A presentation to the Regis-St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology Graduate Pro-Seminar by Kyle Ferguson, a second-year PhD student at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology, on March 1.

Rising from the dead, Our Lord was able to quickly arrange a meeting, and even a fish fry, with the Apostles.

Representatives of the Catholic Church were not present at any meetings or consultations with him, and his initial report did not include any input from the Church, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples said at the end of his 10-day assessment visit to Canada. 

Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people is getting a check-up and Canada’s Catholic bishops want to be part of it. Whether or not they get the chance is still up in the air.

Four letters and 26 promises from Canada’s bishops to Indigenous Canadians set an agenda for reconciliation that bishops like Calgary’s Bishop Bill McGrattan intend to act on before February turns into March.

Canada's Catholics are not done with reconciliation. Four pastoral letters from Canada’s bishops released today urge Indigenous and non-Indigenous Catholics to seek ways to journey together, build relationships, know and understand their history and end the two solitudes in the country and in the Church of Indigenous and settler societies.

Boring, pro-forma, rote recitations of land acknowledgements before every school board meeting, at the start of every school day and at every event just annoy Arriane Chua. 

Calls to Action 59 and 60 in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada implore Church leaders to collaborate with Indigenous spiritual leaders on curriculum to open the eyes of congregations, theology students and seminarians about the Church role in the legacy of residential schools and the necessity of a Church apology.

Catholics are being called to consider how they can achieve reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples and build off the six historic days in July where the Pope visited Canada.

Mere memory is not enough for the year we have just lived. Misty-eyed nostalgia would be a sin. It would fall far short of the mark.

It has been more than four months since the end of Pope Francis’ visit to Canada to meet with Indigenous people and apologize for the Catholic Church’s involvement and acts of terror in the Indian residential school system. It’s long enough for the next steps in the journey of reconciliation to have been at least discussed. Yet, there has been next to nothing.

Celebrating Orange Shirt Day in one of Canada’s most splendid cathedrals on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation must be done with contrition and commitment to truth, Toronto Archbishop Cardinal Thomas Collins told an early morning crowd at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica Sept. 30.

At their first in-person meetings in three years, Canada’s bishops spoke about concrete steps toward reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians — concrete steps that include an $18.6 million bill for Pope Francis’ apostolic visit in July, continued efforts to raise $30 million over the next five years, easier access for residential school survivors and their families to diocesan archives across the country and forging personal relationships between bishops and Indigenous leaders.

The letter issued by Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, announcing the first annual collection for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“We want to walk together, to pray together and to work together so that the sufferings of the past can lead to a future of justice, healing and reconciliation,” said Pope Francis during his penitential pilgrimage to Canada this past summer.