Pope begins ‘pilgrimage of penitence.’ How does Indigenous Canada feel?

Congregants filter through the doors for Sunday mass at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Aboriginal Catholic Parish in Winnipeg. Instead of holy water, they place their hands atop smoking cedar and sage to smudge before entering the church.

The Rev. François Paradis, wearing a moosehide stole, welcomes them in English, dotted with Ojibwe. Later, the priest leads them as they turn to face the four cardinal points and recite the Lord’s Prayer.

Blending elements of ceremony with Catholic mass is a natural expression of faith for many Indigenous Catholics across Canada. But it’s not without ambivalence, after more than a century of Canada’s violent assimilation policies – carried out by the Roman Catholic Church, among others – which cast Indigenous