The Pope's Visit to Canada - Penance - Hate needs to stop - Racism needs to stop.

What happened at the Residential Schools is terrible. What has been happening to our Aboriginal people is terrible. Just last month I watched a documentary that women were being sterilized without their permission. It is difficult to fathom how this can be happening or is it? Aboriginal women have also gone missing for years and what has been going on there? I watched one movie based on a true story years ago about a policewoman investigating disappearances. There was another situation in Quebec, where an Aboriginal woman was dying and being emotionally tortured by a nurse. The patient actually taped it live for the world to see and the nurse was subsequently fired. Just recently in the States I watched two children being ignored by a Sesame Street character - shameful. I have to add that because it all has to do with children - with hate. There is a sense of entitlement that one race or culture or religion is better than another. Let us not forget that Canada belonged to the Aborignals. They were considered savages and their land taken away as is still happening today, hey Putin? I am a Roman Catholic and the amount of people I have helped who hate Catholics is worthy of attention. I don't take it personal. I completed one unit working as a chaplain intern because simply it was a way to turn four years into three with one summer semester. Some other chaplains would let me know that they didn't like Catholics and I would ask why because I was curious. One told me that she had been told by a nun when she was in Africa that she wouldn't go to heaven because she wasn't Catholic. I told her that the nun was stupid, which I was chastised by my supervisor at the time, who is not Catholic and whose advice I heed to this day. However, that Chaplain who was not a student decided I wasn't so bad after all for a Catholic and actually started liking me. Religions are composed of people and sometimes those people systemically do horrible things. It is not brain science that a child is a child. Let them be children. Nurture them, respect them, envelope them with safety and love so they can grow and appreciate life and what it all offers without horrific memories. Recently, while the President was in Saudi Arabia, he was told that values should not be imposed. I thought about that remark. I have decided that the remark is outdated. The President was concerned about a reporter that been killed. If memory serves me right it was quite primitive. Recently I was watching a documentary where homosexuals are being tortured under Soviet rule and I won't go into details of how horrid the torture was. I had believed that I had seen it all and I have not. I am still stunned and disappointed by what I hear. Fortunately I have so much love for nature and people in general but that does not mean I tolerate much. My confession is always my lack of patience and boy do I get penance for that. The Pope's visit is a message to all that what happened was evil. The Pope is a leader and this difficult journey is a beginning for healing while telling the world that this is not acceptable. We need to love each other a tad more, don't you think? I wasn't going to touch this topic today because there is so much conflicting feelings out there with hatred seeping through. Let's remember that the human race is one. If we all mind our own business and don't get involved as was the norm in the past, it offers those who commit horrors to continue without reservation. We need to do better. We need to be better. If we don't speak up than we too are responsible. What do you think?