Suffer the Little Children

The sorrow that has lately been stirred from the embers of receding memories in the matter of indigenous children, who in past generations disappeared into the misty operations of residential homes that were funded by the Canadian government and run by the Catholic Church, has aroused a variety of responses. Some seem to think that there was something sinister --- perhaps a depopulation plot --- going on. Others think that it is much ado about nothing. A balanced perspective probably leads to something in between.

Relying on what we hear in the News is unlikely to provide the take that one might have from listening to First Nations survivors of both residential schools and day schools operated by the Catholic Church. I well recall sitting in a conference of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations held in wintry Yorkton, Saskatchewan a couple of years ago, and listening the first-hand recollections being shared with the audience. What most sticks with me is the account of one man who told about being a young boy and witnessing a priest from the school show up at his family’s home and requiring to see the boy’s older sister. The children’s father had the priest in, and the priest commenced beating the girl on account of some minor school infraction, while the parents stood by. The impression I received was that the parents thought this was their duty or at least that they felt powerless.  This was both a wow and a weeping moment for me. I am a father. I have a daughter. And if something like that had happened in front of me in regards to my daughter, it may have been the last thing that priest would ever have done…..at least in this life. It is amazing to me that parents would be of a mind where they thought they had to allow the bully priest into their home to abuse their daughter. I suspect it was the result of decades of conditioning.

But how does a priest come to be like that? The Catholic Church has been responsible for many remarkable and commendable good works. At the same time, it has bred and countenanced some of the vilest of behaviors. Perhaps its very size dictates the probability of there being a very wide range of behaviors extant within its domain. It is huge. Jesus, of course, does not seem to have contemplated that his church would operate on such a scale. He referred to his church as a “little flock” (Luke 12:32). Perhaps quality control is harder to maintain within a large organization. I say “perhaps” because I can think of arguments against my statement.

I suspect that the celibacy practices have been psychologically damaging to many priests. It is an unnatural way to live. There are some adults for whom the single and celibate life is a good fit, but I suspect they are a small minority. I can see a priest seething inside with unresolved frustrations arising from celibacy, and manifesting the anger through abuse of defenseless children.

I do not believe that the mass graves at residential schools indicates some deliberate destructive action. The schools ran during times of great epidemics, and children would have died. What I don’t get is why the families were not notified. Why are there so many indigenous people today who do not know what happened to certain family members after they were sent to a residential school?

The current scandal reminds me of another mostly forgotten similar scar on Canadian history --- the forced removal of Dukhobor children from their families. And to think that the criminals behind such a practice were allowed to retire and draw their government pensions. It’s disgusting.