“reconcili-action” — moving from words to deeds

The next pope will inherit Pope Francis' mixed legacy with Indigenous people

Story by PETER SMITH, April 29, 2025, Associated Press

quotes: 

Perhaps the most dramatic of [Pope] Francis’ encounters with the Indigenous community occurred on a July day in 2022 in Maskwacis, a small town in the Canadian province of Alberta and the hub of four Cree nations.

There, Pope Francis paid respects at a cemetery near a former residential school for Indigenous children. He then delivered a long-sought apology for Catholic complicity in the 19th- and 20th-century residential school system for the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people of Canada.

“I am deeply sorry, sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples,” Francis said.

The Rev. Cristino Bouvette recalled being unexpectedly emotional at that moment.

Bouvette, an Alberta priest of Cree and Metis heritage who was liturgical coordinator for the pope’s Canada visit, recalled hearing the applause and seeing some onlookers weeping. 

. . .

“It’s 150 years of trauma. It’s going to take us a bit of time to recover,” said Wilton Littlechild, a residential school survivor and former Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations in Canada. “He put us on a real strong path to reconciliation, but it can’t stop.”

. . .

Doctrine of Discovery

In 2023, the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, which legitimized colonial-era seizure of Native lands by Spain and Portugal. The concept forms the basis of some property laws today in the United States.

The Vatican said the related decrees, or papal bulls, “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” and have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.

Fernie Marty, an elder in Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, a parish that uses Native language and customs, said the action showed the pope was moving from words to deeds — what Marty called “reconcili-action.”

“I thought, wow, this is another proof that he’s on the right track,” he said.

But Lopez said Francis didn’t go far enough by not rescinding the papal bulls. To Lopez, that means they’re still technically on the books.

Not only do Native people have historical traumas, Lopez said, but the church itself needs healing from the “soul wound” of this legacy. But it has to fully make amends, he said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-next-pope-will-inherit-pope-francis-mixed-legacy-with-indigenous-people/ar-AA1DOg4e   as of 4/29/2025

“high I.Q.s serve as a force multiplier for both positive and negative traits.”

quote: 

The pollster Nate Silver guessed that Musk is “probably even a ‘genius,’” and theorized that he may not always appear that way because, as he put it on X, “high I.Q.s serve as a force multiplier for both positive and negative traits.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/arts/what-is-elon-musks-iq.html

"What Is Elon Musk’s I.Q.?" by Amanda Hess, April 5, 2025, New York Times

"The Jewish Jesus was a total badass."

"These days I go to church more than synagogue. But I've learned you can't take the Jew out of the boy. I'm attracted to Jesus the Jew, not the wispy, ethereal, gentle-faced guy with his two fingers in the air whom Christians have invented and put into centuries of European paintings. The Jewish Jesus emerged amid revolution, violence and strife. He walked into the center of all the clashing authority structures and he overturned them all. The Jewish Jesus was a total badass."

~ David Brooks, 
from his essay “The Shock of Faith: It’s Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be”

“When a clown moves into a palace . . . "

“When a clown moves into a palace he doesn’t become a sultan, the palace instead becomes a circus."

~ Turkish proverb

Barack Obama on Change, 2008

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

Barack Obama, President of the United States 2009-2017

Elon Musk on "civilizational suicidal empathy"

Snopes.com fact check:

Elon Musk said these words during a Feb. 28, 2025, episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, from around the 1:16:00 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSOxPJD-VNo 

Musk: There's a guy who posts on X who's great, Gad Saad?*

Rogan: Yeah, he's a friend of mine. He's been on the podcast a bunch of times. 

Musk: Yeah, he's awesome, and he talks about, you know, basically suicidal empathy. Like, there's so much empathy that you actually suicide yourself. So, we've got civilizational suicidal empathy going on. And it's like, I believe in empathy, like, I think you should care about other people, but you need to have empathy for, for civilization as a whole, and not commit to a civilizational suicide. 

Rogan: Also don't let someone use your empathy against you so they can completely control your state and then do an insanely bad job of managing it and never get removed.

Musk: The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy. The empathy exploit. They're exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response. So, I think, you know, empathy is good, but you need to think it through and not just be programmed like a robot. 

Rogan: Right, understand when empathy has been actually used as a tool.

Musk: Yes, like, its weaponized empathy is the issue.

Source:  Snopes.com "Yes, Musk said 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.' Here's context"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elon-musk-empathy-quote/  

* Saad is an atheist who describes himself as culturally Jewish.  (Zeitlin, Alan (26 May 2021). "Jewish author Gad Saad stares down the growing tide of antisemitism". The Jerusalem Post.)

Copilot definition of empathy vs. sympathy

Empathy and sympathy are related but distinct concepts:

Sympathy: Involves feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for someone else's hardships. It is an external expression of concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult. 

Empathy: Involves understanding and sharing another person's feelings by imagining yourself in their situation. It is an internal emotional response that allows you to connect with someone else's emotional experience. 

In summary, sympathy is about feeling for someone, while empathy is about feeling with someone.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy

: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another

also : the capacity for this

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. . . . "

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

"If your God never disagrees with you, you might be worshiping an idealized version of yourself."

"If your God never disagrees with you, you might be worshiping an idealized version of yourself."

~ Rev. Tim Keller

20 LESSONS FROM LIFE

 20 LESSONS FROM LIFE

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short - enjoy it.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
11. It's okay to let your children see you cry.
12. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
13. If a relationship must be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
14. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
15. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
16. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
17. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all up to you and no one else.
18. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
19. No one oversees your happiness but you.
20. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "in five years will this matter?"

Church of the Brethren