Senator, members of Indigenous communities react to Catholic Church’s apology for role in Indian boarding schools

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently issued a formal apology to Indigenous people for the church’s involvement with Indian boarding schools and the traumas inflicted on children who attended them.

“Sadly, many Indigenous Catholics have felt a sense of abandonment in their relationship with Church leaders due to a lack of understanding of their unique cultural needs,” the document said in part. “We apologize for the failure to nurture, strengthen, honor, recognize, and appreciate those entrusted to our pastoral care.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski along with a member of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, said the Catholic Church’s apology is a good first step, but more may be needed.

There were more than 520 government-funded Indian boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries, the stated purpose of which was “Kill the Indian, save the man,” according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

Between 1860 and 1960, hundreds of thousands of Native American children attended these schools, which were operated by the federal government and Christian churches, protestant and Catholic.

A “first-of-its-kind federal study” of Native American boarding schools identified more than 500 student deaths at the boarding institutions, but that number is expected to grow as research continues. the Associated Press reported.

Ben Jacuk of the Alaska Native Heritage Center said his grandfather attended an Indian boarding school, and he does not like to talk about what he experienced at the school.

“That’s a very common thing because there is that fear of passing things on to the next generation,” Jacuk said.

In Indian boarding schools, Indigenous children were forced to assimilate and their traditional languages, dress and customs, Jacuk said.

“Indian children were forcibly abducted by government agents, sent to schools hundreds of miles away, and beaten, starved, or otherwise abused when they spoke their Native languages,” the National Native American Healing Coalition said.

Taking that into context, he said he appreciates the apology, but said “repentance in action” is the next step — “giving land back to these communities that had been taken for things like resource extraction throughout the entirety of the boarding school era,” Jacuk said.

Murkowski commended the Catholic Church for issuing a formal apology.

“While it may not be the end all and be all, in terms of how those who have suffered greatly over the years, it is the beginning of a path towards healing,” she said.

As far as that healing, the Indian Affairs Committee in the Senate is working to advance legislation that would provide for a truth and healing commission on Indian boarding schools to “address some of the abuses and some of the wrongs that had historically been directed towards Indigenous peoples,” Murkowski said.

She didn’t go into detail if reparations would be considered by the committee, but Jacuk said he agrees with the senator that healing is needed. At the Native Heritage Center, he is putting together a research project on Indian boarding schools in Alaska.

“Something my grandfather always said is the only way that you can be able to know what healing looks like — and to eventually heal — is to know what you need healing from,” Jacuk said.

In opposition to the apology, Lauren Peters, who is an enrolled member of the Aleut Community of Saint Paul Island, said in an email her first reaction is that the language in the apology is too soft, and there is “no talk of restitution.”

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