The Truth And Reconciliation Commission’s investigation/inquest has been concluded, and the results are not pretty. Native children were not separated from their parents and sent to residential schools for the purpose of education. They were sent there for the purpose of forced assimilation into “Canadian” culture. In the process of this forced assimilation, many faced horrendous abuse and neglect from their so called “teachers” of Canadian values and ways.
As a result of this system, many of the children died from suicide or neglect. And those that survived were traumatized for life.
Its a dark chapter in our nations history. But I can’t help but notice that one of the involved entities seems to not be getting all that much attention. Dare I say, getting away with murder?
I am speaking of the Catholic Church. The report has many reconciliation recommendations for the Canadian Government and its provinces, but not a whole lot for the church itself. There are 94 recommendations of the various Government(s), one of which is a request of current and future prime ministers of Canada to issue an annual “State of Aboriginal Peoples” report (the purpose being to track the government’s reconciliation efforts).
But very little is asked of the Catholic Church. In fact, all that is asked of them, is an apology from Pope Francis. Quoted from the CTV News Article linked above:
The TRC report’s recommendations even extend beyond Canada’s borders, and call upon Pope Francis to issue an apology to residential school survivors and their families “for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse” of indigenous children in Catholic-run schools.
This is sure a slap on the wrist for, genocide. Then again, it is arguably the worlds largest racketeering organization aside from the mafia. And its not like the Church isn’t known for its lapses in judgment when it comes to children’s safety.
Last I checked “to aid and abet” was not in the scriptures. But what do I know? Im just a secularist blogger.
A blogger whom at one point called for an invasion of the Vatican. You gotta admit that it would do far more for the cause of “justice” then 97% of the other countries that the US has set its sights on since WW2.
But moving on, the fact that the church got off with barley a mention (AGAIN!) annoys me. Why this is, I am not to sure. If it was out of respect for the organization, then I would say that they are very much deluded. Another case of religion clouding judgment.
If it was because the thought process was that nothing much would happen anyway, then I supose one can not fault that line of thinking. It is much easier to get Canadians and their Governments(s) to acknowledge mistakes in the past then to focus on an organization that can even evade INTERPOL.
While reparations is a topic that I am normally not for (as stated here some time ago), if that request is made of the Canadian government, than I would also argue that the same should be made of the Catholic Church. Only God himself knows how much money that little parcel of land is sitting on. So im sure that paying for the misdeeds of the past is not a financial issue. Jesus may call it a charitable act (as opposed to, sitting on billions whilst the poor and downtrodden are just as poor and downtrodden as ever).
Either way, this was less a post to bring attention to the topic (the world media is doing a good job of that) then it was a statement of irritation at the institutions of religion largely getting a pass for their role in the situation.
I know I come at this from the biased perspective of a secularist. But if you take away the name of the institution (the Catholic Church) and just look at the actions around the world, how could you NOT conclude that this is a criminal organization?
A criminal organization that abuses its national “sovereign” status as a way of covering up crimes in its own ranks. Even the biggest of corporations would take a shit kicking if they were caught committing some of the crimes regularly committed by the church, namely covering up federal offenses in multiple nations. The church may have more unknown victims in its wake then the human traffickers!
But I will end there. My point has been made.
A Raindrop In The Ocean 