Archbishop: we are beginning ‘a necessary process of inculturation’

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, delivered this homily at Holy Rosary Cathedral on May 28 in honour of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. It has been slightly edited.

Dear Father Garry Laboucane, Father “Tap,” Deacons Rennie and Jamie, dear elders and First Nations peoples of our Archdiocese:     

An Historic Occasion

Welcome to all of you who are gathered here in the mother church of the archdiocese, Holy Rosary Cathedral, to celebrate this special Mass, which was first asked for by Deacon Rennie, who serves at St. Paul’s Church in North Vancouver. 

This historic idea was then subsequently enthusiastically supported by Deacon Jamie and the Sts’ailes and Seabird Island communities. It is the first time here that we are able to incorporate Indigenous languages, at least to some degree, into our celebration of the Eucharist. My profound thanks to all of you who have worked so hard to prepare this celebration, which I know has not been without its challenges.

It is certainly not going to be the last time that we gather together, since we are committed to ensuring wider use of Indigenous languages in the sacred liturgy. “Every people must integrate the message revealed into its own culture and express its saving truth in its own language. This implies a very demanding effort of ‘translation’ because it requires the identification of the appropriate words to present anew, without distortion, the riches of the revealed word.”^[1] 

Besides the translation of current liturgical texts, there also remains the considerable task of implanting the liturgy in the different Indigenous cultures, “welcoming from them those expressions which are compatible with aspects of the true and authentic spirit of the Liturgy ... The adaptation must take account of the fact that in the Liturgy, and notably that of the sacraments, there is a part which is unchangeable, because it is of divine institution, and of which the Church is the guardian. There are also parts open to change, which the Church has the power and on occasion also the duty to adapt.”^[2]

“We can take up into the liturgy many elements proper to the experience of Indigenous peoples in their contact with nature, and respect native forms of expression in song, dance, rituals, gestures and symbols.”^[3] In doing so, we are following the desire of the Second Vatican Council to inculturate the liturgy among Indigenous peoples.^[4]

Liturgical diversity can be a source of enrichment for the Church, as we know it to be in the many different rites that already exist, including here in the archdiocese that of the Ukrainians, Chaldeans, Melkites, Syro-Malabars, and Syro-Malankaras. No liturgical expression, however, can ever damage the Church’s unity. That’s why cultural adaptation in the liturgy requires careful discernment, as well as a serious formation in theology, history and culture.^[5] It is never the product of a single person or committee and must always be in harmony with the whole Church, overseen by the Pope, if it is to be authentically Catholic.

Here, today, we are taking the first steps – as is fitting. But they are important ones, for they mark the beginning of a process that, God willing, will bear much fruit for everyone. The more the Catholic faith is inculturated – sunk deeply into the daily life and religious expression of people – the more fruitful will evangelization be. We are just beginning “a necessary process of inculturation that rejects nothing of the goodness that already exists in Indigenous [Amazonian] cultures, but brings it to fulfilment in the light of the Gospel.”^[6]

From the Acts of the Apostles

In today’s First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we continue to hear accounts of how the Christian faith grew in the days after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples with wind and fire, inspiring them to open the doors of the Upper Room and “go forth” with the Good News that Jesus Christ had died and rose from the dead to give them new life and save them. The faith was born in the Middle East, but then went to Europe first through Greece and then to Rome. This afternoon’s account tells us of a certain Apollos, who was a Jew from Alexandria in north Africa, preaching in Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. 

What this tells us is that Christianity was not to be confined to a small group of Palestinians in the first century who knew Jesus, but, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was meant to extend to the whole world, including here to modern-day British Columbia.

The history of the Church shows that Christianity does not have simply one cultural expression. It never was and cannot be mono-cultural. It’s unfortunately true that in some instances evangelization was accompanied by an undue emphasis on the culture of the evangelizers, with which they were familiar. They failed to realize that it’s not essential to impose any specific cultural form, no matter how helpful it was in other contexts. As Pope Francis has written, “What is needed is courageous openness to the novelty of the Spirit, who is always able to create something new with the inexhaustible riches of Jesus Christ.”^[7]

Marking the Anniversary of St. Kateri’s Canonization

Today’s Mass is being offered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Indigenous saint from our lands, who was raised to the altars in October 2012. 

So many important and sometimes tragic events have taken place in the past 10 years that have marked, probably irrevocably, the relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Above all, the meeting here in Vancouver of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2013 and the subsequent publication of its findings, its Calls to Action, in 2015. 

More recently, there has come about an increasing awareness among non-Indigenous Canadians of the pain caused by the Indian Residential School system, highlighted by the news from Kamloops last May, which triggered a harsh and lasting reminder of the ongoing legacy of suffering caused by Canada’s residential school system. It made us think about the determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob the people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail, especially the unresolved traumas that have become intergenerational traumas.^[8]

We have read about the meetings in Rome of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples with Pope Francis and his historic apology, which bears repeating in this cathedral, for it sums up the precise sentiments of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Vancouver:

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.^[9] 

The next major public step in the ongoing process of healing and reconciliation will be the Pope’s long-awaited penitential pilgrimage of apology and healing to Canada. In late July, Pope Francis will have the opportunity to visit Indigenous peoples here in their homeland, as he promised when he met them recently in Rome.

As you can see, so much has happened – much of it painful and some of it controversial – since St. Kateri’s canonization.

At the age of 20, she was baptized on Easter Sunday. Sadly, after her baptism, harassment, ridicule, and threats from her kinfolk followed because she had embraced the Catholic faith. When her family urged her to marry, “she replied very serenely and calmly that she had Jesus as her only spouse.”^[10] Because of her new faith and her determination not to marry, she was advised to leave her village and took refuge in a Jesuit mission, St. Francis Xavier, a Christian Mohawk village in Kahnawake near present-day Montreal.

In the Mission, her life was quite ordinary. She worked, faithful to the traditions of her people, but all the while she was growing in holiness. Just shy of her 24th birthday, she died from tuberculosis, on April 17, 1680. Her last words on earth, no doubt soon repeated when she met her Lord in paradise, were “Jesos Konoronkwa,” “Jesus, I love you.”

As St. John Paul II said in his address to the Indigenous peoples of North America shortly after her beatification, “It is a time to pause and to give thanks to God for the unique culture and rich human tradition which you have inherited, and for the greatest gift anyone can receive, the gift of faith. Indeed, Blessed Kateri stands before us as a symbol of the best of the heritage that is yours.”^[11] And she stands above us in heaven as a bridge of healing and reconciliation in our broken world, and as a true symbol of the enduring and unbreakable links between the Church and the Indigenous people of our land. 

Conclusion

As we continue now to celebrate this Eucharist, let us ask the good Lord, as Jesus promised in today’s Gospel (cf. Jn 16:23), to enkindle in all our hearts a greater desire than ever to be healers and reconcilers and to celebrate the beautiful richness and diversity that shines forth in the Body of Christ, wounded though it is but upheld by Jesus’ words that he is with us until the end of the ages (Mt 20:20). In his name, the holy name of Jesus, let us ask the Father that he will show us the truth, heal our wounds and grant heartfelt reconciliation between all Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples of our land.