Canadian bishops promised last September that dioceses would put $30-million toward initiatives that offer healing opportunities for residential school survivors, their relatives and larger communities
When 48 Catholic church entities signed on to fundraise $25-million for survivors under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, it was spelled out they would do so through their “best efforts.”“It was a weasel clause,” the former Manitoba regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations said in a recent interview.In total, that fundraising campaign raised less than $4-million.
The discovery last year of what are believed to be hundreds of unmarked graves at former schools in Western Canada also shone a fresh spotlight on the failures of Catholic entities to raise the funds for survivors in the past., who is expected to apologize for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in operating residential schools.
While the Vatican is thought to hold considerable wealth, fundraising for reconciliation has been undertaken by Canadian Catholic entities. Leaders say the church in Canada has a decentralized structure, meaning decisions are made by individual dioceses. The fund, which was registered as a charity in March, is accepting contributions as well reviewing proposals for where money could go, the conference said.
As part of its efforts, the archdiocese put on hold a multimillion-dollar campaign to fund cathedral renovations and a pastoral centre. “In the church, it’s coming to see history in a new way,” Bolen said, “to see the history of Catholic engagement with Indigenous Peoples in a new lens, really attentive to the experience of suffering.”
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Catholic dioceses failed in past to raise money promised to survivors. Will they now?When 48 Catholic church entities signed on to fundraise $25 million for survivors under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, it was spelled out they would do so through their 'best efforts.' That fundraising campaign raised less than $4 million.
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