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Aboriginal representatives of Canadian churches, devastated by residential school scandals which have resulted in lawsuits against them totaling millions of dollars, told Rev. Dr Sam Kobia, WCC general secretary, that they must work together ecumenically if they are to bring hope and healing to the country’s First Nations, most of whom have had church connections for centuries.
Kobia was making his first visit to Canada as general secretary, beginning his tour this week in this mid-western Prairie city where First Nations are a significant part of the population. A panel of Aboriginal people met with Kobia at Thunderbird House on 30 September, a gathering place for Indigenous spirituality. Two clergy from the Cree Nation, Very Rev. Stan McKay, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, representing his church’s All Native Circle Conference and Canon Murrray Still, an Anglican priest from the Rupert’s Land diocesan Council on Indigenous Ministry, described the process of apologies and healing the churches had undertaken.
Anglicans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholic religious orders and the United Church of Canada operated hundreds of Indian residential schools across Canada for decades until 1969 on behalf of the federal government. The authorities had a policy of Native assimilation into European society, and the schools forced children to speak English only and to deny their Indigenous culture and religion. Some of the former European and Canadian clerical and lay staff have been charged and convicted of sexual and physical abuse.
In 1993, First Nations’ organizations began hiring lawyers to bring legal action against the government and the four churches for the abuse and destruction of their culture and families. To date the churches and government have issued apologies by their leaders, established healing funds and the churches are attempting to raise millions of dollars to compensate for the emotional and physical abuse done to the children and their descendents. Bankruptcy has forced some regions to close churches and religious orders. More than 4,000 cases are before the courts.
The Winnipeg panel told Kobia of the residential schools’ response group set up in their area which is ecumenical and involves churches which did not operate the schools. The general secretary responded with four suggestions:
§ Healing cannot be achieved without struggling with the issues of racism, poverty, violence and abuse;
§ There must be a mutual recognition of vulnerability by the children who were victims and by the perpetrators of the abuse;
§ Recognize the global nature of these issues and that the whole Body of Christ, all the churches together, need to work for healing and wholeness; and
§ Accept that Christians walk together both globally and locally in an ecumenical journey and that the World Council of Churches walks with the Canadian churches.
Winnipeg, a city of nearly one million, is the national headquarters for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, a member church of the WCC, as well as the Mennonite Church of Canada and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Leaders of all major local churches, including two Roman Catholic archdioceses and the Ukrainian Catholic archdiocese lunched with Kobia at Thunderbird House after he gave a public lecture at the University of Winnipeg on “New Visions and Challenges to Ecumenism in the 21st century.”
Kobia focused on trends which will impact and influence ecumenism in the 21st century and the meaning of spirituality and ecumenism – “the experiential dimension of lived ecumenism.” Kobia said that while institutional or mainline churches may be on the decline in Europe and North America, Christianity is thriving in the countries of the South. In the North, he said, there is also an emerging and vital church, especially in the Pentecostal and Evangelical sectors.
“Because of their location, the National Councils of Churches are challenged to provide ecumenical frameworks and spaces for sharing new realities,” Kobia commented. “Another factor which will have to take into account the growing phenomenon of living in a multi-faith context. This is particularly evident in multi-cultural Canada. This situation challenges us to consider more deeply the concept of broader ecumenism and the relationship between deepening interchurch and interfaith dialogue.”
Kobia also urged the audience to seek “a holy ground on which to stand, from which we Christians may be able to exercise leverage on a world in need of transformation.”
The WCC general secretary flew from Winnipeg to Toronto, Canada’s largest city, where he has a series of meetings on Friday with leaders of other member churches: the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, and the United Church of Canada. He will lunch with members and staff of Kairos, a unique ecumenical coalition of Canadian churches dealing with justice, peace, economic and environmental issues in Canada and internationally. Friday evening he will meet with, and address, leaders of all WCC member churches in Canada and the 19 member churches of the Canadian Council of Churches, which includes the Roman Catholic Church, Canada’s largest denomination.
On Saturday 2 October he will meet with theological students of African descent, address the Centre for Ecumenism on “The Impact of Interfaith Relations on Ecumenical Theology and Practice” and participate in a panel. Sunday Kobia flies to Ottawa, the Canadian capital, where on Sunday he will worship at a Presbyterian Church and later preach at an ecumenical worship service. He will spend Monday 4 October in Ottawa before leaving for the USA.
