Pope’s apology ‘will go a long way in ongoing journey’: archbishop

Archbishop Miller has sent a letter of thanks to Pope Francis in response to the historic apology issued Friday in Rome, saying it will help with truth and reconciliation efforts in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

In his letter sent the day of the apology, Archbishop Miller wrote:

“On behalf of all the clergy, consecrated women and men, and lay faithful of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for your gracious reception and listening to the Indigenous Peoples of our land. Your words of understanding, compassion and apology will go a long way in the ongoing journey of truth, justice, healing, and reconciliation that we are embarking on with renewed conviction. Speaking for all of us, you expressed forthrightly your indignation and shame for those members of the Church who, in their interactions and dealings with Indigenous Peoples, especially in the residential schools, acted in ways contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We look forward to your pilgrimage of closeness, which will be a further step on the path the Church in Canada is we walking with First Nation, Metis and Inuit Peoples.

With thanks to the Lord for your Petrine ministry, we ask for your Apostolic Blessing upon all the faithful and men and women of good will in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.”

On Sunday, the archbishop reflected on the Pope’s apology in a homily at Holy Rosary Cathedral. Here are some of the archbishop’s remarks:

“After four hours of individual meetings during this past week with delegates of Inuit, Metis and First Nations Peoples who opened their hearts to him and expressed their desire to journey together with the Church, on Friday the Holy Father met with a larger number of representatives, about 200, including six from the Archdiocese of Vancouver. At this gathering he both summed up his personal reaction to what he had heard, offered an apology, and let it be known that the mutual journey of seeking truth, justice, reconciliation, and healing would continue in his visit to Canada. He hinted that this further gesture of pastoral closeness might even be as soon as this summer.

Let me read to you, using his words, just some of what the Pope said, because it sets the direction for us as Catholics on a clear course of expressing repentance for past abuse and of actions to be taken in the future. Here’s a little of what he said:

“Listening to your voices, I was able to enter into and be deeply grieved by the stories of the suffering, hardship, discrimination, and various forms of abuse that some of you experienced, particularly in the residential schools. It is chilling to think of determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail: unresolved traumas that have become inter-generational traumas.

All this has made me feel two things very strongly: indignation and shame. Indignation, because it is not right to accept evil and, even worse, to grow accustomed to evil, as if it were an inevitable part of the historical process. No! Without real indignation, without historical memory and without a commitment to learning from past mistakes, problems remain unresolved and keep coming back.”

I also feel shame. I have said this to you and now I say it again. I 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, in the abuses you suffered and in the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values. All these things are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For the deplorable conduct of those 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. Clearly, the content of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way contrary to the faith itself: Jesus taught us to welcome, love, serve and not judge; it is a frightening thing when, precisely in the name of the faith, counter‑witness is rendered to the Gospel.

We all recognize the common experience, so highlighted by events in Rome this past week, that the past is never just “over and done with.” The past conditions who we are today as individuals and as communities. Try as we might, we find it difficult, if not impossible, when thinking of past sins – our own or those sins against us – simply to “forgive and forget.”

A past of sinfulness or of suffering from the sinfulness of others is an oppressive weight that can keep us in its clutches: in a state of unhappiness with God and ourselves.

With regard to our own past sins, we know from our experience that we must allow the mercy of God to take control of our hearts. It is his mercy that enables us to let go of our past, not forgetting it, but accepting the forgiveness that God offers us. 

Such a radical step is possible only because Christ himself has taken our sins upon himself and nailed them to the Cross. He is fulfilling the words we heard in the First Reading from the Prophet Isaiah who, looking to the future, cites the Lord as saying: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing” (Is 43:18-19).”