Truth and Healing: US congregations face complicity

07/22/2022 7:08 am


"US congregations face their own complicity in trauma of Native boarding schools" is the title of the Global Catholic Sisters Report article published July 21. FSPA is one of a few congregations interviewed for the story, which also highlights Pope Francis' trip to Canada where he will follow up on his apology made in Rome in April.

Sister Eileen McKenzie talks about FSPA's history of administering St. Mary's Boarding School in Odanah, Wisconsin. "People have said, 'Why did you wait so long to confront this? Why are you just waking up now to this?'" McKenzie said.  "[There] was an effective erasure. In my world, that policy [of erasure] worked, but my world is a world of white supremacy. [This history] has been erased in my culture."

Read: "US congregations face their own complicity in trauma of Native boarding schools"

About FSPA's Truth and Healing

We are a religious congregation with a history of administering a Native American boarding school during the era of assimilating Indigenous children into Euro-American culture. We're studying our own history and impact at St. Mary’s Boarding School in Odanah, Wisconsin, from 1883 to 1969. Our hope is that as we listen to the painful and tragic experiences of Indigenous communities and take responsibility for the role we played, we can take action in dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy in ourselves and our areas of influence. Our intention is to address our complicity in unjust systems, both historically and now, and strive to enhance dignity and wholeness to those who have suffered for generations. Follow FSPA's Truth and Healing public webpage here.


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