In response to the horrible revelation of 215 dead bodies of Indigenous children at the Residential School in Kamloops in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community, this news is devastating enough, but as a member of the Catholic community in this province, I find myself both disturbed and disappointed.

As good Christians, we must own up to our part in these Residential Schools. We must advocate for, fund, or help in any way possible in getting records of lives lost. We must hold abusers and assailants responsible. The last Residential School did not close until 1996, therefore administrators who ran these institutions can still be held accountable.

We cannot take away the crimes committed, the pain the Indigenous communities feel, or the damage done. We cannot change the past. But we can listen to the community and their requests on our end. It is, in my opinion, the absolute least we can do in helping this community’s ongoing and intergenerational suffering.

Cecilia Lenahan
Delta

 

The recent revelations of the tragedies in Kamloops, and more across the country, should have been thoroughly addressed back in 1989 when the Mount Cashel scandal broke.

But the Church hierarchy continued kicking the issue down the road. So here we are more than 30-plus years later and this is where Church leadership has taken us.

The Catholic laity (of which I am one) are more and more discouraged with every indecent revelation of its clerical and administrative failures. Confidence in moral leadership continues to erode.

Our Lord Jesus Christ must not be impressed with the stewardship of his flock.

Brian Graham
Vancouver

 

In the May 24 B.C. Catholic, Paul Schratz wrote that COVID-19 is “a relatively mild virus that 99 per cent of people survive and 80 per cent of people never know they’ve got.”

I am saddened by his misconception and ignorance, and equally saddened The B.C. Catholic would publish it.

I work in the health sector. I have seen people suffer in the ICU. I have seen people die of COVID. I lost loved ones to COVID. To say that this virus is relatively mild is callous and ignorant to say the least.

I hope Mr. Schratz will volunteer in the hospital, the ICU specifically, so he can realize how serious COVID is. Or better yet, he should go to India to get a first-hand reality check.

Kate Villar
Hope