Pope Francis prays with journalists on a papal flight August 14, 2014. / Alan Holdren/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Jul 30, 2022 / 03:09 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has agreed with the view that the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families and their treatment in Canada’s residential school system was a form of “cultural genocide.”
Speaking to journalists on the papal plane on July 30, the pope explained that he had not used the term “genocide” during his public apologies for past abuses perpetrated by Catholics in the system because it had not come to mind.
Canada’s residential school system, to which Pope Francis referred, ran for more than 100 years. It worked to stamp out indigenous culture and language systematically, often by removing children from their families by force. Catholic organizations ran at least 60% of the government-funded boarding schools.
The 85-year-old pontiff spoke at the end of a week-long trip to Canada in which he traveled to Edmonton, Québec, and Iqaluit on what he called a “penitential pilgrimage” to apologize and repeatedly express his shame and sorrow to the country’s indigenous communities for the role the Catholic Church played in the system.
In 2015, the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the country’s residential schools system constituted a “cultural genocide.”
During the in-flight press conference on his return flight to Rome from Iqaluit, Francis said while he had not used the word genocide, he indeed had described one. “I apologized; I asked forgiveness for this work, which was genocide.”
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ran from 2008-2015, concluded that thousands of children died while attending “Indian Residential Schools”, and called for action on 94 points.
The papal apologies were one of the commission’s four points addressed to the Catholic Church.
In a brief address Friday to delegates representing nine indigenous nations of Canada, Pope Francis said he was returning home “greatly enriched” after his weeklong journey.
“I have come as a pilgrim, despite my physical limitations, to take further steps forward with you and for you. I do this so that progress may be made in the search for truth, so that the processes of healing and reconciliation may continue, and so that seeds of hope can keep being sown for future generations — indigenous and non-indigenous alike — who desire to live together, in harmony, as brothers and sisters,” the pope said.
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Young men at Ave Maria University take part in an event hosted by the St. Joseph’s Men’s Group, which strives to form selfless husbands, loving fathers, and emulate the group’s namesake. / Credit: Ave Maria University
CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A men’s group on the campus of Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, is equipping young men with the tools necessary to become selfless husbands and loving fathers. The St. Joseph’s Men’s Group is made up of roughly 190 men striving to emulate the group’s namesake.
Through fellowship, presentations, and small-group discussions, these young men help one another grow and support one another in their vocations. The group is made up of two kinds of members — regular members who actively participate in the group’s community life and “fraternity” members who lead smaller, more intentional gatherings on specific topics. There are currently 12 fraternity members.
Young men at Ave Maria University take part in an event hosted by the St. Joseph’s Men’s Group, which strives to form selfless husbands, loving fathers, and emulate the group’s namesake. Credit: Ave Maria University
Joseph Cox, a recent Ave Maria graduate, founded the group in 2022. He spoke with CNA about his inspiration for creating the group and how it helped him find his own vocation — the priesthood.
Cox shared that he knew he wanted to create a group on campus the summer before his sophomore year; however, he initially wanted the group to help young men struggling with pornography. After thinking more about it, he decided to make the group more broad so that even those who may not be Catholic could join.
“I thought of the idea of just simply starting a men’s group on campus — the St. Joseph’s Men’s Group — really with the idea of creating an environment where guys can come together with no sort of commitment but could come together and just grow in fraternity, grow in masculinity, a greater set of holiness,” Cox said.
He added: “The idea was also to bring together, to create a common ground, those at Ave that are bought into the mission and bought into the spiritual life, and those that are not bought into the mission and those that may not be Catholic or who may not practice the faith anymore.”
The 21-year-old explained that the group’s events begin with food and socializing, followed by a speaker who talks about a topic tailored to men. The attendees then break out into small groups for the last part of the event, which are led by the 12 fraternity members. Cox pointed out that most of the fraternity members are actually athletes on campus.
“These athletes are guys that are very respected by their teammates because they’re athletically gifted — they may be a captain on a team for whatever sport they play — but as well as them being athletically gifted, they also have a relationship with Christ,” he shared.
In addition to hosting events on the campus of Ave Maria, Cox partnered with the University of Miami’s men’s group that is a part of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) to have combined events a couple of times each semester on their campus.
This past Lent, the members of the St. Joseph Men’s Group took part in the “Consecration to St. Joseph” by Father Donald Calloway, MIC, which is a 33-day consecration to the beloved saint.
“We had a little over 200 guys that went through with the consecration,” Cox recalled. “So in addition to all the guys doing the 33-day consecration on their own, we would have a weekly meeting [with] smaller groups … and then on the 33rd day, when they would actually make their consecration to St. Joseph, we had a big event. It was a big Mass, with adoration and confession, and all the guys who had done the consecration consecrated themselves collectively as a group of guys together.”
He encourages both men and women alike to “look to the virtues of St. Joseph — his purity, his silence, his obedience.”
Young men at Ave Maria University take part in an event hosted by the St. Joseph’s Men’s Group, which strives to form selfless husbands, loving fathers, and emulate the group’s namesake. Credit: Ave Maria University
Now Cox will be heading to the seminary in three weeks and credits, in part, his involvement with the men’s group in finding his vocation.
“I would say that what inspired me more for the priesthood was seeing guys with options,” he shared. “Meaning that guys that could be the best fathers, the best husbands, in the best jobs, and they were willing to sacrifice all of that for something that they believe is greater.”
He added that being a part of the group has given him the “desire to live out mission especially on the college campus.”
Cox explained that he originally wanted to become a FOCUS missionary after college, but when he came across the Legionaries of Christ he noticed that they were now focusing more on serving as campus chaplains for different colleges around the country.
“So when I came to kind of this crossroad it was really could I see myself doing college ministry as an occupation with something like FOCUS or potentially as a vocation for the rest of my life with the priesthood,” Cox explained. “If anything, this group, what it’s done is given me that desire to continue the college route.”
“At the end of the day, I’ve always said if the Lord calls me out of the seminary and I don’t become a priest I go right in FOCUS. College ministry is where I want to spend my life — whether that’s with FOCUS or the priesthood, the Lord will make it known but it will be through that mission.”
Pope Francis shares a joyful moment with members of the Union of St. Catherine of Siena Missionary Teachers during an audience in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Jan. 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Newsroom, Jan 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Pointing to the perils of pastoral pessimism, Pope Francis urged a congregation of teaching sisters on Saturday to cultivate joy in their ministry, warning them that stern countenances drive people away from the faith.
“Many times in my life I have encountered nuns with a vinegar face, and this is not friendly, this is not something that helps to attract people,” the pope said.
Speaking to participants in the General Chapter of the Union “St. Catherine of Siena” of School Missionaries in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Francis emphasized three essential qualities for religious educators: holiness, preparation, and friendliness.
The congregation, marking its centenary year, chose as its chapter theme “Understanding the present to comprehend together the future of the Union as it journeys with the Church” — an approach Francis praised as being “in line with the legacy” left by their founder, Venerable Luigia Tincani.
The pope quoted St. John Paul II’s 1995 description of their founding vision, which called for “constant commitment to one’s own sanctification, a serious theological and professional preparation, and a lifestyle that is friendly and loving toward everyone, especially young people.”
Francis particularly emphasized the Dominican motto that shapes their educational ministry: “contemplata aliis tradere” (to hand on to others the fruits of contemplation).
The pope also delivered a strong warning against gossip in religious communities. “Please, distance yourself from gossip. Gossip kills, gossip poisons,” he said. “Please, no gossip among you, none. And to ask this of a woman is heroic, but come on, let’s go forward, and no gossip.”
During an exchange about vocations, when sisters indicated they had “a dozen” novices worldwide, Francis encouraged them to actively seek new apostolates. “Look for a vocational apostolate, look for it!” he urged.
The Union of St. Catherine of Siena Missionary Teachers was founded in Italy in 1925 by Tincani. Following the spiritual heritage of St. Catherine of Siena and the Dominican tradition of combining contemplation with education, the congregation focuses on promoting Christian humanism through education, serving in schools and universities across several continents.
In 1948 the Government of Canada passed a law that required parental permission and a signature for any child entering a residential school. This requirement did not reduce enrollment.
The combined term “cultural genocide” would seem to apply to the erasure of indigenous culture rather than to fatalities. Regarding fatalities, the figure of 3,200 to 6,000 is offered (some say more), compared to a total 150,000 who attended the residential schools (a fatality rate of 2.1 to 4.0 percent).
Without discounting the tragedies associated with the government’s residential school system, but also acknowledging the virulence of European diseases (small pox, measles, typhus, cholera) on the non-immune First Nations, it might be instructive to know what the death rate of children was in Indian Country apart from the residential schools.
Good educational systems run by wise school teachers prepare the young to be dynamic leaders of their families, communities, societies, nation, and the Planet.
In 1948 the Government of Canada passed a law that required parental permission and a signature for any child entering a residential school. This requirement did not reduce enrollment.
From a faithful Canadian Catholic:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2022/07/30/the-pope-comes-to-apologize/
The combined term “cultural genocide” would seem to apply to the erasure of indigenous culture rather than to fatalities. Regarding fatalities, the figure of 3,200 to 6,000 is offered (some say more), compared to a total 150,000 who attended the residential schools (a fatality rate of 2.1 to 4.0 percent).
Without discounting the tragedies associated with the government’s residential school system, but also acknowledging the virulence of European diseases (small pox, measles, typhus, cholera) on the non-immune First Nations, it might be instructive to know what the death rate of children was in Indian Country apart from the residential schools.
Good educational systems run by wise school teachers prepare the young to be dynamic leaders of their families, communities, societies, nation, and the Planet.