National Indigenous Peoples Day

 

June 21: National Indigenous Peoples Day. How much do you know of the Indigenous history of the place where you live, or where you work?

It was only last year that I learnt that we are all treaty people, and only this year that I learnt that the treaties are not deeds of sale. I highly recommend a book by Bob Joseph: 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.

Some Thoughts on the Feast of Corpus Christi

I grew up as a privileged white male Catholic in Apartheid South Africa. In my senior high school days I slowly started to become politically aware, increasingly so through my student days and into adulthood. Outspoken critics of apartheid such as Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Eugene Hurley O.M.I., Catholic Archbishop of my home town, Durban, inspired me and others to try to live with integrity as a Christian in the context of that place and time. 

There were also a few priests who dared to interpret and apply the Sunday mass readings to the social context and unjust laws of that time. These were all branded by politicians and by many in the white congregations as "meddlesome priests" and "churchmen meddling in politics who should stick to religion," even though there was nothing partisan in their homilies. Some were arrested and deported. Others were detained for 72 hours for questioning, released as required by law, and then immediately detained again for another 72 hours of 'questioning', all within the law. A close priest friend of mine, Fr Cosmas Desmond O.F.M., was banned and placed under house arrest. Another close friend, Fr Casimir Paulsen cmm, was arrested and then deported. Author, Catholic theologian and National Chaplain of the Young Christian Students (YCS) Albert Nolan O.P., went into hiding for a period.

More deafening, however, was the pious and devout silence of the majority of Christian and Catholic preachers. As happened in Germany after the Second World War, so after the fall of apartheid, the Catholic Church scrambled to find names of priests and bishops who had 'grasped the nettle' and spoken out against the evils of the previous regime.

With this as background, I recommend to your reading pleasure the Sunday Scripture Reflection for the Feast of Corpus Christi this year from the Catholic Theological Union by Scott C Alexander. I believe that this is an excellent example of "grasping the nettle".

We are all God's children