The Power of an Apology

Last week, Pope Francis apologized to Canada’s Indigenous Peoples for the role of the Catholic Church in Canada’s Residential School system.
Here is the excerpt that CBC included in their article.

“I also feel shame … sorrow and shame for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you, and the abuses you suffered and the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” he said.

“For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon.”

An apology can make a difference

An apology can make a big difference.
It is not just the words that are chosen, but how they are delivered, and by whom, that can make that difference.
For some.
Not necessarily for all.
Because we hear an apology through our particular identities and experiences.

As mentioned in the CBC article, an apology is a start.
It’s a necessary acknowledgment of the infliction of pain (either by commission or omission… I would suggest in this case it’s both).
That acknowledgment is needed in order to move forward, and to create the possibility of healing.

Sorry isn’t enough

My child always tells me “Sorry isn’t good enough. Don’t do it again.”
Wise words from a 9-year-old.
I actually think they were mine to her, many years ago, that she is now using.  Good for her.

So, let’s think about this:

• How are we continuing to perpetuate the same pain and violence onto Indigenous People – in Canada and around the world?
• What perspective are we missing that allows us to destroy land, disregard ancestral burial grounds, and continue to take what is not ours?
• What are we missing that we continue to devalue, undermine, ignore, and make invisible both the ways of being that have nurtured the planet we live on today for thousands of years, and the people that embody these ways?
• What can we – you and I – do in our daily lives that can give life and substance to this apology?
• How much do we need to learn and unlearn?
• How much do we need to peel away, so we really see the depth of the wrong that has been done, and continues today – and our role in it.

What’s next…?

“Now comes the work,” former chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine told Matt Galloway on The Current.

I hope that work is good work. Meaningful work. Work that creates positive change.
Awareness and understanding have to fuel that work.

And it’s not only what we do, but how we do it.

How will you contribute?

Pay attention.