Our parish’s Social Justice Committee,
which my husband and I co-chair, hosted the Social Justice in Motion Conference
of the Archdiocese of Regina this past Saturday. We are so fortunate to belong to an inspiring and dedicated
team (nine people in all) with great ideas and the desire to realize them.
My husband and I are very protective of our
time in retirement. We are very
careful about what we commit to (often it’s hard to « escape » once
you’ve signed on). Volunteerism
can be a black hole just as deep as teaching ever was. Still, social justice is critical to
us, so we got involved two years ago.
Our team’s efforts are designed to support people in crisis at home and
elsewhere, foster awareness and understanding, encourage dialogue, and effect
change on a small scale. We live
by the mantra: Think Small.
Incremental change is the business we’re in, one event, one speaker, one
conversation, one person, one insight at a time. Hosting the archdiocesan social justice conference seemed to
fit in to our modus operandi.
The challenge for this particular
conference, a sequel to last year’s, as Bert Pitzel, the Archdiocesan Social
Justice Coordinator indicated, was to provide participants with an experience
of interactive strategies they could use in their own parishes to start a
conversation on reconciliation with First Nations and Métis peoples.
Bert came across the video "Native Knowing" by Larry Merculieff, an Aleut indigenous
messenger and teacher, underpinned
the entire conference. In
that TED talk, Merculieff maintains that Western society works in reverse: the
mind informs the heart, rather than the heart informing the mind. Aleut children learn by observing their
adult mentors and nature, rather than by having their minds filled with other
people’s thoughts and conclusions.
The message for us as conference planners was clear: few
words and lots of action and reflection.
Sessions needed to be interactive, so that participants could deepen their understanding not only
from the content, but also from their emotional impact and from the ensuing
conversation. The conference would
work on two levels, the what, and the how. In essence, the conference attempted to mirror First Nations
ways of knowing.
The conversations allowed participants to
make meaning by considering the connections other participants made to a common
experience. Throughout the day, a
diverse group shared ideas with a few people and in the large group. Roman Catholics and their Christian
brothers and sisters from other denominations, young people and seniors and those in between, First Nations
people, as well as people originally from India and Korea, all contributed to a
rich dialogue from various perspectives.
 |
| Lyndon Linklater |
The Blanket Exercise got people up and
moving. Ruth Robillard and her students from SIIT (Saskatchewan
Indian Institute of Technologies) provided an interactive dramatization that connected
participants with both mind and heart to the history of First Nations peoples,
from a shared experience of the land and peaceful trading to the expropriation
of First Nations lands and of their children.
After lunch, Lyndon Linklater took up
Treaty as a path to reconciliation, calling it an "undiscovered country." He asked the
participants to imagine their responses if visitors from a dying planet
indicated that they were coming to reside on Earth to escape calamity at home. They were coming—it was just a question
of treaty or no treaty. His
simulation helped participants understand the situation the inhabitants of this
land faced as Europeans arrived, stayed, and settled. Lyndon provided an original, immediate, and
captivating context around which to frame an understanding of Treaty. One participant, who had indicated to me
that he would leave after lunch to attend to an afternoon commitment, delayed
his departure until the last possible minute, in order to experience as much of
Lyndon’s session as possible.
 |
| Archbishop Donald Bolen |
The final segments dealt with the
consequences of Canada’s history with First Nations and Métis peoples. First, Presley Thompson shared his experiences as a
former gang member who has turned his life around. His courage and sincerity underlined the strength needed to
surmount the consequences of a childhood compromised as a result of the lasting
effects of residential schools and attempted cultural annihilation.
After the testimonial, table groups wrestled with question, Now what? How could both individuals and parishes
nurture relationships with First Nations
through experiences and conversations? Even more to the point, how might the conference sessions as
well as books, films, and speakers listed in a resource document be a catalyst
for dialogue? Archbishop Donald
Bolen then connected the day’s experience with the Call to Action growing out
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the responsibility of the
Church to respond to that call.
That call to action brought the day full
circle to a holistic conclusion.
It informed the closing prayer (so powerful that it is reprinted below
in its entirety), and put the exclamation mark on what planners hoped was a
memorable day for participants, and what, for planners, was the satisfaction of
supporting another step on the path of reconciliation and justice.
We Can Not Merely Pray
Jack Riemer
Likrat Shabbat
We cannot merely pray
to you O God to end war;
For the World is made
in such a way
That we must find our
own path of peace
Within ourselves and
with our neighbors.
We cannot merely pray
to you O God to root out Prejudice:
for we already have
eyes
With which to see the
good in all people
If we would only use
them rightly.
We cannot merely pray
to you O God to end starvation:
For we already have
the resources
With which to feed the
entire World
If we would only use
them wisely.
We cannot merely pray
to you O God to end despair:
For we already have
the power
To clear away slums
and to give hope
If we would only use
our power justly.
We cannot merely pray
to you O God to end disease:
For we already have
great minds
With which to search
out cures and healings
If we would only use
them constructively.
Therefore we pray
instead
For strength,
determination, and will power,
To do instead of
merely to pray
To become instead of
merely to wish:
So that our World may
be safe,
And so that our lives
may be blessed.
