginal children were taken from their families and placed into residential schools. The residential schools were funded by the government of Canada and run by various church groups, including the Catholic Church.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Canadian court clears way for ski resort on mountain sacred to indigenous people
The Ktunaxa First Nation says their way of life is threatened by commercial development in Qat’muk, a mountain region in British Columbia inhabited by the Grizzly Bear Spirit.
Posted inFaith, News
Canonization process begins for Black Elk, the Native American who merged Lakota and Catholic culture
For 50 years, Nicholas Black Elk led others to Christ, often melding his Lakota culture into his Christian life.