The Wounds of the Past
St. Jerome's University Lectures in Catholic Experience
On September 28, 2023, Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina, Saskatchewan was the guest speaker for St. Jerome’s University’s first Lecture in Catholic Experience for the 2023-2024 school year. Archbishop Bolen’s lecture was entitled THE WOUNDS OF THE PAST, TRUTH-TELLING AND A FUTURE OF HOPE: THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY AND THE PATH OF RECONCILIATION.
“The lecture situates the Church’s contemporary response to papal bulls of the 15th century, which provided moral justification for colonizing powers to claim as their own lands which had long been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples, within the context of the challenge of dealing well with sinful actions from within the Church in the past. It explores what the recent Vatican statement on the Doctrine of Discovery said and didn’t say, and how it has been received. And it reflects on the larger work of reconciliation and the challenge of proclaiming and being faithful to the Gospel in a context where wounds from the past continue to impact present relations.”
If you were unable to attend, you can watch the lecture in the video below. In a world which seems to be increasingly fraught with violence, let us all work in our own small ways for peace and justice for all.