American Indian boarding schools

[tadoflamb]

Yesterday I had one of my students in the store looking at some pre-owned fine pens for her partner. I mentioned that they used to be owned by a priest. She said she thought her partner might appreciate that. He's Chippewa-Sioux and went to boarding school and afterwards spent some time at an abbey. I was surprised by this and ask, "He survived boarding school?"

She looked at me with a serious and sad expression and replied,

"He was institutionalized."

This reminded me of a video Red Fox shared with us before Lent and it's a subject that I've been wanting to approach ever since.

A couple of points I'd like to discuss.

Why haven't I heard of this before? Much has been made of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Church, my diocese was the first diocese in the US to declare bankruptcy because of it and I have to answer to it on a regular basis. Why don't we hear more about these boarding schools?

What was the Catholic Church's role in these boarding schools and what are we doing to make reparations for what we have done?

Below is the video I mentioned above. I'm working my way through it right now. I have to warn you, it's incredibly sad, but I feel as Christians, we can't afford to look the other way any longer.

 

[Giovanna_]

This thread caught my eye in "New Threads". American Indians? Isn't this a oxymoron?

 

[Giovanna_]

But to speak to the thread itself... That's the RCC for ya...

 

[Shiloh Raven]

And this is a liberal Catholic sub-forum and there are specific rules for this forum about how guests to this forum are to conduct themselves while they are here visiting TLT.

The rules are posted here: Statement of Purpose - TLT Statement of Purpose

And less than 30 minutes after Tad posted his OP and opened this thread, someone has posted a snarky remark about an Indigenous issue like American Indian boarding schools and even about Catholics. I wish I could say I was shocked, but that would be dishonest of me.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Why haven't I heard of this before? Much has been made of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Church, my diocese was the first diocese in the US to declare bankruptcy because of it and I have to answer to it on a regular basis. Why don't we hear more about these boarding schools?

"America"/ white man/ military , politicians, corporations, etc etc etc have covered up a thousand times (tragedies, atrocities, history, and current news) what we hear about in regular public news.

i.e. not just the rcc.

Men(overall) are very dishonest, not just a little dishonest.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Yesterday I had one of my students in the store looking at some pre-owned fine pens for her partner. I mentioned that they used to be owned by a priest. She said she thought her partner might appreciate that. He's Chippewa-Sioux and went to boarding school and afterwards spent some time at an abbey. I was surprised by this and ask, "He survived boarding school?"

She looked at me with a serious and sad expression and replied,

"He was institutionalized."

This reminded me of a video Red Fox shared with us before Lent and it's a subject that I've been wanting to approach ever since.

A couple of points I'd like to discuss.

Why haven't I heard of this before? Much has been made of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Church, my diocese was the first diocese in the US to declare bankruptcy because of it and I have to answer to it on a regular basis. Why don't we hear more about these boarding schools?

What was the Catholic Church's role in these boarding schools and what are we doing to make reparations for what we have done?

Below is the video I mentioned above. I'm working my way through it right now. I have to warn you, it's incredibly sad, but I feel as Christians, we can't afford to look the other way any longer.

Thank you for sharing your story, Tad. I know some elders who also survived their boarding school experience. They spoke of the abuse and the cultural genocide that they and the other native children endured at the hands of the Christians in charge of the schools. And although they are elders now, they speak of still dealing with the emotional trauma they experienced when they were children. In fact, psychological studies have proven that Native Americans can suffer from both Historical Trauma and Intergenerational Trauma. And with that in mind, I thought I would share these articles with you again here in your new thread.

'Still experiencing a cultural genocide'

Historical Trauma and Cultural Healing

‘Reeling From The Impact’ of Historical Trauma

"Cultural Genocide" and Native American Children

Trauma May Be Woven Into DNA of Native Americans

Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives’ Inherited Pain

New Documentary Tracks Cultural Genocide of American Indians

Understanding Inter-Generational Trauma and how to stop it – InFocus

New York Conference Addresses Historical Trauma Imposed by Boarding Schools

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

With all the negative effects historically,
realize that it is relatively easy for Jesus to heal all these things in an individual, a family , a groups, and a congregation, if they are seeking Him and willing.

Willingness may be the most important factor besides seeking healing from Him.

It is entirely different than psychs and docs and society deals with everything (often with worse results than they started with).

 

[Davidnic]

The Carlisle School here in PA was particularly vile. To answer of the part of Tads question on Catholic involvement the level to which there was such involvement depends on the area of the country. In areas where the missionaries were catholic it was heavier and in areas were the missionaries were other Christian groups it was not as prevalent.

One of the binding things between most of the schools was the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And they used the school here in PA as a model for many others. It is pretty shameful. We learned about Carlisle in-depth in school in ethics class.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

"America"/ white man/ military , politicians, corporations, etc etc etc have covered up a thousand times (tragedies, atrocities, history, and current news) what we hear about in regular public news.

i.e. not just the rcc.

Men(overall) are very dishonest, not just a little dishonest.

That is true, because the historical and popular facade about America is that this country was founded on freedom, liberty and justice for all, and that could not be further from the truth. America has oppressed, marginalized and discriminated against Native Americans (and other minorities) since its inception, and even beforehand. The latest was at Standing Rock.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

With all the negative effects historically,
realize that it is relatively easy for Jesus to heal all these things in an individual, a family , a groups, and a congregation, if they are seeking Him and willing.

Willingness may be the most important factor besides seeking healing from Him.

It is entirely different than psychs and docs and society deals with everything (often with worse results than they started with).

I know Native Americans who want nothing to do with Christianity, or as they still call it, "the white man's religion"and will spit on the ground whenever the word is mentioned. In fact, some of them despise this religion so deeply that they will disown any family member who converts to it. I have seen it for myself. The popular saying among many of them is, "My ancestors died for me, not Jesus." Some go even further to say that it was because of Jesus that Christians killed and tortured my ancestors. And personally speaking, knowing Jesus is not the answer for everyone, if anything it made life much worse at times. So, what you said may work in theory, but in reality and dealing with trauma, it is whole other story entirely.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

On a side note, I borrowed my username voices that carry from the character Voices That Carry from the Into the West miniseries on the Carlisle Indian School. I admired his bravery and willingness to hold unto his native identity although he was stripped of it. It breaks my heart every time to watch this episode in its entirety. Here is a short clip of that episode.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

Here are more videos for your thread, Tad.

 

[tadoflamb]

But to speak to the thread itself... That's the RCC for ya...

Like the child sex abuse crisis, I suspect this isn't just a Catholic problem.

You're comment brings something else I've been thinking about. Although protestants tend to dismiss any accountability for the responsible for the transgressions of their spiritual kin, generally they're not shy about rubbing my nose in the transgressions of mine. I'll use your own post as an example.

Thing is, while I've had to answer to protestants many times about priest child sex abuse, no one has ever confronted me about the boarding schools.

Why not?

Why does this horror pass largely unnoticed?

 

[FangirlingGOD]

To the original poster, it's people like you that revive my love for humanity. I think bringing attention to this matter speaks volumes for your heart. I did not watch the videos, I knew about this issue beforehand, my grandparents were Indians. They did not encounter anything like this but I've learned about it through research and things like this against any race of people rips my heart out.

 

[tadoflamb]

With all the negative effects historically,
realize that it is relatively easy for Jesus to heal all these things in an individual, a family , a groups, and a congregation, if they are seeking Him and willing.

Willingness may be the most important factor besides seeking healing from Him.

It is entirely different than psychs and docs and society deals with everything (often with worse results than they started with).

As Christian and a convert I can't disagree but I do find your solution a little simplistic.

I was never abused by Christians and certainly my culture and family hasn't suffered at the hands of Christianity, still I spent the first 40 years on the outside looking in to Christianity. I wanted to belong, but from the outside, the Church looks like a mess. It's a near miracle that I am a Christian, much less a Catholic.

Given the abuses these elders received as little children it's little wonder that many of them hate Christianity. If I had known about this before my conversion, it would have made it that much harder. One more stumbling block set forth by Christianity itself. I think Christians need to acknowledge the harm our spiritual kin has done to the Body by the harm we've inflicted on others.

I think it's important to acknowledge that Native Americans have their own culture and their own spirituality in which they can find healing. That's what the video in the OP is about. I think that as Christians, if we're going to be a part of that healing, that we should step back, listen attentively and be held accountable for what we have done and resolve to fight those prejudices and institutions which still oppress Indigenous peoples.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

But there are few Christians that I know or have encountered who are willing to acknowledge what Christians once did to Native Americans, Tad. In fact, many firmly refuse to and insist that the Christians who did commit atrocities against Native Americans were not "true Christians" in the first place. Some of these Christians have even said it was all in the past, so get over it and stop playing the victim. Basically, they try to shame and shun anyone who brings this very uncomfortable truth to light.

 

[tadoflamb]

As an addendum to my above post; While telling someone who has suffered so much at the hands of those who claim to love Jesus that they need Jesus seems to be a fruitless, and even hurtful endeavor it brought to mind a friend of mine here on CF who want's to believe but struggles to believe. Although she's sincerely tried, she just can't bring herself to believe. Some Christians on this forum have laid the cause of her disbelief directly on her. It's her own fault.

My concern here is that the victims of abuse by Christians are probably not going to be very receptive to the message that they need Jesus. Not only does this compound the injury in my mind it also buts the blame on the victim when they fail to convert thus allowing Christians to wash there hands of any culpability.

Washing his hands didn't work for Pontius Pilate and it won't work for me.

 

[tadoflamb]

But there are few Christians that I know or have encountered who are willing to acknowledge what Christians once did to Native Americans, Tad. In fact, many firmly refuse to and insist that the Christians who did commit atrocities against Native Americans were not "true Christians" in the first place. Some of these Christians have even said it was all in the past, so get over it and stop playing the victim. Basically, they try to shame and shun anyone who brings this very uncomfortable truth to light.

"Not real Christians".

Talk about washing your hands.

Over here in the Catholic Church we don't have that luxury. We are held accountable for the sins of spiritual kin. It's like being a part of a real family. You've got some family members you're proud of and others you'd rather not mention.

I've said before, and I'll say it again, it would be a lot easier to get over if IT DIDN'T KEEP HAPPENING.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

"Not real Christians".

Talk about washing your hands.

Over here in the Catholic Church we don't have that luxury. We are held accountable for the sins of spiritual kin. It's like being a part of a real family. You've got some family members you're proud of and others you'd rather not mention.

I've said before, and I'll say it again, it would be a lot easier to get over if IT DIDN'T KEEP HAPPENING.

It does keep happening. Standing Rock is the perfect example of the continued oppression, marginalization and discrimination Native Americans still face in this country today.

 

[Fantine]

The Jesuits are giving 550 acres back to the Lakota Sioux.