September 30 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Date posted on September 29, 2023
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is held each year on September 30th. This day provides an opportunity for all Canadians to reflect and honour Survivors of residential schools and all those who support them. We remember the children that never returned home. We recognize this painful history and, as a Catholic community, acknowledge our involvement in the residential school system.
On this day, we pray, educate and advocate, looking for opportunities to discern how each one of us can participate in the journey of healing, reconciliation and hope.
Resources
Reconciliation Starts with Education
Pope Francis made a pastoral visit to Canada from July 24 to 29, 2022. The Pope’s visit provided a unique opportunity for him to listen and dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, to express his heartfelt closeness and to address the impact of colonization and the participation of the Catholic Church in the operation of residential schools throughout Canada. The Catholic Church has a responsibility to take genuine and meaningful steps to journey with Indigenous Peoples of this land on the lengthy path to healing and reconciliation. This video provides information on the historic journey of Pope Francis to Canada, a significant step on the road to truth, understanding and healing. We invite you to join us as we reflect and pray.
We invite you to watch and reflect on The Wounds of the Past, Truth-telling and a Future of Hope: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Path of Reconciliation. This lecture, presented by Archbishop Donald Bolen at St. Jerome’s University on September 28th, 2023, focused on situating the Church’s contemporary response to papal bulls of the 15th century, which provided moral justification for colonizing powers to claim as their own lands which had long been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples, within the context of the challenge of dealing well with sinful actions from within the Church in the past. It explored what the recent Vatican statement on the Doctrine of Discovery said and didn’t say, and how it has been received. The lecture also reflected on the larger work of reconciliation and the challenge of proclaiming and being faithful to the Gospel in a context where wounds from the past continue to impact present relations.