Mi’kmaq Elder in P.E.I. building shrine to first North American Indigenous saint

FORT AUGUSTUS, P.E.I. — As a religious Catholic, elder John Joe Sark has seen the strain between Mi’kmaq individuals and the Roman Catholic Church. However he has additionally seen the lengthy relationship the 2 have and been part of working to reconcile them.

He went to The Vatican in 1980 and met with Pope John Paul II through the beatification of Kateri Tekakwitha, the primary North American Indigenous particular person to turn out to be a Catholic saint.

In recent times he led mixed Mi’kmaq-Catholic lots, with smudging, drums and communion wafers.

Now, he’s taking that work house with him by constructing a shrine to Tekakwitha in his yard in Fort Augustus.

“It’ll be used for ceremonies and in addition reconciliation (speaking) circles, whoever needs to come back. Normally when there’s a shrine, individuals will come to pay honour to that saint,” Sark mentioned.

Shrine

Tekakwitha’s story goes again to 1656 in what’s now upstate New York.

Whereas Tekakwitha wasn’t Mi’kmaq, many Mi’kmaq are working towards Catholic. Additionally they share values as Indigenous individuals, Sark mentioned.

“She beloved creation, and that’s how we believed in God — the Nice Spirit had created the whole lot. So, the whole lot is sacred.”

At a look

Kateri Tekakwitha was the primary North American Indigenous particular person to be made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church:

• She was born in 1656 and died in 1680.

• Her mom was Algonquin and her father was Mohawk.

• The household received smallpox, which killed each mother and father and left Tekakwitha with virtually no sight.

• She went to dwell with an uncle however left him to affix Catholic missionaries.

• Pope John Paul II declared her beatification, a step in direction of sainthood, in 1980.

• Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged Tekakwitha as a saint in 2011 and canonized her the following yr.

Supply: Britannica.com biography web page for Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

The precise shrine goes to be constructed, partially, by hand utilizing all Island lumber, Sark mentioned.

“Now we have to take all of the topsoil out and take all of the flowers out and put gravel there. And that’s the place we’ll put the concrete … after which develop the (eight-pointed) star. There’ll be a roof. It will likely be eight toes excessive, and the roof will even be eight toes, so it is going to virtually appear like a wigwam.”

One facet will probably be open going through the river. The eight-pointed star ground will probably be made of colored concrete utilizing the standard black, white, crimson and yellow of the Mi’kmaq, whereas the within will function a statue and portray of Tekakwitha. Sark additionally has a bone relic to which he attributes two intercessory miracles.

“There’ll be a roof. It will likely be eight toes excessive, and the roof will even be eight toes, so it is going to virtually appear like a wigwam.”

– John Joe Sark

Bruno Peripoli helps Sark design the shrine. SaltWire contacted him on April 1 however didn’t hear again by deadline.

Sark is holding a GoFundMe fundraiser for the project with a purpose of $17,000. He had raised $1,340 in complete as of the March 31 interview, with $940 coming via GoFundMe.

Difficult religion

Julie Pellissier-Lush, a Mi’kmaq data keeper, says, with this shrine, individuals can even work in direction of reconciliation between Mi’kmaq and the Catholic Church.

“Even with the whole lot that has occurred with the Indigenous individuals, lots of people are nonetheless very religious Catholics, and so they nonetheless maintain true to their religion and acknowledge that there’s issues which were carried out badly and folks have been damage.”

Tekakwitha offers Indigenous Christians somebody to carry onto, regardless of the hurt carried out by the church, she mentioned.

Sark factors out that, whereas Catholic church buildings ran most of Canada’s 139 residential faculties, numerous Protestant branches ran the others – each utilizing the system designed by the Canadian authorities.

For him, reconciliation is extra sophisticated than blaming the church as an entire. Particular person organizations, just like the Sisters of Mercy who ran the Shubenacadie college, want accountability, he mentioned.

Assist

Kathy Ehman, a longtime buddy of Sark who has attended his speaking circles, says the shrine will probably be a spot for anybody to go to hear and study.

It may be part of the reconciliation course of, she mentioned, noting the issue of defining simply what that time period means.

“Individuals can study to hear, I believe that’s one of many greatest issues a few speaking circle or a sweat lodge, is, if you’re speaking, you’re speaking, and persons are listening. After which when it’s their flip, they’re speaking, and also you’re listening to them.”

And that’s simply what Sark is planning.

“Individuals can inform their story and produce other individuals hearken to them,” he mentioned.

Logan MacLean is a range reporter with the SaltWire Community

[email protected]

@loganmaclean94