Has anyone heard about this statement from legitimate Mohawk leaders to the church? should these papal bulls..?

Question

be rescinded?
____________________________________________________
Secretary-General of the Mohawk Nation of the Grand River Rejects Pope's "apology", Disassociates from "chief" Phil Fontaine

In a letter to Pope Joseph Ratzinger at the Vatican, dated May 3, 2009, Arnold Douglas, Secretary-General of the Grand River Mohawk Nation in Ontario, Canada, rejected Ratzinger's recent "apology" to Indian residential school survivors, and disassociated his nation from the actions of the so-called "chief" Phil Fontaine of the government's Assembly of First Nations.

Copies of Arnold Douglas' letter were sent to the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Fontaine, the Eastern Orthodox church, Elizabeth Windsor, aka "queen of England", the Canadian government, and Kevin Annett.

The letter stated, in part,

Dear Pope Benedict,

... We are amazed that your advisors have not advised you that the Assembly of First Nations do not represent the Ohnkwehonwe. We are the original beings and thus the caretakers of this Land ... The Assembly of First Nations, however, represents only those of our People who have become citizens of Canada and do not, in any way, represent us ...

Your Church must accept responsibility, not only for the acts of genocide during the twentieht century but, more importantly, for the original Papal Bulls which confirmed that, as we were without Christian souls, European nations were authorized to seize our lands and, by extension, to murder our People in an endeavour to seize the great wealth which your Church realized we possessed.

As an ongoing integral part of your culpabaility in relation to the acts of genocide committed against us, your church then actively participated in the kidnapping of our children by armed thugs, otherwise known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, forcing them at gun point into residential schools where they were raped and murdered by your clergy and others in a campaign which included germ warfare against us.

At a time when the world still seeks punishment against those responsible for the holocaust against our brothers and sisters of the Jewish tradition, we are offended and, indeed, enraged in the knowledge that over 50% of our children were murdered at the hands of Canada's servants in concert with the action of the Christian church and yet you, as the Head of that Church, appeat to think that all you have to do is offer an apology and all is forgiven.

... We do not accept your apology.

You must be aware and you must not be allowed to forget that clergy, many of them under the authority of the Catholic Church, murdered our children by exposing them to deadly diseases (smallpox, tuberculosis and others) and this in a deliberate attempt to eliminate us ... Accordingly, neither you nor Canadian officials will be permitted to plead ignorance in this regard. Being aware of these atrocities, you have a moral and a legal obligation to seek justice for the victims of such crime. Clearly, therefore, you were, are and always will be held accountable for this mass murder of innocent children.

... We will not enter into a common future with people who would allow such injustice to continue. We demand a full and impartial investigation of those atrocities and that those responsible for them be brought to justice.

We can advise you further that, in view of the ongoing policy of genocide being perpetrated against us by Canada, we have expressed our concerns, as representatives of the sovereign Mohawk Nation, to the International Criminal Court at the Hague and this with a view to having the Court acknowledge our sovereignty as a Nation, and, by extension, to seek an investigation of the atrocities being perpetarted against us by Canada.

... As an initial step in that process, we would anticipate that you would withdraw the Papal Bulls which, in our opinion, were responsible for the genocidal policy ... throughout Turtle Island.

Please acknowledge receipt of the present correspondence.

Sincerely,
(signature)
Arnold Douglas
Secretary General, Mohawk Nation
RR #1
Mohawk Territory at Grand River
Turtle Island N0A 1M0

Answer 1

I recently heard an excerpt from it. I can sympathize. I have emphathy.



But honestly, I'm getting tired of people pointing fingers towards Catholics.....because if we want to refer to historical damage, it was predominately inflicted by Spaniards, if not all of them. I'm sure it is predominately white people in the contemporary dealings as well. But just slashing the "Catholics," "the Church" and "Christians" is very very broad. Blood is not on the hands of every person who is Catholic. My people were trying to survive in Costa Rica--we never tried to convert anyone against their will or rip off cultures.



Ok....well, I think a lot of my frustration is that people confuse Hispanics, specifically with the Spaniards. It's wasn't my ancestors nor the people of today who have taken any part in any monstrosities that are going on. That's where a lot of misconceptions and ignorance lie.



To answer your question, no. It does not sound like an apology. BUT if folks want to start dishing out apologizes for **** like this, I want an apology from EVERY EUROPEAN NATION who's committed some heinous act against modern-day minority groups. I want them to apologize for murdering hundreds of millions of people.



"We do not accept your apology." Okay. Cubans wouldn't accept Castro's apology (if he wanted to give one) for his vile deeds. Descendants of the African Diaspora didn't take kindly to France's apology for its role in the slave trade. But I don't think they let that engulf them.



I realize this is a tall order. Do I think it will happen? No. But it's a nice thought.



EDIT: I just absorbed the fact that the letter was addressed to Pope Benedict. That 82 year old Pope. I hope he doesn't have health issues--that letter might kill him.



Maybe I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but what more is needed/expected? An apology, albeit a wishy-washy one was issued, but if the "Catholic Church" could scrounge and gather the "persecutors" up, prosecute them, (and I'm assuming, incarcerate them for the rest of their lives) am I to understand that everyone's minds would be at ease?



EDIT 2: Wow, that's not what I said. And I'm pretty sure I didn't imply anything of that nature. That's why I did the first edit and said that if the "Catholic Church" could round up the abusers, what more would they be responsible for--conducting trials and placing the offenders in prison for the rest of these days upon this Earth, or massacring them/violating them in the same way that the children were? And I wasn't just dropped off the turnip truck either--I realize Hispanics aren't involved in this--I was just using that as a medium with the two other scenarios of injustices that I described. This is synonymous with my first edit, and if that's a lack of understanding or misinterpretation on my part, then I must have a hell of a lot more living to do.

Answer 2

Although I agree with Arnold Douglas that the church has some culpability in these issues, the government of Canada has never been run by the Catholic church, and it is the government that set policies regarding the native peoples in Canada (of which many are counted among my own ancestors).



That being said, however, I agree that the church should withdraw any and ALL papal bulls which are discriminatory against native people in any nation, and further the church should take a public stand saying that governmental policies ought to be favorable rather than genocidal or discriminatory with regards to the natives.



The church should ALWAYS take a conciliatory course of action when it comes to dealing with people whom they have previously harmed.

Answer 3

I am so glad that this question is back. It was delated while I was trying to answer it a few days ago. I am so pleased with the actions of The Mohawk Nation. I am pleased that they sent this letter to those they sent it to. Especially the Hague. Everytime I'm at a conference or forum and someone speajs of a delegation to the UN I listen and wait for the Elders to say they words then I ask why? Why the UN, the usa and britain heave veto rights so they will never do anything AND this is a Hague issue. Treaty rights are protected under International law and the acts of genocide are spelled out clearly in it. I am also proud that my Husbands people have made such and intelligent and educated decision. I agree with the statement about the pansies in the AFN. The AFN is a joke, a political bone thrown to us, and to many of us are lickin it. They Have no say or athority in government. Just there to let us pretend we have a voice. It is true that the church is responsible for the acts carried out by their people. Doesn't thier belief require them to name their sins to achieve forgiveness? These means admitting and owning responsibility...I'd like to see it. There are many people in our family who were in those schools. yep they are alive tosay, one is just a few years older then I am. The sins of the north american government and the curch, are modern history, they are also todays reality. Again, when I heard the news, I was happy and proud of that letter.

Answer 4

He's a nut. He hits people. He screams constantly. I've heard a number of stories from people who worked with him. This statement (that he made) is bugf**k crazy. I also think that he seems wackier than he used to. This statement seems worse than previous ones. Perhaps it's because the cult is beleagured and in the public eye more than ever before, church members are leaving in droves and Marc Headley (who posts as blownforgood- I urge readers to google his posts) has blown the lid on so much of what's going on and has filed a lawsuit against the cult. This probably all increases Miscavige's paranoia and now he probably wants to rationalize and justify like crazy because heaven forfend that he ever take any personal responsibility for the harm he causes.

Answer 5

I do understand them wanting an active apology. To take back statements that were hurtful and to work to repair bridges. I dont understand them holding old Ratzinger responsible for events that took place when he was just a little boy in Germany. It seems he is just as responsible as the king of Timbuktu.

Answer 6

no, nobody heard of it, besides the mohawks who wrote it and the vatican clerk who opened the letter and filed it as the "recyclable paper".