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US diocese makes grant in solidarity with Canadian Anglicans
2003-070-3
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan recently sent a check for $500 to the Diocese of Keewatin, Canada, its former companion diocese, as a small gift in solidarity with the Anglican Church of Canada, which is in the process of ratifying an agreement with the Canadian government over liability claims for abuses suffered by native peoples in the former national boarding school system.
'Your primate, Michael Peers, [has] pointed out that all Canadian dioceses, not just the eleven named in the residential schools lawsuits, share a 'common moral liability' and a 'common vocation to ministry and mission in our society,'' said Bishop Jim Kelsey in a letter to Bishop David Ashdown of Keewatin. 'The Diocese of Northern Michigan acknowledges and embraces that common liability and vocation with the rest of the dioceses of your Province. The church in the United States carries its own culpability and imperfection in our own historic relationships with native people. We are inspired by your witness and your example.' The grant was requested by the people of Grace Church in Ishpeming.
From 1820 to 1969, the Anglican Church of Canada was involved in running residential schools for aboriginal Canadians. More than 20 years after they abandoned participation in the schools, former students began to come forward, alleging abuse at the hands of those in authority in the schools. There are some 12,000 lawsuits facing the Canadian government, including 2,200 against Anglican-run schools. The Anglican settlement with the government caps liability at $25 million (Canadian) for any proven abuses suffered by natives in the national residential school system. Some of the dioceses had no schools, and therefore no legal liability, but have stood in solidarity with the other dioceses in helping to pay the settlement.
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