
The Wounds of the Past, Truth-telling and a Future of Hope: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Path of Reconciliation
The lecture will situate the Church's contemporary response to papal bulls of the 15th century, which provided moral justification for colonizing powers to claim as their own lands which had long been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples, within the context of the challenge of dealing well with sinful actions from within the Church in the past. It will explore what the recent Vatican statement on the Doctrine of Discovery said and didn't say, and how it has been received. And it will reflect on the larger work of reconciliation and the challenge of proclaiming and being faithful to the Gospel in a context where wounds from the past continue to impact present relations.
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