This has been a momentous week as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has been in Canada.  This is the first Papal visit to our country since Pope John Paul II was here in 2002.   Pope Francis has described his trip to Canada as a penitential pilgrimage whose purpose, according to the Pope, was to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in what he called government-sponsored “projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation”, referring to the abuse of indigenous Canadian children in church-run residential schools.  While here, the Pope “humbly apologized” to Indigenous communities as a meaningful step toward healing and reconciliation.  I’m a baby boomer who grew up Roman Catholic, and I remember attending church with my family every Sunday.   I do not remember hearing anything about residential schools, because they weren’t mentioned, either in church or in history classes in school.  It wasn’t until long after I became an adult that I found out about these schools and how they effectively tried to rob indigenous children of their language and culture through forced assimilation which in many instances included mental, physical and sexual abuse.  Declining church attendance aside, nearly 11 million Canadians identify as Catholic so, as I said off the top, the Pope’s visit has made for a momentous week and has pretty much dominated the news.  It has been a positive step on the road to Truth and Reconciliation. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.