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	Churches, Members Coping with Burden of Guilt By Lindor Reynolds Winnipeg Free Pres June 18, 2010 http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/churches-members-coping-with-burden-of-guilt-96636854.html When he was a young priest in the '60s, Rev. Bob Webster was offered the chance to volunteer at a residential school. "I thought it would be like a camp," the Anglican minister says today. "I thought the kids would play games and sports and have a good academic program. I heard they'd go home once a month and their parents could visit them whenever they wanted." He shakes his head sombrely. "I had no idea, no conception of what was going on there." He didn't take the volunteer position and is forever grateful. I am an Anglican. Webster was once my parish priest. He may not have been involved in the residential schools directly but he, like so many other clergy, carries a burden of shame and guilt. It's a guilt shared to a lesser or greater degree by many Christians. If you look at a map produced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission you'll see residential schools dotting every province and territory. Most Christian faiths -- Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Mennonite, non-denominational, Presbyterian and United -- are represented. The schools, scattered like a broken string of black pearls, reveal a sordid history that cannot be erased. What First Nations people and Christian believers (sometimes they're one and the same) need is a greater understanding of the impact residential schools had on all of us. Webster has chosen to wear his black shirt and priest's collar to the interfaith tent at The Forks. A large cross hangs around his neck. He debated wearing street clothes, he says, but realized he'd be hiding who he truly is. "I had to be prepared to hear hard words," he says quietly. "If they need to say something to a church member they can say it directly." In 1993, former Anglican primate Michael Peers issued an apology on behalf of our church. "I have felt shame and humiliation as I have heard of suffering inflicted by my people, and as I think of the part our church played in that suffering," he wrote. For many of us in the pews, it was an acknowledgement of something only rumoured or talked about in whispers. We knew, in the vague way most Canadians knew, but had not allowed ourselves to understand the depth of the cultural genocide. We looked away rather than looking inward. The institution in which we had literal faith betrayed generations of children under the guise of saving them. "I don't feel personal guilt," says Webster. "I feel a corporate guilt. The church is the church is the church. We bear the burden of the sins of our forefathers." The impact, he surmises, is the same as that felt by some Germans for the Nazi atrocities during the Second World War. They weren't there. They didn't commit the acts. But the Holocaust happened in their country (and others) while people stood by silently. There have been plenty of prayers at The Forks this week, sacred fires lit and a calling on God and the Creator for healing. Christians have stood shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, with First Nations people. The reconciliation is a fragile process and one fraught with deep pain and broken promises. The tenderness and respect shown by the participants allows us to rejoice in the power and resilience of the spirit. The five-year mandate of the TRC won't be long enough to complete healing. That will take the number of generations equal to, or greater than, the decades residential schools harmed innocents in the name of God. If you were raised in a faith you can understand the betrayal that comes when a priest (or an entire church) sins. The abuse of children, residential schools and other sexual improprieties cleave parishes and dioceses. Part of our faith and public statement is the belief it will strengthen us. When churches do harm, when they act like a funhouse mirror to the sanctity of our belief, we are failed. I do feel guilt, both as a Christian and as a Canadian whose society has long felt free to marginalize its First Nations people. May God, and they, forgive us. Contact: lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca
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