Reconciliation a 'key role' for Catholic Church, says new archbishop of Winnipeg

In a ceremony earlier this month, Murray Chatlain walked into St. Mary's Cathedral to be ordained the Roman Catholic Church's eighth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. 

Just before walking to the altar at the beginning of the ceremony, Chatlain stopped at the back of the church, removed his headwear and rings, closed his eyes and smudged his body. A group of First Nations drummers played and sang a welcome to the new archbishop. 

To Chatlain, bringing First Nations tradition to the church is essential for the many parishioners in Manitoba who want to observe their Indigenous spirituality and practise the Catholic faith.

But celebrating both is also part of building a relationship with Indigenous people, he said, and a step forward toward reconciliation.

"We did some harm, some serious harm," said Chatlain. "For the church to just walk away after doing harm, I don't think it's mature or appropriate, and so … we need to be present to how they are trying to be healing."

By celebrating the culture and language of Indigenous people, Chatlain is hoping the church can find the balance that ideally would have existed at the start of the relationship.

"A key role for us is reconciliation," he said.

Chatlain said there is still a long way to go, so reconciliation will be a priority for him as archbishop — much as it has been for him in other communities where he's served, he said.

"It always starts by getting to know each other and listening," said Chatlain, whose archdiocese includes a wide swath of southern Manitoba.

"So I hope to be able to meet with and hear some of our Indigenous peoples in Winnipeg." 

After being ordained in the late 1980s, Chatlain spent his early years as priest in Saskatoon, before being posted to Indigenous communities with Catholic parishioners in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories within the Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, where his work led him to studying the Dene language. 

In 2012 Chatlain was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas, which covers parts of northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. As in his previous posting, he worked closely with Indigenous people in communities like Grand Rapids First Nation, Grand Hill First Nation and Lac Brochet, he said.

"They made me a better priest," Chatlain said. "They helped me to recognize that the spiritual world is with us all the time … [and] to appreciate that somebody dedicated to God is a gift." 

'We're reconciling now'

Just as the northern communities where he worked left a lasting impact on Chatlain, some of his former parishioners in those communities say the archbishop's work moved the needle on reconciliation with the Catholic Church. 

"I always called him a 'bush bishop,'" said Bernard Wood of St. Theresa Point First Nation. "Every time when I get closer to [him] I feel as if I am near Jesus, feeling warmth … feeling that kindness and understanding of what we are going through."

His relationship with Chatlain spans years. During that time, Wood said the archbishop's work in his northeastern Manitoba First Nation started with listening to the changes the congregation said they needed in order to feel closer to the Catholic Church.

"He worked with us.… He guided us on how we can do things," Wood said. "We saw that he was closer to us."

During Chatlain's tenure, parishioners in Wood's congregation introduced smudges at church burials and masses. An eagle feather is now held when someone reads a Bible passage and a drum, used during services, is kept inside the church.

"We're praying to the same one God, one Creator," said Wood. "We just don't want to leave out what we're taught.… It's part of our tradition as well."

That's a stark contrast to his upbringing. Wood is a survivor of Assiniboia Residential School in Winnipeg and says flashbacks from the years he spent there still haunt him. 

Reconciliation with the Catholic Church starts by reclaiming the religious space he was raised in, he said.

"This community wants ownership of what's happening within our church.… We want to belong," said Wood. "We know we can do it."

It is a slow process, but Chatlain's work is a step toward healing, he said.

"We're reconciling right now."

That feeling is shared by Simon Samuel, a First Nations Catholic parishioner in Lac Brochet, who said Chatlain helped make changes at the church in the remote northwestern Manitoba community.

Samuel, too, is a survivor of Canada's residential school system, who attended the Guy Hill school near The Pas. 

Over the decades, priests stood in the way of First Nations cultural celebrations like sun dance ceremonies, he said. Those traditions were characterized as "evil" by church leaders, who went to the extent of burning some of their drums, said Samuel.

In the 60 years that have passed since then, he said some clerics have apologized for the damage done by the church. But Chatlain's instalment as archbishop in northern Manitoba brought more change.

"He wanted to get involved with First Nations. He wanted to take part of it, and he even told his priests to take part of that as well," Samuel said. 

The archbishop and other clerics started participating in sweat lodges and the annual sharing circle of former Guy Hill residential school students. 

Few others had done it before him, Samuel said, and his participation at those events is important to build relationships to help First Nations heal.

"A lot of priests did a lot of damage," he said. "We need to work together. It means a lot to me. Instead of putting hatred between each other, we need to reconcile together."

Church 'trying to do better': scholar

A Winnipeg Catholic scholar says this isn't the first time the archdiocese has had a leader for whom reconciliation is a focus.

Chatlain's predecessor, Rev. Richard Gagnon, who resigned last year, was also the head of the Canadian Congress of Catholic Bishops, and in that role was "heavily involved" in getting Pope Francis to visit Canada to deliver his apology for residential schools, according to Christopher Adams.

"[Chatlain] is reinforcing the work that's been done before," said Adams, who is rector of Manitoba's only Catholic college, St. Paul's College. 

"We have to really build on that, because we can't slip backwards in this area." 

Daniel McLeod, director of the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies at the University of Manitoba, said reconciliation efforts have been hindered in the past by a lack of authenticity in the relationships the church built with Indigenous people.

But the work of people like Chatlain moves the church in a different direction, he said.

"These appointments of the new archbishops who are interested in [reconciliation], it really does show that the church is trying to do better on this front," McLeod said.