Church doctrine end doesn't erase Indigenous residential school history, tribal members say

Apr. 9—TRAVERSE CITY — Indigenous leaders and councils of sovereign nations welcomed the recent long-sought repudiation from the Vatican of the "Doctrine of Discovery."

Yet many citizens and survivors continue to call for church acknowledgement of its role in the residential school system that mistreated children and destroyed cultures and families.

A Vatican statement published last week said the papal bulls, or decrees, "did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples" and "have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith."

The Vatican statement cited three papal bulls: the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493).

The Dum Diversas allowed Pope Nicholas V to establish the right of conquest, which set the stage for the infamous Inter Caetera from Pope Alexander VI, that declared any land was available to be discovered, claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers. It additionally said "the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself."

The 15th century theories legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands — the Inter Caetera was one year after Columbus first arrived in what are now known as the Americas — and form the basis of some property laws today, as last cited in a 2005 Supreme Court decision involving the Oneida Indian Nation.

The government of the United States was heavily influenced by the doctrine in 1823, when the U.S. Supreme Court used it as the basis for its ruling that Indigenous people had only the rights of occupancy, not ownership, over lands on which they dwelled. This made way for non-Natives to seize Native lands across the country and commit acts of genocide that led to the near annihilation of Indigenous Peoples.

Veronica Pasfield, a citizen of Bay Mills Indian Community, said last week was not a historic moment, and that the Catholic church needs to admit its role in justifying the mass genocide of Indigenous people's culture and livelihoods in the name of Christianity.

"Considering how intensely Catholicism concerns itself with authentic confession, contrition, and penance, I'm surprised at the Vatican's problematic renunciation," she said.

Pasfield is a boarding school scholar with a doctorate. She is also a descendant of Indian boarding school survivors from Mt. Pleasant and Ontario residential institutions. She said she doesn't believe Pope Francis fulfilled the full moral promise in either the repudiation of the doctrine or in his incomplete apology for Catholic Indian residential schools last year.

"The sins of the Catholic church cannot be blamed on greedy nation-states or deviant priests," Pasfield said. "The doctrine is core to the expansionist project of the Catholic Church itself. This is a moment to lead, to show the world that the Vatican accepts its own call to mercy and contrition."

The repudiation continues to distance the Vatican from acknowledging actual culpability in abuses, she said.

"In order to heal, we must have the truth," said Pasfield.

CEO of the National Native American Boarding School (NABS) Healing Coalition and citizen of the Tulalip Tribes Deborah Parker said in a statement the doctrine imposed itself into U.S. policies and played a crucial role in justifying the genocide of Native peoples, which led to a series of "atrocities."

The NABS organization calls for complete access to Indian boarding school documents, which the Catholic Church has refused to provide, the statement said, and "that the Church returns lands to the Tribal Nations in which it operated Indian boarding schools."

NABS called on church officials to support the Truth and Healing Bill, which would establish a federal commission and conduct a full inquiry into the assimilative policies of the U.S. Indian boarding schools, Parker said.

Miskopwaaganikwe Leora Tadgerson, citizen of the Gnoozhikaaning-Bay Mills Indian Community and Wiikwemkong First Nations, echoed calls to hold the church accountable and "urge our tribes to create a localized list of demands."

Tadgerson, who serves as the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, said she hopes the Catholic church officials take part in tribal consultation to understand the actual needs for sovereign nations, "not assume they know what's best for Indigenous communities."

For residential boarding school survivor Karen Wasageshik, a citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, she said the repudiation must carry with it accountability and reparations, otherwise the act of the symbolic gesture "does not mean anything."

Wasageshik, in previous interviews, discussed the verbal and physical abuse she endured and witnessed on a "daily basis," when she attended New L'Arbre Croche Mission School, or Holy Childhood in Harbor Springs as a child.

Survivors like Wasagheshik and others reported abuse that was sexual, physical, verbal, and spiritual.

"We're left with having to understand why they (the church) had to treat us like that ... as children," Wasagheshik said.

The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour crisis support to former Indian Residential School students and their families toll-free at 1-866-925-4419 or call the StrongHearts Native Helpline at 1-844-762-8483.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Report for America corps member and Indigenous Affairs' reporter Sierra Clark's work is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership.

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