Here in Canada, the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves containing Indigenous children’s remains on former Indian residential school grounds raised the anger of many Canadians, and in particular those of the Catholic faith. Many of the residential schools were run by the Catholic Church. Indigenous leaders in Canada have been pressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure an apology, on Canadian soil, from Pope Francis himself for the role the Catholic Church played in operating residential schools. Those demands — which Trudeau repeated again Friday, June 25th — have so far gone unheeded. However, a number of Church leaders in Canada have taken upon themselves to apologize for the Churches role in running the schools and for the associated unmarked graves.
In the U.S., as only the second Catholic president, an issue was raised by some of the country’s Catholic bishops with respect to President Joe Biden. A question was asked as to whether the Catholic Church should not allow the president to receive Holy Communion because of his political support for abortion rights. The president, who attends church regularly, rightly replied that this is a personal and private matter. As one observer noted, denying Communion to Biden or other public figures as a means of correcting their errors would be claiming the right to overrule their conscience. Subsequently, several American Catholic bishops suggested that any such ban on the president was not in the cards. They are likely mistaken, however, if they think a Communion crackdown will bring him or other so-called wayward Catholics back in line. Furthermore, declaring abortion the “pre-eminent” issue for Catholics has created another crisis of authority for the bishops — remember the handling of recent cases of alleged abuses by American priests.
In both instances, the results have been criticism and outrage from many Catholics and non-Catholics of the Churches position on these matters. In the American situation, it is clearly a matter of the separation of state and church which form an important part of a democracy. One’s religious beliefs should not form part of the government’s policy making process which is designed to defend the interests of all its citizens, regardless of faith. In the Canadian context, the inability of the Catholic leadership to recognize the role of the church in the tragic operation of residential schools and the horrific impact on Indigenous peoples needs to be addressed.
The number of followers of the Catholic Church in both countries is on the decline, particularly among younger people. Reportedly, between 2000 and 2017 the number of its churches in the U.S. declined by nearly 11 percent, and by 2019 the number of Catholics decreased by 2 million people. During the last decade, Catholics have been steadily shrinking as a share of the U.S. population. Situations like the above two examples do not help the Churches image and have led once again to parishioners having to assess their continued participation within the Church. Perhaps it’s time for the Catholic Church to enter the twenty-first century and to hone up to its role in and openly admit its past mistakes, instead of trying to cover them up or simply ignore them.
FROLITICKS 