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By MegAnne Liebsch
For Noah MacDonald, being Indigenous and Catholic is like living in a “chaotic harmony.” A member of the Anishinaabe Michipicoten First Nation, MacDonald grew up in a strong parish community outside Toronto. But in the summers, he returned to his family’s land near Lake Superior and practiced Anishinaabe spirituality, too.
Embracing both spiritual traditions means that he has sometimes felt tension between his identities as an Indigenous man and a practicing Catholic. When the news broke about Kamloops [the discovery of unmarked graves], MacDonald says his world was turned upside down. As he is a practicing canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of Toronto, Kamloops forced him to wrestle with his identities in a new way.
“Kamloops really pulled me closer to trying to embrace both identities and the responsibility to do that — to advocate for folks like me, to find others like that, and to come together,” MacDonald says. “That made me go outside my comfort zone and embrace those parts of myself in a more holistic way.”
The process of reckoning with — and embracing — his identity is what inspired MacDonald to pursue a doctorate in theology at Regis College. MacDonald is researching pathways of self-determination in Indigenous Catholicism, focusing on the pathways that can help Indigenous communities exercise agency in their faith practice.
“I’m interested in those many different ways of being Catholic,” he explains. “How are we able to exercise the self-determination of faith and spirituality in a way that is always authentic to us?”
But to take a holistic view of Indigenous Catholicism, MacDonald needed teachers who could offer this richness of perspective. There are very few Indigenous theologians at Canadian universities, so MacDonald worked with Regis Professor John Dadosky to design a doctoral program in which he would have two advisers — Dadosky and Anishinaabe elder Catherine Brooks.
“Regis welcomed this idea with open arms and created a structure that allows me to have these two teachers who will help to fulfill my desire for both deep theological education and the richness of Anishinaabe knowledge,” MacDonald says.
For MacDonald, this collaboration signals a shift in academia, particularly in Canada. With the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as recent events like Kamloops, there is a push to infuse Indigenous knowledge and expertise into university curricula.
“Whether it be in social work or theology or even in medicine, being able to integrate traditional knowledge has value for students and for the university, and it ultimately is something that has been lacking for a very long time,” says MacDonald. “It actually opens up the floodgates of some amazing possibilities.”
Rituals and Reconciliation
This dialogue between Western thought and traditional knowledge is at the centre of Fr. Erik Sorensen’s doctoral research, as well. As the Associate provincial assistant for liturgy and religious life for the Jesuits of Canada, Sorensen has long been interested in the role of liturgy and rituals in shaping a community’s faith, and he’s particularly interested in the ways that rituals can promote dialogue — and ultimately reconciliation — between settler and Indigenous Catholics.
Early on in his career as a Jesuit, Sorensen became involved in various reconciliation efforts between Jesuits and Indigenous peoples, such as the 2017 Canadian Canoe Pilgrimage. He also worked at Mother Teresa Middle School in Regina and with Kateri Native Ministries in Ottawa. Across these experiences, he was struck by the “deep respect and connection to ceremony” embedded in Indigenous cultures.
“Pipe ceremonies, sweat lodges, sunrise ceremonies — all these rituals are so vital and life-giving in their spirituality,” he says. Experiencing them made him reflect on his own Catholic background, and he realized he often took them for granted. “If I want to really enter into dialogue with Indigenous people around their ceremony, then I need to know my own tradition well. That’s what led me toward studies in Catholic liturgy.”
“Pipe ceremonies, sweat lodges, sunrise ceremonies — all these rituals are so vital and life-giving in their spirituality.” – Erik Sorensen, SJ
Through his doctoral work at Saint Paul University, Sorensen is looking at the ritual practices of two Canadian parishes in Ottawa and Winnipeg. By better understanding the “webs of ritualization” that form people’s faith, he hopes that ritual can be used as a point of connection and healing. And while Sorensen’s research focuses on non-Indigenous parishes, he frequently consults Indigenous voices and elders.
“I think we have to become more and more aware of how colonial patterns are implicit in our worship, in our ways and patterns of thinking,” says Sorensen. “And so, through my project, I’m trying to help point out where these colonial patterns are inhibiting us from realizing the bigger project. And that’s not possible without sustained dialogue with Indigenous communities and people.”
Building Bridges
Both MacDonald and Sorensen see their research as bridge-building. While their respective research efforts highlight the need for further healing and reconciliation, they also point to the existing relationships between Jesuit institutions and Indigenous communities. Since Sorensen joined the Jesuits thirteen years ago, he has seen the Canadian province deepen its Indigenous relationships — to the point that this collaboration is seen as a central priority for the Jesuits in Canada.
For MacDonald, too, the long history of the Anishinaabe and the Jesuits is an important grounding for his research. He says that this relationship has had “peaks and very deep valleys.” But he also sees opportunities for connection: “The growing friendships and partnerships with strong Indigenous communities and a strong Church would be a goal toward healing and reconciliation.”
Learn more about what the reconciliation process means to the Jesuits of Canada
