In good faith and with a permit from the Vatican in hand, the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers set up a prayer altar in St. Peter’s Square last week. Along with sacred symbols from the traditions of each of the grandmothers were two crosses, since some of the grandmothers are Catholic.
From my point of view, St. Peter’s was blessed with the presence of these elders. I cannot imagine a more hopeful model than that engendered by such a prayer gathering: perhaps it might even inspire others to work for social and environmental justice, as the grandmothers themselves do tirelessly.
I have stood by Grandmother Aggie, eighty six year old chair of this group, as she prayed. I know her humility-and her strength, both of which are grounded in her love for all the Creator’s work on this earth, of which humans are only one part. I can imagine the other grandmothers with their heads bent in reverence. As one who was raised Catholic, I want to thank them for bringing their devotion to the spiritual center of the Church.
But this was not the response of the Vatican police. As soon as the grandmothers began setting up, the police scurried out, claiming the women were conducting “anti-Catholic” demonstrations, and ordering them away. This leads me to wonder what kind of Catholicism they themselves held if it runs contrary to the work of these women for global justice.
I don’t think the police thought much about it. They were obviously acting out of impulse and fear. I imagine they assumed they were protecting something, but who or what that something was remains unclear. It was not the pope, who took an unplanned vacation after the grandmothers sent him notice they would be appearing at his scheduled public audience for that day to request he rescind the papal bull that “gave” indigenous lands and peoples to Christians in the fifteenth century–and was subsequently used as a license for genocide and slavery.
“He didn’t do it”, Grandmother Aggie is fond of saying. Therefore, she reasons, it wouldn’t hurt him to rescind this action–and it would do a lot of good.
Certainly, the pope might well entertain a plea to separate the Church from this shameful history. He might express the same kind of courage as did the Archdiocese of Seattle, which recently issued a public apology to the indigenous peoples of the Northwest for the harm missionary activity had brought to them and their lands.
Last week, however, the police continued to insist the grandmothers leave. But the grandmothers continued to stand their ground. Finally the police brought a law official to arbitrate: the latter listened to the grandmother’s songs and pronounced them non-threatening. This official not only okayed their permit, but invited the grandmothers into St. Peter’s Basilica to pray–and to rest, which Grandma Aggie, who is wheelchair bound, must certainly have needed at that point.
What is it about a particular kind of fervor (I would rather not call it “religious”) that caused the Vatican police to act with such hostility toward these gentle women who represent the best of the world’s spiritual traditions? Why did they not receive the grandmothers with open arms and gratitude for making their long journey from the ends of the earth–and honoring the Catholic Church with a dialogue about its integrity?
I myself believe that if the heart of God is large enough to include us all, that is a challenge for us humans to enlarge our own hearts in response. Fear, exclusion, and injustice does not protect anyone’s faith.
Here is a link to the story about the experience of the Grandmothers at the Vatican published in Indian Country Today:
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417739
Filed under: Crossing borders, Thirteen indigenous grandmothers | Tagged: justice, religion, Thirteen indigenous grandmothers
I can understand the police’s initial reaction, though I don’t know if their continued insistence was necessary. Even if the Pope had expressed his appreciation of their religious freedom, I still feel it’s in a little bit of poor taste to conduct any kind of non-Catholic religious ceremony in St. Peter’s square. A Muslim might respect my freedom to be Catholic, but I would not go to Mecca to try and set up a Mass. Pragmatic things aside, it is disrespectful to the host, because performing a different kind of ceremony is, in some way, a rebuke of the host’s beliefs.
If these grandmothers were performing some kind of pagan ritual, even if it was for the benefit of the Church, it still seems a bit disrespectful to walk into what amounts to Catholics’ living room and do that. However, if they were given permission to do that, that changes things quite a bit. But I think it’s critical to remember how important St. Peter’s is to Catholics–it’s our home, and we often have guests, but just as we need to host them gracefully, we would hope that our invitation would not turn into a scandal or spectacle.
Thank you for sharing this comment on something you obviously care deeply about. I appreciate your sense of reverence and spiritual “home” here: the grandmother did have a permit. And since two of them are Catholic and brought Catholic crosses and prayers here, I’m not sure the term “pagan” ceremony exactly applies.
Just speaking for myself, I would like to avoid the labeling of anything as “pagan” with all the implications that go with it.
Secondly, you bring up an interesting point about holding to one’s own spiritual ground that solidly underscores the grandmothers’ petition for the Pope to rescind that old edict that all lands not occupied by Christians belonged to them by right of conquest. Not only did this license some terrible abuses (I can’t believe anyone who has read the journal of Columbus would want to celebrated Columbus Day, given the tortures he perpetrated on native peoples in order to enslave them to mine gold). It also invaded and violated the spiritual homes of those who are due respect every bit as much as we are.
In our globalizing world, I would like to see an ecumenical stance that both honors the unique spiritual ground of various religions and the common ground we share.