One week before this year’s Holy Week, the Vatican announced that the centuries long Doctrine of Discovery had been rescinded on March 30th. The Doctrine of Discovery is a series of papal bulls dating back to the 15th century used to justify the Conquest and Colonization. In a time of so many breaking news stories in our 24-7 news cycle why would such news be so earth shakingly unusual or cause more than passing interest for anyone?
Yet for many Maryknollers who have lived and worked among indigenous peoples across the Americas for eighty years in Peru, Bolivia, Chile Mexico and Central America, this was indeed a hugely important development. Moreover, for the millions of indigenous it was and is a landmark, watershed recognition of the human and religious rights of these peoples and their ancestors of 500 years of suffering for the mere fact of their existence.
Over against the painful loss of lives, identity and human rights this is more than a just and long overdue restitution and another step in the healing process of memories. For many of these first nations it is the first in the long process of the healing of memories. That it came about as the Christian world entered into Holy Week and Easter it is clearly a sign of the Resurrection and the Risen Christ equal to any of the appearances we read about in this Easter Season in the Gospel and in Acts and now on the Feasts of Pentecost, Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi.
We might ask how this came about? Were it not for the struggles of resistance by the indigenous leaders and communities themselves, such as what we call the “heartbeat of Wounded Knee,” this likely would not have occurred. After the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 many thought this tragic event spelled the end of Native American culture and history. But, a quiet revolution and revival of language and claims for dignity and human rights have ushered in this new stage.
More recently, thanks to the prophetic witness of Pope Francis (followed by that of Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa to Jesuit mission towns in South Dakota) who journeyed last year to the remote areas and sacred sites of the Canadian “prairie provinces” and sacred lands and initiated a dialogue with indigenous peoples it might not have come to pass. (See New York Times Article and photo) In a small but significant way our mission to and with and among the indigenous since 1942 has played a role in revival throughout the Americas for which we can all be proud. It is a legacy, heritage and historical memory I am committed to document in whatever time I have left as a Maryknoll missioner.
Stephen Judd, M.M.
Fr. Steve is the Director of Maryknoll’s Mission Formation Programs
