Catholic Culture, Phil Lawler: Every year on this date—the feast of the North American martyrs—I find myself asking the same sort of questions. Were those Jesuit missionaries of the 17th century guilty of proselytism? Did they respect the indigenous cultures? Would St. Jean de Brebeuf have asked for a blessing from an Iroquois shaman? How would St. Isaac Jogues have responded to the veneration of the Pachamama?
We revere the missionary martyrs, who willingly gave their lives in an effort to bring souls to Christ. But today we shy away from the work they set out to do. Were they wrong, or are we?
When Catholic leaders apologize for a failure to respect indigenous cultures, are we apologizing for these martyrs? If so, why do we keep their names on our liturgical calendar? And if we are notapologizing—if we really do honor their work, seek their intercession, and believe that they won the most precious of victories—why are we reluctant to imitate them? Read the rest here.
