In Missouri, nearly two centuries ago, the Jesuits forcibly moved six enslaved Black people to the St. Louis area to help build their forthcoming institutions. That same year, they also laid the groundwork for a “plan for “the civilization of the Indian,”a practice that separated families and stripped young Native Americans of their culture through assimilation.
(AP) — As Native Americans cautiously welcome Pope Francis’ historic apology for abuses at Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children in Canada, U.S. churches are bracing for an unprecedented reckoning
As Native Americans cautiously welcome Pope Francis' historic apology for abuses at Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children in Canada, U.S. churches are bracing for an unprecedented reckoning with their own legacies of operating such schools.
As Native Americans cautiously welcome Pope Francis’ historic apology for abuses at Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children in Canada, U.S. churches are bracing for an unprecedented reckoning with their own legacies of operating such schools. Church schools are likely to feature prominently in a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior, led by the first-ever Native American cabinet secretary, Deb Haaland, due to be released later this month. The report, prompted by last year's discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites in Canada, will focus on the loss of life and the enduring traumas the U.S. system inflicted on Indigenous children from the 19th to mid-20th centuries.
As Pope Francis apologizes for abuses at Catholic boarding schools for Indigenous children in Canada, U.S. churches are bracing for a reckoning with their own legacies of operating such schools.