A Very Very Sad Moment for All

Diocese of Thunder Bay Crest

My Dear Friends, As the Catholic Bishop of Thunder Bay diocese I want to join my voice with the voices of our Church community in expressing our sorrow and sense of shock and loss about the children’s graves found at the former residential school in Kamloops.

A Very Very Sad Moment for All (Official PDF)

With Bishop Joseph Nguyen of Kamloops and in union with the words of Archbishop Richard Gagnon, president of the conference of bishops, we see how this terrible news rekindles the pain and trauma for many Indigenous communities across Canada. We stand in solidarity with them in our prayer and concern, and in our hope of some comfort and healing.

As in this weekend we celebrate the great feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of the Lord, we are reminded that we are all in a way, united in one body as a human family, and when a part of our body suffers, we all suffer with it. May we pray this weekend with sincerity of heart, for all these lost children, for their families and relations, and may our search for honesty and truth be with them. We ask the Lord, the Creator of us all, to comfort us and guide us to healing and peace, and as Pope Francis has noted, we are all united as brothers and sisters on this earth.

Please pray for these children, for our Indigenous peoples, for our Church communities and for our country, as we seek reconciliation and healing, expressing our sorrow for the harms of our past history.

For Further information on Residential Schools please visit the Arch Diocese of Toronto Website at www.archtoronto.org 

Bishop Fred Colli
Bishop of Thunder Bay