On Saints and Martyrs

Yes, I'm still here!

I've been reading E. J. Pratt's poetic account of the missionaries who manned St. Marie among the Hurons. Yes, I've been to Martyr's Shrine near Midland, Ontario and visited the rebuilt mission there but can't say I was moved to revere the relics. No one could contest the sense of mission these men had but in light of historic perspective the efficacy of their efforts has a new cast.

The politicians of the day in Paris and New France supported this mission primarily as a means of pacifying the natives. But whether or not these First Nations people needed Christ is open to question. Certainly from a cultural and environmental perspective they had no context with which to approach the Gospel that was being presented to them. What all first contact peoples did receive, even in advance of their coming, were the endemic European diseases—small pox, whooping cough, measles, chicken pox, polio, mumps, etc. These scourges were responsible for decimating entire populations. Perhaps the Mohawks were not entirely incorrect in declaring that these priests brought evil with them. What followed on the heels of the Missionaries were displacement by settlers, loss of livelihood, residential schools, and all the abuses that have so occupied the news in the last decade. Most First Nations are still lost in endless land claim negotiations. Their reserves are beset by sub-standard housing and sanitation, alcoholism, diabetes, obesity and chronic unemployment.

While no human should have to endure the cruelties visited upon these priests; I would question the zealotry that repeatedly sent these men back to almost certain death. Whether these men were Saints or miss-guided fanatics depends on your point of view. From today's First Nations People's viewpoint they did not need to be discovered, did not benefit from the suppression of their native heritage and language, and would prefer a viable living to government hand-outs.