Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples

The Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples is celebrated annually on December 12th and it normally falls during the second week of the Advent Season.  This initiative was started in 2002 by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ through the work of Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council.  This Day of Prayer encourages the faithful to pray for the needs and intentions of Indigenous Peoples and to seek from God the wisdom that will inspire and guide us in the efforts to address the past with justice and to walk forward together in peace. 

In his homily to Native Peoples of Canada in 1987, St. John Paul II said, “Life in God’s kingdom is based on a true sense of solidarity, sharing and community. His is a kingdom of justice, peace and love. It is our task to build a society in which these Gospel values will be applied to every concrete situation and relationship. … It is a time for reconciliation, for new relationships of mutual respect and collaboration in reaching a truly just solution to unresolved issues.” (Homily of His Holiness John Paul II, September 20, 1987)

In 2016, Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle was founded to develop and further relations with Indigenous peoples.  The Circle takes its name from Our Lady of Guadalupe who Saint John Paul II named the Patroness of the Americas. This devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe demonstrates how the Catholic faith is to be celebrated and lived in Indigenous cultures. 

The Circle brings together representatives from the Catholic Church in Canada - Indigenous peoples, bishops, priests, lay associations and members of institutes of consecrated life. The Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle includes membership from seven national Catholic organizations and four Catholic religious orders. Member-at-large positions were created to allow for additional Catholic Indigenous representation. The Circle is committed to making a conscientious effort to ensure a balance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices who are united by their common baptism and faith as Catholics.    

The members of the Circle are engaged in renewing and fostering relationships between the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples in Canada.  The vision of the Circle is “Catholics Engaging in Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.” The Circle describes its mission and purpose to be in four key areas:  
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• To provide a forum for dialogue to encourage a deeper understanding of the relationships between the Church nd Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous spiritualties in Canada,
• To serve as a united Catholic public voice on relations and dialogue between the Church and Indigenous Peoples,
• To assist Catholics in engagement with the Truth and Reconciliation process and its Calls to Action, and
• To carry out agreed upon initiatives and concrete actions. (OLGC)

These four dimensions of the Circle speak to the importance of listening, of entering into prayer, dialogue, the understanding of indigenous spiritualties, an openness to reconciliation, and the commitment to concrete action. The coming together to form a Circle also serves to communicate the symbolic image of God’s presence in their midst and the desire for its members to be united in one voice. 

On the First Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis spoke of Advent as a season of awakening to the needs of our brothers and sisters, “The sleep from which we must awake is created by indifference, by vanity, and by the inability to establish genuinely human relationships and to take care of our brothers and sisters ...” (Pope Francis, December 1, 2019)  The Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle seeks to bring about this awakening of the need to be in solidarity with our Indigenous brothers and sisters and to speak with one voice in their initiatives to bring this about. 

As we celebrate this Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples during the Advent Season, let us embrace a new spirit of accompaniment with our Indigenous brothers and sisters so that we might seek a deeper understanding of one another and thus respond with charity and generosity which is a sure sign of our mutual faith in Christ. As we seek to journey together in Christ, is this not what the Advent Season invites us to do as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas?  

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A message from
Bishop William T. McGrattan,
Bishop of Calgary

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Written by Bishop William T. McGrattan | December 5, 2019