40 Days of Reconciliation
Written by Sylvia J. Mountain
Reconciliation is a process of two parties listening and learning and becoming aware of the other’s truth or reality, and in doing so, move towards a place of understanding and compatibility. Truth and reconciliation have been front and centre in our awareness because of the fallout from Residential Schools. Bad things happened in Residential Schools, that is one truth. Some people who worked in these schools such as teachers, administrators and nurses thought they were “doing good”. That is another truth. Reconciling these perceptions has been and still is a process of coming together so healing can take place.
Douglas Todd wrote in the Vancouver Sun, February 6, 2016, “Reconciliation: Aboriginals take the pulpit”. Todd quoted Rennie Nahanee, a Squamish Nation Elder and recently ordained a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, as saying “some of the good things that happened in residential schools in the past should not be ignored”. Todd goes on to say, “Christianity is integral to the spiritual life of the country’s 1.4 million indigenous people, even while church attendance can be irregular”. He notes that of this 1.4million, 889,000 have affiliation with Christian churches.
This truly is a hopeful commentary on the power of Christ’s message of Love. Both perspectives of truth will become richer in spirit as the healing continues.