Dear Canadian Catholic Bishops,

As baptized members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we believe that an apology and a commitment to reconciliation with our indigenous siblings is long overdue.
 
You have taught that the Sacrament of Reconciliation involves contrition, confession, absolution, and penance. While you have offered sympathy at the discovery of the bodies of the 215 children and the abuses of the residential school system, you have not admitted sin. In a brief that you submitted to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1993, you said that “various types of abuse experienced at some residential schools have moved us to a profound examination of conscience as a Church.” It has been a 28-year examination of conscience and the time for making a “good confession” is now. We have the wisdom of 2000 years and know the weakness of long overdue apologies. Let us not repeat this cycle and instead act with faith by confessing our sins and making reparation to indigenous peoples and especially the remaining survivors, so that healing and reconciliation can begin.
 
Look to the courage of your brother bishops who have apologized, as well as the Oblates and Jesuits who have responded to the cries of our Lord in the abused.* Look to the wisdom of your brother bishops in Australia who have apologized to the indigenous people of that continent. Look to the courage of our Holy Father, Pope Francis who in 2015 apologized to the indigenous peoples of the Americas for the “grave sins” of colonialism. May you heed his teaching in Fratelli Tutti : “Reparation and reconciliation will give us new life and set us all free from fear” (78). Look to the wisdom of the Spirit among our Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church, and other Christian siblings who walk the road of reconciliation and the fruits of the Spirit in that journey. Look to Christ, to whom your ministry is conformed to.
 
Act not because of shame and fear but confident in the Holy Spirit sent to us by our Lord. Let us be merciful as the Father is merciful. Let us reconcile, as Christ reconciled the world to Himself. And may God give us pardon and peace, as we confess the sins we now see we have committed.

We pray for the intercession of Mary, Undoer of Knots, to unbind our hearts that restrict us from confessing. And when the church in Canada has found unity in asking for forgiveness, we implore Pope Francis to apologize on behalf of the universal church thereby setting out on the road to reconciliation and healing. 

*It must be made clear that while bishops and religious orders have apologized, there are still matters that need to be resolved including the release of documents to the public. We demand full disclosure.