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Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Breaking the Silence: Native Americans
& Historical Trauma Donna Schindler is a psychiatrist and author of Flying Horse: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound (to which I wrote a Foreword). Recently, when Pope Francis apologized to Canadian First Peoples, she wrote the following article. We first met at meetings with indigenous peoples protesting Serra’s canonization several years ago. I remember an indigenous elder saying to me, “if the Pope canonizes
Serra, he will be making war with indigenous peoples the world over.” Sadly, Serra was canonized. As we have been considering, there are times for silence; but there are also times for speaking out and breaking
silence. |
For Native Americans, Historical Trauma is DeadlyBy Donna Schindler Republished with the author’s
permission
The Pope’s recent apology to Canadian natives sharply contrasts with the lack of apology to descendants of the California missions and subsequent canonization of Junipero Serra. |
I have been a psychiatrist for nearly four decades and have worked with indigenous people in New Zealand, the Navajo Nation and California. For the last 25 years, I have been trying to help native communities heal from intergenerational trauma. | On April 1, 2022, Pope Francis delivered a formal apology at the Vatican for the grave harm caused by Canada’s residential school system. Global News |
For colonized indigenous people throughout the world, the unhealed trauma of the past is passed down from
generation to generation resulting in epidemic rates of depression, suicide, domestic violence, substance abuse and illnesses. Like many California residents, I didn’t know much about the history of the missions. Then one day, in 2007, my colleague Joyce Gonzales leaned
over to me during one of our community historical trauma groups at a Native American clinic and whispered, “You know, Donna, the Indians were slaves in the missions.” I had never heard that before. |
Valentin Lopez discusses the California missions and the canonization of Junipero Serra. Donna Schindler. | I began visiting the missions and reading all I could about them, looking for any trace of the Indians that had built them and lived in them. While visiting Mission San Diego, I felt compelled to tell the only other person there, a white
man, that the Indians hadn’t been treated well at the missions. |
Without so much as a pause, he replied, “It’s because they had to wear shoes.” Lack of knowledge amongst otherwise educated people regarding Native American history is shocking. At Mission Carmel
there is only one place that mentions the Indians. It’s a room with a nondescript map entitled “The Indians.” There is a star with a line drawn to it. Nothing else. No note in the cemetery of the Indians who had built the mission and died there. |
I met Bishop Francis Quinn in 2007, just after reading an article about a homily he gave to the Miwok Indians, commemorating the 190th anniversary of the founding of Mission San Rafael Archangel, north of San Francisco. Quinn apologized to the Indians for the mistreatment they received at the hands of the Franciscans. | Since 2008, Bishop Francis Quinn has been part of a team informing the Vatican of the abuses of the California missions under Junipero Serra, receiving only an occasional acknowledgement of
messages received. Donna Schindler. |
The Indians wept. Greg Sarris, their tribal chairman, told the Associated Press that the apology was “unprecedented.” To be continued |
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Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree that silence is sometimes God-like; but sometimes it is radically inappropriate? See Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest, pp. 141, 144f., 154, 192, 224, 260, 279f., 373-76, 443f. Banner Image: Mosaic of St Junipero Serra, ‘Apostle of California’, is depicted in a mosaic above the north arch of the East Portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception just a few feet from where Pope Francis was seated at the Canonization Mass for Serra
Flickr. Photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.,
on Flickr. |
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current
changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
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Join Matthew Fox as he offers a new, 12-week advanced course on the Shift Network:
7 Mystics on Recovering the Sacred and
Forging a New Story for Humanity: Timeless Wisdom to Deepen, Heal & Inspire Your Life Journey. NOTE: There is a prerequisite: In order to take this 12-week advanced course, one must have taken any prior shift course with Matthew Fox (not just the 7-week 7
Mystics course). Tuesdays, August 16-November 1, 5:00pm-6:30pm PT (GMT/UTC-7). Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie virtual retreat, discussing One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. Thursday, August
18, 4:00-6:00pm PT. Learn more HERE.
Join Matthew Fox in a 6-week virtual course on “Mystics, Mysticism and Ourselves as Mystic-Prophets,” hosted by Creation Spirituality Communities. Wednesdays, 8/24, 8/31, 9/7, 9/14,
9/21, and 9/28, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, discussing The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, Thursday, September 15, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality in Conversation |
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Host Sandie Sedbeer welcomes Matthew Fox in a discussion of Creation Spirituality: Fresh Perspectives and Approaches to the Most Vital Issues of Our Time on WHAT IS GOING OM. Navigate to the podcast page by clicking the image on the left. |
Announcing Matthew Fox's Newest Book!
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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an introduction by Charles Burack
“This collection of Fox’s most life-giving insights blesses the connection between caring for our Mother-the-Earth and lifting up marginalized voices, between waking up from the dream of separation and stepping up to mend the net of creation.”
—Mirabai Starr, author, God of Love and Wild Mercy
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